Thread: Does the riseball really rise???

C'mon Hal, Let's see a side version tape of a rise ball with the "Flick Finger' rising, not just dropping less than another pitch.

Originally Posted by halskinner

So you have never seen a real one?

The laws of physics are correct. For the cut rise, extremely difficult to get the number of spins per second using ONLY the wrist. Unfortunately, I think that is the only riseball that has ever been put to that test and had those laws of physics applied to it.

Again, this was done by people that only know one way to throw a riseball, a cut riseball.

I've seen many thrown - maybe they weren't really rise balls? I've even offered to video ANY volunteer throwing any flavor of rise and telestrate it in RVP. So far, no takers. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm starting to think we'll see proof of Bigfoot before we see video proof of a rise ball (or whatever you want to call it) actually rising. If we can get video from the surface of Mars, you'd think getting video of a rise wouldn't be THAT hard!

Buster,

LOL!

It will NEVER happen.

Does it really matter one way or the other if the ball actually rises or just appears to rise? Would a definitive answer change the way it should be taught?

Where in the trajectory of the pitch does the best riseball rise, jump, or hop, just in front of the plate, 10 feet out, 20, 30, just after release? Or does it matter as long as the effect occurs somewhere along the flightpath?

I am curious if there is any agreement on when the effect occurs.

batsics1: You are so darn practical. I bet you are the same kind of guy who, when all the parents are whining about an umpire's call losing the game, you are probably thinking, "Our pitcher walking 10 batters and the shortstop acting like an open window might have more to do with us losing than the umpire..."

No, it doesn't matter. The non-believers (of which I am one) agree that the riseball is higher over the plate than a fastball would be if the fastball were thrown at the same angle.

My experience is that the ball "hops" or "appears to hop" about 5-10 feet from the plate. It is the last few feet that is the big difference. If you play catch with someone throwing a riseball, you can do it easily up to about 30 feet. At 40 feet, you have to start working at it and force your glove hand to stay up.

Originally Posted by batsics1

Does it really matter one way or the other if the ball actually rises or just appears to rise? Would a definitive answer change the way it should be taught?

.

Nope. Scott studied it from the hitting point of view. People said you can't use baseball mechanics because in fp the ball can rise. He studied it, found out it was NOT rising through the zone and was satisfied. Personally I've always wanted to see proof it really rose/curved upward. So far, nada.

More stromotion pictures...


Finch throwing riseball. Note the batter is swinging below the ball. Again, the riseball doesn't "rise" above the initial angle of the pitch, but it pretty clearly is above where it would be if it were a fastball. Her weight is on her right foot.


Finch throwing a drop ball. Note that her weight is forward on her left foot.



Abbott's fastball, possibly with some left to right motion on the pitch. Note how much flatter it is than either the rise or the drop.

Abbott's rise ball

Originally Posted by kenkrause

So it would appear the key to the riseball is that it looks like it will go lower than it actually does. Or it bends instead of going on a straight line as a fastball would.

Since the day you were born your brain has been programmed relative to how gravity acts on objects moving through space. Gravity pulls everything down to the center of the earth.
Since the first days you began playing softball you only batted against pitches that worked with gravity------went down. You got to be a pretty good hitter because you had seen lots of pitches with spin that actually worked in the same direction as gravity---downward. You created a "data bank" in your brain.
Now you moved up to the level of pitching where the girls throw a riseball. The backspin on a riseball resists gravitational pull and thus less drop. Your brain has difficulty with this concept until it has seen many riseballs. Thus the swing that goes under the riseball. Not many pitchers are capable of throwing decent riseballs therefore you do not get a lot of chances to add that info into the "data bank". Thus it is difficult to learn to hit a riseball.