Drop ball and internal rotation

I found a great link that describes what you are talking about, and shows some elite pitchers throwing the drop ball (both peel and rollover drop). Once at the site, click on the video links.
Fastpitch Drop Ball

Last question that no one has addressed yet : ) Is this technique inconsistent with Board Members and others who have suggested that "internal rotation" is the key to better pitching and less injury (e.g. can/should you throw this type of drop ball utilizing internal rotation?). Thanks in advance for your collective wisdom.

SoCalSoftballdad said:

I found a great link that describes what you are talking about, and shows some elite pitchers throwing the drop ball (both peel and rollover drop). Once at the site, click on the video links.
Fastpitch Drop Ball

Last question that no one has addressed yet : ) Is this technique inconsistent with Board Members and others who have suggested that "internal rotation" is the key to better pitching and less injury (e.g. can/should you throw this type of drop ball utilizing internal rotation?). Thanks in advance for your collective wisdom.

Click to expand...

Not at all inconsistant......And this pitch is reported as a "peel drop"........I think its a "blended" peel/flip drop........

I sometimes wonder if we dont get too hung up on the same mechanics working the same for every pitcher. I was surprised when I watched the video mentioned in the origonal post & saw Cat Ostermans hips obviously closing early on that rollover drop. Those mechanics are exactly what I am trying not to teach & I sure aint the guy to criticize Cats mechanics.

Makes you think doesn't it? How about the Ueno clip on Siggy's site?

My 10 yo DD has only been pitching for a little less than a year and half so admittedly I have very limited knowledge. I could be totally off, but from reading this forum what I understand is that "internal rotation" is basically just the mechnics of another pitch, like some sort of rise or drop. The elite pitchers probably never throw a plain fastball anymore. My DD's PC said she never used a fastball in college. All pitches thrown are moving; up, down, in, out.

In my limited experience it appears at the younger levels girls learn a fastball and then everything evolves based off that.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Just trying to learn.

The internal rotation, pulling the ball through the rotation, is not just another pitch like the rise or drop. It is the best way to rotate the shoulder and arm from the 12:00 position to release and follow through. The speed of the arm and the ease of the release are unmatched by any other method. In addition, bringing the ball down facing upward and closing the triceps muscle against the side of the body sets the pitcher up for the rise, drop, curve, change, and screw. If your pitcher is not throwing this way, then as Board member has said, they will never reach their true potential.

Bill Hillhouse has some video clips on his website of him throwing the peel drop. You may want to check them out. Just click on the education tab on his homepage and then click video clips.

To expand on RMGC’s post, I believe that what is generally discussed as pitching mechanics on this site would be classified as acceleration mechanics. That is what constitutes the optimal way to accelerate the ball at release. This is evident by the consensus that there should be little to no variance from one pitch to the next.

But there is a tradeoff between speed and spin. The body and all of the individual segments can only produce so much energy. Any energy that is expended away from the line of acceleration will reduce the speed of a pitch. Merely gripping the ball differently will cause some variation in the mechanics.

Bill Hillhouse has consistently put forward the notion of style vs. absolutes. The internal rotation discussions are an effort to define and describe an absolute. How one goes about spinning the ball may well fall into the category of style. There are different grips for various pitches. The amount and timing of closing can vary from one pitch to the next. A pitcher who has a natural tendency towards a rise may have to exaggerate the pull behind the ball to produce drop spin. Even with the exaggerated shoulder action in the Finch drop ball clip, the fundamental acceleration mechanics are the same from one pitch to the next.

There is a huge difference in what one has to do to effectively spin the ball at the end of a fundamentally sound acceleration mechanic and altering the fundamental acceleration mechanic in order to spin the ball.

BoardMember said:

Not at all inconsistant......And this pitch is reported as a "peel drop"........I think its a "blended" peel/flip drop........

Click to expand...

I call that a peel-over.

You can clearly see the internal rotation principle on this clip. It does look like a "peel/flip" or a "peel-over".

Regarding this clip and the discussion of the drop.

IF: A fastball has more or less 12-6 spin

AND: A drop ball has more or less 12-6 spin

THEN: In order for the ball to drop it would have to be thrown with either significantly more RPM's or with less velocity...Yes?

OR: From a different angle (plane) with angle and reduced velocity creating the "drop".