I may be opening a can of worms but...

[sluggers]

Carly's entire post is great. We need to bronze it and put it on display somewhere. Excellent, excellent advice.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Softball gifs are pretty rare, but a drop curve should look something like a running sinker. If you can throw it correctly.........very effective.

 

[sluggers]

There was a pitching coach in Chicagoland who taught his pitchers the drop curve exclusively. (I won't mention any names, but if you've "bounced" around enough, you know who I am talking about...) His pitchers did pretty well in HS, and their Daddies were really proud. They never did diddly squat in advanced TB or college.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

My DD throws a drop/curve and it is a very effective pitch for her. It is NOT a poorly thrown drop ball in her case! One note I will add is that my DD was originally taught to throw a curve ball with her hand on top of the ball, so throwing a drop/curve was a natural progression. DD switched to throwing a curve ball with her hand under the ball years ago. She throws the drop/curve off speed and if batters hit it, 90% of the plays will be weak grounders to 2B.

How old is your DD?

 

[PEPPERS]

The only thing that is necessary for college is throwing a few pitches really really well. It really doesn't matter WHAT those pitches are (unless the coach at your target college is closed-minded and doesn't believe in certain pitches... but that's a whole different can of worms); It matters how good they are and if they get people out. Sure, lots of elite pitchers throw/have thrown terrific drops. That's because the drop is/was their best pitch. Lots of elite pitchers never threw drops too, because something else was their best pitch. At 13, you probably do need to go through a few to find out what your best pitch is... but you do have to be careful to keep a balance between discovery/experimentation and just ending up with 6 lousy pitches, as others have said. A good pitching coach should be able to see what your daughter's hand and body want to do naturally and help you determine what pitches to try first based on which are most likely to succeed.

Pitches get reputations as "gimmicks" when there are a whole bunch of pitchers around who don't throw them well. Sure, a drop curve is a poorly thrown drop if you can't throw either of them right, just like any other movement pitch is just a really terrible slow fastball if you don't throw it right. If you CAN truly command a pitch, it's a different story.

I don't usually teach the drop curve as its own pitch unless I see that it would benefit a pitcher. I had one pitcher whose only two movement pitches were the drop and the drop curve. They were distinctly different and both very nasty. We moved to the drop curve when she couldn't get the regular curve; her hand just didn't want to do anything but turn over hard.

When DD went to the Alabama Softball Camp she was told that you need one dominant pitch and to work of perfecting that pitch.

DD worked really hard on her rise during the summer and it was doing so well, but the college coach only wants low balls at or around the knee. Her explanations is the high ball gets hit too hard so she never calls it.

DD is doing well, but I hate to see a good pitch going to waste.

 

[undergroundga]

Softball gifs are pretty rare, but a drop curve should look something like a running sinker. If you can throw it correctly.........very effective.

That's just nasty!

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Once we start moving into specialty pitches or "rare" pitches it takes an honest assessment of "if" the pitch is working and/or do we continue it.

Let's take the knuckleball, it is an art most never can obtain or control. Maybe a hand full of guys can use it effectively, but that doesn't mean it's worthless.

I'd guess the rise is probably the most K pitch? But DD can't throw a "true rise", so she's at a disadvantage from the start. Her strength is moving the ball to the side and tail. So we work to her strengths, as should any pitcher.

 

[Dana Marque]

This is great... My daughter has been working on her drop ball ALL winter... First the mechancial part of it and then the breaking part of it... I thought it has been taking forever... But again, I'm not a pitcher nor do I claim to be... Thanks for making me realize that there is more to it and the breaking part crutical. No wonder she's working on it all winter. She's still young (turning 12 this month)... I swear I learn so much from this board...

 

[wildcat]

I'm new to alot of these movement pitches and taking in as much advise as possible. Looking at it from that prospective...down and in from a lefty to a righty (or righty to a lefty)( 2nd gif movement) would seem nastier than just down?? Am i missing something? There's no swing plane for that...add in changing of speeds.

 

[Greenmonsters]

When DD went to the Alabama Softball Camp she was told that you need one dominant pitch and to work of perfecting that pitch.

DD worked really hard on her rise during the summer and it was doing so well, but the college coach only wants low balls at or around the knee. Her explanations is the high ball gets hit too hard so she never calls it.

DD is doing well, but I hate to see a good pitch going to waste.

What a genius. And just how hard do balls get hit when a good hitter realizes that they only have to worry about the bottom of the strike zone? The rise, even if always thrown up and out of the strike zone, will keep a hitter honest (i.e., preventing them from locking in on a zone or pitch) and make the low pitches more effective.