- Aug 21, 2008
- 2,379
- 113
I have never understood the fascination with the screwball, or the belief in it. Like a lot of pitches, I think a lot of parents (and pitchers and their coaches) look at where the pitch ends up, not any break. It's why the ESPN announcers make my ears bleed when Michele Smith talks about this pitcher's great rise, drop, curve, screw, etc. Yes, even at the D1 level, the majority of pitchers have horrible mechanics and the falsehood of their pitches is helped by the bad announcing.
Maybe I'm just too much of a simple minded guy, like Forrest Gump. If I want a dropball outside on a RH batter, I'm not going to get cute with a "crop" which is nothing but a load of "crap!" I'm going to throw the drop on the outside. If it doesn't do 1 of the 2 things it's supposed to in the "crop" then it hangs over the middle. And we wonder why HR totals are up? And if I'm going to throw inside, why screw around (pardon the pun) with a screwball? A drop inside is the deadliest pitch but it's not as 'sexy' as the rise. Why risk the ball not moving inside? If you throw a drop inside and it doesn't go down, at least it's still inside!!!!
I've been doing lessons for a very long time (or so it seems). I've had students who've never made it past rec ball to ones playing for Alabama, and every kind in between. EVERY one who claims to have had a screwball stepped left and threw right. About 1/2 had a different spin on the ball, the other half had no other spin than their "fastball" but it was thrown inside and they believed it screwed. None ever BROKE. I've lost many students because parents didn't bring their kid back after telling them they don't actually have 12 pitches. She has one, and one that has bullet spin that doesn't move. "But she strikes out 15 per game?" "she set her high school record for K's!" And that's where the conversations turn... high school softball is a lot of bad softball (yes there is some good ones too). And her 15 per game is rec ball, not ASA Gold. But parents get drunk on the belief that 15 k's at 11 years old will equal 18 K's when she gets older. The opposite is true in most cases.
But these 10 different pitch pitchers are usually Hello Elbow type, which prevents them from throwing almost any pitch with true rotation and form. Again, a lot of parents who's sunk $1000's into pitching coaches and camps don't want to hear that. But, I always offer them the YouTube challenge. Forget with this Olympic pitcher told you at her clinic, watch YouTube tonight and see if she is doing THAT or THIS. The majority who take the challenge will email or call to tell me "WOW". Others will say they are too far along in what they are doing and won't change now. Very sad, but true. Then I become the "arrogant" one who thinks only 'his way' works... despite my repeated saying that this is not "MY WAY".... I didn't invent anything.
Bill
Maybe I'm just too much of a simple minded guy, like Forrest Gump. If I want a dropball outside on a RH batter, I'm not going to get cute with a "crop" which is nothing but a load of "crap!" I'm going to throw the drop on the outside. If it doesn't do 1 of the 2 things it's supposed to in the "crop" then it hangs over the middle. And we wonder why HR totals are up? And if I'm going to throw inside, why screw around (pardon the pun) with a screwball? A drop inside is the deadliest pitch but it's not as 'sexy' as the rise. Why risk the ball not moving inside? If you throw a drop inside and it doesn't go down, at least it's still inside!!!!
I've been doing lessons for a very long time (or so it seems). I've had students who've never made it past rec ball to ones playing for Alabama, and every kind in between. EVERY one who claims to have had a screwball stepped left and threw right. About 1/2 had a different spin on the ball, the other half had no other spin than their "fastball" but it was thrown inside and they believed it screwed. None ever BROKE. I've lost many students because parents didn't bring their kid back after telling them they don't actually have 12 pitches. She has one, and one that has bullet spin that doesn't move. "But she strikes out 15 per game?" "she set her high school record for K's!" And that's where the conversations turn... high school softball is a lot of bad softball (yes there is some good ones too). And her 15 per game is rec ball, not ASA Gold. But parents get drunk on the belief that 15 k's at 11 years old will equal 18 K's when she gets older. The opposite is true in most cases.
But these 10 different pitch pitchers are usually Hello Elbow type, which prevents them from throwing almost any pitch with true rotation and form. Again, a lot of parents who's sunk $1000's into pitching coaches and camps don't want to hear that. But, I always offer them the YouTube challenge. Forget with this Olympic pitcher told you at her clinic, watch YouTube tonight and see if she is doing THAT or THIS. The majority who take the challenge will email or call to tell me "WOW". Others will say they are too far along in what they are doing and won't change now. Very sad, but true. Then I become the "arrogant" one who thinks only 'his way' works... despite my repeated saying that this is not "MY WAY".... I didn't invent anything.
Bill
