There are two complete different opinions whether or not throwing a ball 300 feet in the air is good for a pitchers arm. Some say no and you should never throw a ball other than the same arc as you do from the mound. Others say that long tossing has nothing to do with pitching and it's designed to strengthen your arm.
I always have advised young arms that long tossing was a good exercise to build arm muscles that, when applied with proper mechanics, will generate increased velocity.
I never said it helped pitching mechanics. That's a whole different set of exercises, like dry rounds.
You can't do this job without proper mechanics and you might wart to get them branded into your mind before arching a long toss to the center field fence.
I reached out to a few buddies to see what they thought:
I love long tossing I made it a part of my throwing program this year and it helped me out a lot. It increased my velocity and helped maintain a strong arm throughout the year
I don't believe in long tossing really. I've always thrown hard my entire life and I firmly believe long toss has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Well, that got us nowhere.
What about other opinions:
Anonymous Scout (12-21-10 via http://projectprospect.com/article/2010/12/21/scouts-take-long-tossing - Stretching the arm out in the form of long toss does two important things: 1) it forces the athlete to push the upper bounds or arm strength in a natural motion conducive to the way a pitcher throws and 2) the exertion of the motion forces the body to maximize energy in the most efficient way, and the body cannot compromise mechanics, thus teaching the body the most natural way to maximize arm strength while working in sync.
3-30-10 fro Baseball Prospectus - Allan Jaeger, of Jaeger Sports, believes he has the program that can save pitchers from injury while increasing their velocity. Jaeger’s program is rooted in a traditional baseball exercise, long tossing. Since the early days of baseball, players have been long tossing. Most performed long tossing because they believed it strengthened their arm. Jaeger agrees. "If muscles are inactive for a long enough period of time, or aren't used close to their desired capacities, the life is taken out of them. When muscles are given proper blood flow, oxygen, and range of motion, they are free to work at their optimum capacity. A good long-toss program is the key to giving life to a pitcher’s arm."
Brandon Webb - (3-23-11 - http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/texas-rangers/post/_/id/4861729/brandon-webb-talks-about-his-shoulder ) - Webb said even when he cut short a bullpen session Monday because of rain, he couldn't get loose. He said the long toss hasn't been as good as it was before the bullpen sessions started. "I had no problems at all doing that," Webb said about long toss. "We're going to try and stretch it out tomorrow and get it going really good. I haven't really got it going long-toss wise like I wanted to since we started throwing 'pens. It's just been harder." Webb plans on long tossing Thursday.
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