I know of no one that defines a junk ball pitcher like this.You could also say that a junk baller is a pitcher who throws his breaking and off speed pitches more than his fastball
I know of no one that defines a junk ball pitcher like this.You could also say that a junk baller is a pitcher who throws his breaking and off speed pitches more than his fastball
That is because when your slider is 90+mph, it is not junk. It is nasty.I know of no one that defines a junk ball pitcher like this.
Exactly!That is because when your slider is 90+mph, it is not junk. It is nasty.
Agreed! I can understand why a pitcher may not want to throw the rise - maybe she doesn't have the requisite speed to throw the rise, but why not the drop? If you can throw a fastball, it's relatively easy to teach and master the peel drop. Okay, Bill, here's my rant - As a former pitcher, current pitching coach, and umpire, it pains me to see girls claiming to throw 5 - 6 pitches, and they all look alike. Or, the overzealous dad that claims his little 12-year-old Suzy throws 60mph. In Massachusetts, the top speed at 14U is around 56 MPH. Around here, that wins trophies on Sundays. By way of perspective, there is a college combine at the former Fort Devens every year. I've done the statistical analysis for them. Every year there are not more than six and not less than four girls that consistently throw over 60 MPH. Those upper speeds have been remarkably consistent for the last 20+ years. Also, the standard deviation is very "tightly packed." 68.2% of the girls throw between 53 - 57 MPH. If you go to two standard deviations, roughly 95% of the prospects, the speed was between 52 - 58.5 MPH. And these figures are skewed or biased, as these are girls planning on pitching in college. It doesn't take into account the 18-year-old throwing a soft 51 MPH.But if the goal is to be at that level and be one of the best, why not do what the best do? I just don't understand the mentality of not imitating what the best do. Most kid basketball players in my generation wanted to be Jordan, so the imitated him. Football players imitate Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, etc. When I was a kid, I had softball pitchers as my heros. And I imitated them. I started off in a church league in Erie PA, moving into our city rec men's league at 12 or 13, getting clobbered by grown men. But I kept going with trying to imitate what I saw from Mike White, Pete Meredith and others.
All poodles are dogs but not all dogs are poodles. Use that phrase, because not all pitchers use the north-south movement but all the great ones do.
I can understand why a pitcher may not want to throw the rise - maybe she doesn't have the requisite speed to throw the rise, but why not the drop? If you can throw a fastball, it's relatively easy to teach and master the peel drop.
Arm, in the comments about Ms. Parker's game vs. Wash.... were these pitches what YOU saw or 2 time Olympic Gold Medalist Michele Smith's commentary? The reason I ask is, I've seen her call pitches curve balls that weren't. Any lefty that throws an inside dropball, she'd call it a curve of some kind. I've seen her call low riseballs as "screwballs". Etc. Etc. So, I'm not challenging what you wrote, only asking.It's not a matter of whether a pitcher wants to throw a rise, it's more that they can't. I was at the Devens Thursday clinic and at 3 other 'Showcases' in the Southern Mass area. I saw one pitcher with a little backspin on her 'rise' and she threw it at 52 mph. How many pitchers did you see there with a true back spin rise? In a perfect world throwing North-South is great, in the real world throwing South is easy, throwing North is near impossible.
When a young pitcher wants to learn a spin pitch the knee jerk answer is 'learn the drop'. I would say that 80% of the young girls that I have worked with threw a near or pure top spin fastball. So learning the drop gives them 2 pitches that are basically the same. As far as whether the curve is an effective pitch Giselle Juarez threw her curve and won a WCWS championship. I was recently watching a video of former WCWS winner Megan King playing a game of PIG in a bullpen session, she threw her curve. And then there's this:
"One of the most successful pitchers in post-season history is Paige Parker from Oklahoma. In fact, this 2-time national champion suffered the first post season loss in her career this year. As a senior!
Paige Parker Pitcher Oklahoma WCWS Washington Pitches Women's College World Series 2018
So, let’s look at how Paige threw to Washington’s first 4 hitters, and just how many different pitches this 4-time All-American, and 2-time National Champion uses when it matters most:
To start the game, Parker threw to Washington’s top 4 batters, getting 2 strikeouts, 1 popup and one double. Out of a total of 23 pitches, Paige Parker threw:
Curveballs: 10
Riseballs: 7
Changeups: 6
I've always liked Cindy, she would contract me out to go do international stuff 20 years ago for the ISF (now WBSC). She'd send me to Guatemala, while she'd go to Aruba. I'm not knocking Guatemala, I'm just saying I'd have rather gone to Aruba!!Bill, the quote comes from an article by Cindy Bristow on her website Softball Excellence. The jist of the article was that you don't need 7 pitches, one of the best at that time, Parker, only used 3. I don't know her source. If it was Michelle Smith there would been some screwballs in there.