Riseball slo-mo vids

Bill- you are so right. After I read a year or two ago that you pitched to J.L. on a regular basis and saw how well she did, I went hunting for a men’s pitcher. We just happen to live pretty close to some lefty cat named Trent who pitches to dd. I’m thinking you might just know him, lol. The results have been awesome.

Crystal Brown said:

Bill Hillhouse demonstrating Rise ball(left) and Drop Ball(Right) starting at the 30 second mark. I actually purchased his video to pick up some helpful tips for my own daughter. I am uncertain if this is the correct link if anyone interested in purchasing.
https://fastpitch.tv/the-riseball-by-fastpitch-softball-pitching-coach-bill-hillhouse

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Its more beneficial financially for me if people buy the videos direct from me instead of doing this link. I'm still running the special of all 5 of my videos for $110 ($100 then 10 for shippping) but you have to PM me for that. 2 of my videos cover the riseball, one is solely riseball only.

Bill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECCI_97IM5g

This is me pitching to one of my fav students of all time, she would get so mad that she could's square one up. No matter how many times I would tell her the ball isn't going to stay straight she needs to read the spin and adjust the swing she would get mad. And i would instigate. LOL. I think you can see movement on one of the riseballs towards the very end in slow motion. My eyes could be playing tricks on me but it looks to change planes on the spin not from an angle. People may not realize this but, I do a lot of BP for people... it's almost a 2nd job. I AM NOT A HITTING COACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But based off the stance, swing, feet in box, etc. I can tell you a lot about how a pitcher would likely pitch to you. That is NOT demonstrated here, I would throw riseballs with balls that had seams and drops with balls that did not. There was no rhyme or reason for what pitch I was throwing in this session, she just wanted to hit any and everything. Like many girls, she struggled a lot with the low rise: a riseball kept at the bottom of the zone. People (experts) claim a ball needs to be going 50mph for it to go up... I highly doubt I was throwing 50 here. You be the judge if it moves or not.

Bill

Hillhouse said:

Based on the follow through, motion, and the hitter being off balance, I have to believe this LSU pitcher is throwing some kind of spinner change up. It also looks like it's dropping sharply at the end right before the video cuts off. Spinner changes are tough because without the right release point it's likely to stay up in the zone. A change up that is up in the zone is usually a big mistake.

Bill

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I slowed down the gif to better show release and spin. Offspeed rise? Definitely has a high rate of spin. Note the dot.

The Ducks also have Tony Aresco.

What’s I’m noticing in my research is the variation in arm finish. I prefer the arm to look as similar to other pitches as opposed to exaggeration “pulling the arm up”. Also noticing some pitchers lean back more than others to get “under the ball”.

1bucketmom said:

What’s I’m noticing in my research is the variation in arm finish. I prefer the arm to look as similar to other pitches as opposed to exaggeration “pulling the arm up”. Also noticing some pitchers lean back more than others to get “under the ball”.

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My daughter says she makes her arm long going into release. She says she cannot get under the ball unless she does so. From my view it looks like that shoulder is lower than the front. It isn’t a lean back movement but more of not coming into a drop ball/fast ball position....more of maintaining her landing position.It seems to be a cue that works for her. Another cue came from Bill Hillhouse, “Bill’s number 1(with finger pointing up at finish). It may be cues that would will make sense to other girls learning this pitch.


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1bucketmom said:

What’s I’m noticing in my research is the variation in arm finish. I prefer the arm to look as similar to other pitches as opposed to exaggeration “pulling the arm up”. Also noticing some pitchers lean back more than others to get “under the ball”.

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The pulling of the arm up was also taught to D. For some reason, this finish causes her ball to look more like a screwball spin thrown high.


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shaker1 said:

I slowed down the gif to better show release and spin. Offspeed rise? Definitely has a high rate of spin. Note the dot.

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Based on where her thumb is combined with the rest of my previous notes, I'd say this is DEFINITELY a spinner change. I've heard of an offspeed rise but could really not do one myself without slowing down my body. Either way, an off speed rise is NOT a very good idea considering what happens to pop ups these days. Just before the video stops it looks like the ball is out of velocity and simply falls. This tells me it's not a rise (on or off speed).

Bill

corlay said:

I don't consider this spin a "riseball".
We call this one a "big dot", which has a bit better float that a "little dot" aka bullet spin.

I do think that Paige DOES throw a better spinning riseball most of the time - just not in this clip.

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I guess it's all perception... I see a 10-4 backspin!