You only need 3 pitches?

[Rocketech1]

While I am not a huge fan of Michelle Smith, she did make a good point during the TN v WA game that the male pitching coaches are going back to teaching you only need 3 pitches: rise ball, drop ball, and change up. You agree or disagree?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Yes, I agree.

 

[smddad]

I have always agreed with that. Change of elevation with location works the best.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Agree.........

 

[sluggers]

Yes, but it is more complicated than that. Michelle Smith and Cat Osterman "had" a drop and a rise. "Having a pitch" means that you can (1) locate the pitch anywhere around the plate and (2) change speeds with the pitch. Few pitchers can do that with the fastball, let alone a breaking pitch.

If you watch the pitchers and also watch the "flight path" that gets displayed, you are going to see very few 'real' curves or screws. When they show the super slow motion of the ball, zone in on the spin.

The announcer was talking about Renfroe's great screw. They showed it in slow motion, and it didn't move right to left (from the perspective of the catcher). The spin was clearly 6 to 12. So, she really threw was a chest high inside rise. Great pitch.

The problem I see over and over is that Daddies want their kid to be able to throw all kinds of different pitches and never take the time for the kid to perfect *one* pitch.

 

[halskinner]

Why would you want to limit yourself to only up, down, fast and slow?

 

[smddad]

Yes, but it is more complicated than that. Michelle Smith and Cat Osterman "had" a drop and a rise. "Having a pitch" means that you can (1) locate the pitch anywhere around the plate and (2) change speeds with the pitch. Few pitchers can do that with the fastball, let alone a breaking pitch.

If you watch the pitchers and also watch the "flight path" that gets displayed, you are going to see very few 'real' curves or screws. When they show the super slow motion of the ball, zone in on the spin.

The announcer was talking about Renfroe's great screw. They showed it in slow motion, and it didn't move right to left (from the perspective of the catcher). The spin was clearly 6 to 12. So, she really threw was a chest high inside rise. Great pitch.

The problem I see over and over is that Daddies want their kid to be able to throw all kinds of different pitches and never take the time for the kid to perfect *one* pitch.

In the first game today, MS and BM were calling everything a screwball. Every time a riseball was thrown, I heard it was a very effective screwball. As you stated, you could clearly see the 6-12 spin.

 

[Carly]

You "only need" to be able to get people out. Some people do it with 3 pitches, some do it with more or fewer. Some can do it with those three, some like others better.

 

[marriard]

While I am not a huge fan of Michelle Smith, she did make a good point during the TN v WA game that the male pitching coaches are going back to teaching you only need 3 pitches: rise ball, drop ball, and change up. You agree or disagree?

Agree: You really need only 3 quality pitches
Disagree: They have to be drop, rise, changeup.

 

[Alsmygal]

DD's PC told her that he feels it's best to have three pitches....rise, drop, and change. His reasoning was that a hitter had a better chance to hit a ball that moved east to west because the batter can keep the bat on the same plane with the ball. It's harder to hit a ball that doesn't stay on the same plane as the bat during a swing. (This was from Doug Gillis at one of my DD's pitching sessions)