As to the rise, that behavior is dictated by the position and gravitational effect of the moon.
Everyone knows the rise is dictated by the position of Venus, not the moon.
Screwball help
- Thread starter Man10
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Everyone knows the rise is dictated by the position of Venus, not the moon.
With meece and Neeld on this one; POSTURE. When DD spins it and she is in proper alignment, it breaks hard to a right handed batter. Getting her to maintain proper posture and not fall over was a big challenge. I live in Florida, close to the equator, so the pull of the tides plays a roll in spin; DD can crank it but if the moon isn't definitively in line with Venus then forget it...she's all over the place...
That is not true.
It doesn't "move" because putting the correct spin on a screwball at high speed is impossible. I think I said about 2 years ago...and I'm still waiting for someone to post a video showing screwball spin on a pitch at anything close to 50MPH.
Super slow motion video is everywhere now. Where is *ONE* game video showing a college pitcher throwing a pitch with screwball spin?
Why didn't Cat Osterman throw a screwball? The greatest movement pitcher of all time didn't throw one, but 12U Suzy throws a great one?
And the danger of trying to teach someone to throw a "screwball" is that the pitcher loses BI, and then loses control.
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So if I understand correctly, throwing a pitch with what would be considered "screwball spin" at a velocity over 50mph is physically impossible? Furthermore all the past and current softball pitchers, some legends of the game who claim to throw and/or taught the pitch such as Lisa Fernandez are frauds?
- Jun 18, 2010
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My DD's PC, at the time, taught her to stride left, kick her butt out to throw the pitch. At a young age, DD had tremendous success with the "screwball", the problem for her was she altered her regular mechanics such that she consistently would stride left of the power line, kick her butt out and blow past BI and arm whip on every pitch (not just the screwball). We ultimately abandon the screw in an attempt to fix her posture, arm whip, and BI in her other pitches.
EDIT: From another thread:
I agree, if the screw being taught involves making fundamental mechanics changes, be very careful going down that path.
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[MENTION=2313]knightsb[/MENTION] I feel your pain.
I've been bingeing on ESPN Replay so far this season,
and one thing that stands out to me is how many RHP pitchers stride so far to the left on all of their pitches...
(except for Jake - she is more of a right-side strider...)
You've talked in the past about how concentrating on the screw can bleed mechanics into your other pitches.
Do you think this is why I'm observing so many left-striders?
Is the Screw in most D1 p5 pitchers' arsenals?
I think that is exactly why you see so many striding to the left. To your point the screw is no a common pitch as like the rise it is difficult to master.
While it is pretty straight forward to get the screw spin by keeping the fingers inside the ball at release just like a good IR fastball and then getting slightly under, the problem is consistency. Thrown correctly it breaks but sometimes it BREAKS. This is especially problematic when thrown inside. And when you try to throw it backdoor (breaking toward the plate) it can end up really fat and tasty to the hitter. But like any other pitch if you can own it, then it is a great pitch.
Jake used to throw one back in the day and we worked long and hard to get rid of the stride off the power line. Now her delivery, with the exception of the finish is essentially the same on each pitch. As you noticed she tends to come across rather than away from the power line. Used to be quite a bit, now not so much.
When it comes to what pitch to work on and eventually master it is critical to work on those that come naturally. Not work on what someone, coach or player thinks should be thrown.
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