I guess most comments echo my initial thoughts about TV. But the DD is being bombarded with instruction to throw every pitch imaginiable. And I think if the (best) college players struggle to master all these pitches, she should step back and maybe try to truly throw great placement, and changeups. My llast thought is if these breaking pitches are indeed rare, do the college coaching staffs collectively suffer from mass delusion about the pitching staff capabilities or are they selling these great movement pitches as a form of "psy-ops"?
WCWS - ball spin
- Thread starter diamond14
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
All pitches move. Some more than others. A few much more. In order of importance the trinity of pitching is command, movement and velocity. Launch the Watch ESPN application and replay game 2 of the WCWS Championship series. Note the location of 3 types of pitches.
1) The ones that are missed.
2) The ones where contact is made resulting in average hits or outs.
3) The ones that got hammered.
You will find that the virtually all of the pitches that get hammered are fatties. They were big time mistakes by the pitcher. What you will soon realize is that if you have command of a pitch, even in the absence of much movement and thrown with average velocity, you will be successful in the circle. You may not dominate, but you probably be be successful. Add in some movement and the ability to change speed and you will keep your team in the game. This is where many "dropball pitchers" live. They typically do not serve up the dingers as those that work up in the zone, and they provide their defense with lots of opportunities to make outs.
For many the drop is a go to pitch, especially at an early age. It is an easy pitch to command and keep from going fat. It is typically low, and unless thrown up at the shoulders it is always headed out of the zone. It is arguably the easiest pitch to learn and master, because gravity works! Most pitchers at an elite level throw 3-4 pitches of which 1 or 2 are go-to pitches which they have truly mastered. Others are waste or setup pitches for their best stuff. Do not buy into the myth that you need to throw every pitch. Before you can master multiple pitches you need to master the first one.
1) The ones that are missed.
2) The ones where contact is made resulting in average hits or outs.
3) The ones that got hammered.
You will find that the virtually all of the pitches that get hammered are fatties. They were big time mistakes by the pitcher. What you will soon realize is that if you have command of a pitch, even in the absence of much movement and thrown with average velocity, you will be successful in the circle. You may not dominate, but you probably be be successful. Add in some movement and the ability to change speed and you will keep your team in the game. This is where many "dropball pitchers" live. They typically do not serve up the dingers as those that work up in the zone, and they provide their defense with lots of opportunities to make outs.
For many the drop is a go to pitch, especially at an early age. It is an easy pitch to command and keep from going fat. It is typically low, and unless thrown up at the shoulders it is always headed out of the zone. It is arguably the easiest pitch to learn and master, because gravity works! Most pitchers at an elite level throw 3-4 pitches of which 1 or 2 are go-to pitches which they have truly mastered. Others are waste or setup pitches for their best stuff. Do not buy into the myth that you need to throw every pitch. Before you can master multiple pitches you need to master the first one.
Last edited:
I believe you are exactly right in that a bullet spin will get movement if you change the axis of the spin. If a right handed pitcher throwing a bullet spin turns the axis of spin so that she sees the dot of the spinning ball oriented to the right so that the axis is pointed to the outside corner and she throws the ball towards the outside corner there will be break. Conversely a RHP throwing a rise will see the dot on the left side of the spinning ball. If she gets under the ball and angles the pitch up up into the zone the axis is also pointed up and she gets a pitch that is much more effective than straight bullet spin. I thought Paige Parker's rise spin was very good when I saw it in slo mo, definitely not straight bullet spin.
- Sep 29, 2014
- 2,421
- 113
^^^^ This...if you look at most HRs they are middle 8 to 10 inches of the plate between the top of the thigh and just below letters. That's why I like the basketball drill for fun at the end of pitching sessions it's 9.5 inches in diameter put it on a tee in the middle of the plate about waste high, you need to throw strikes without hitting the basketball (don't put a catcher back there ricochets are dangerous).
Those players that hit those balls out that are knee high outer half you just tip your hat and move on.
Best pitch I ever seen was Jake's low rise, that JUMPED right, & froze the batter in the win over bama. Need to get the video of that one... not a lowly screen capture.
- Nov 29, 2009
- 2,975
- 83
That's for sure. I've seen balls above the eyes get tomahawked over the fence. I've also seen them near the ankles get golfed out of the park. Sometimes even a bad pitch is a good one for the hitter.
What does Paige Parker do? She throws a great rise, a great changeup, has good speed and can locate her pitches.
Your DD needs:
- *ONE* really good breaking pitch.
- A really good changeup
- Speed
- Excellent control
Parents have trouble getting their head around the amount of time and effort it takes for their DD to be good at the collegiate level at pitching. So, parents want to push for their child to learn all these breaking pitches without ever mastering any one of them.
At the collegiate level, a pitcher can throw a breaking pitch with movement about 95% of the time. And, she can place the breaking pitch at a desired location about 90% of the time.
The confusion is all Cat Osterman's fault. A lot of kids can throw as fast as Cat. So, every parent thinks, "My kid can be just as good as Cat." But, few people have Cat's ability.
Last edited:
