Bullet spin

[Rolling Hard]

It's the angled, gyro spin pitch. Often referred to as a screw ball. It's a great pitch that when located inside even when hit, usually results in a foul ball (hopefully off the batters foot). Strike one. She needs to stride towards 1st base side and create an angle.

 

[ArmWhip]

Just the normal fastball spin spinning toward home plate. Is there some other way for a fastball to spin. Although hers is usually cock off a little bit to the side.

For me a fastball is a pitch where the pitcher doesn't worry or think about the spin. As they get older they have to know what their fastball spin is and that can be anywhere between straight top spin and pure bullet spin. Typically it's top spin tipped a little to the throwing arm side. If she has a bullet spin pitch then try to get as much straight top spin as you can for maximum contrast.

 

[ArmWhip]

honestly, any spin other than true bullet spin, is desirable. bullet spin tends to make the pitch stay straighter. curve, drop, etc. spin makes them move. Good hitters will see the 'dot' on the ball and know it's not curving. Like seeing a slider in baseball.

Rachel Garcia threw bullet spin on her famed rise ball. Watch Fla St. pitcher Catharine Sandercock this weekend and you'll see the same spin on her up in the zone pitch, call it a fastball or rise ball it really doesn't matter.

 

[Shawn]

Bullet spin isn’t that far from a rise or curve spin. Easier to develop either from bullet spin.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

The Hair

That's hysterical. I think she singlehandedly is keeping AquaNet in business!!!

 

[lostcreek1]

Typically it's top spin tipped a little to the throwing arm side.

This would be what she calls a fastball. Even though her bullet spin (spinning counter clock wise from the pitchers view) pitch is a little faster

 

[sluggers]

In spite of it's bad reputation as a pitch that goes 'straight' bullet spin is very common and I see it all the time when I watch D1 games on TV. I think of it as 'the poor man's rise ball'. I teach it all the time in combination with a top spin fastball. 'Top spin down, bullet spin up', that's what I tell them.

Need to work on your brand names. Go for, "I teach a 'gyro-scrise' using 'fluid motion' and 'reverse tectonic leg drive.'"

 

[sluggers]

So a month or so ago as me and DD was pitching she says here comes my special fastball. She is 8 playing up in 10u. It was a bullet spin and prob 2-3 mph faster than her regular fastball. Since then she has been throwing it in games mixing it in with her regular fastball which has really good fastball spin, and her changup which is still a work in progress. Anyone else DD throw a pitch like this, do you see any harm in her throwing it?

This is a "bullet spin" pitch. Variations of the pitch are thrown a great deal in the NCAA and also the MLB. (The slider is based on the bullet spin pitch.) There is nothing wrong with the pitch.

 

[Hillhouse]

I disagree. I think there's a lot wrong with bullet spin. But, I also accept the fact that I'm a stickler for correct spin on pitches. I do not let my kids think bullet spin is ok. I call it a phase of the pitch's evolution but, it shouldn't get stuck on that. The goal should always be to make the ball spin in the direction of it's movement.

My own opinions here: Garcia had success with it because she threw 70. At the time she might've been the only one in college throwing that fast. Now there's a few. And 70 will quickly become the new 60 because with the new rules taking effect and more places loosening the rules even more, there will be a lot more 70+ mph pitchers coming.

FSU pitcher, if my memory serves, can "get away with it" because she throws 80% drops. When you throw drop, drop, drop, drop, change, drop, then show something up in the zone, you're going to entice swings regardless of the spin. I don't believe it's the ball movement that she's successful with because bullet spin doesn't move. It's more of the surprise that she threw anything high at all, which the hitters eagerly want.

Bullet spin MOSTLY happens on riseballs, and it only happens because of too much turn of the wrist during the pitch. Once a pitcher turns the wrist (turning the doorknob) and the thumb points towards the catcher, bullet spin is all that will happen. One thing that amazes me is how quickly "correct spin" can turn to bullet spin without proper attention being paid to it. I have a girl who is on a team in the NCAA tournament, a top 4 team, who I worked with since she was 11. She came to see me last summer before heading to her school for the fall, I hadn't seen her in several months. I was amazed at how sloppy her riseball spin had become. Through conversations I figured out that there was 2 causes for this: 1. a lack of oversight from the school's pitching coach and 2. it's extremely possible for a pitcher to have incomplete or incorrect spins on pitches and still win in college because of poor coaching of hitters. A lot of people put college coaches on some pedestal and think they must know sooooo much about the game, etc. etc. In many cases that couldn't be further from the truth.