If Women's softball legalized leaping, basically saying a pitcher no longer had to maintain contact with the ground, is this what the pitching would look like? All of these guys leap but many of them don't have a crow hop or at least not a strong one.
If Women's Softball.........
- Thread starter ArmWhip
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- Aug 21, 2008
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In the video you just showed if the men's WBSC championship from last year. Unlike the USA, the pitching rules are identical for men and women in the WBSC. ASA/USA is the ONLY organization worldwide who uses different rules for the 2 genders. Female pitchers will be able to pitch like this in the WBSC and Olympics, the women just haven't figured out how to start doing this yet. But they will start soon, mark my words.
radness
Possibilities & Opportunities!
- Dec 13, 2019
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Female mechanics ...thats go back to what they used to do....
Rather the pitchers of today doing what pitchers used to do!
Garcia, Juarez, Ueno, Osterman, etc. all use backswings.
Why do the top pitchers in men's softball have no backswing, and yet the top pitchers in women's softball do?
It very well may be that women can't detect "tells" as quickly as men during a back swing.
Hate to get into gender specific stuff, but men and women process motion differently. There are many articles about the differences in visual perception. Here is one article: https://www.washington.edu/news/201...show-surprising-differences-in-seeing-motion/
- Jun 8, 2016
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They seem to improve as soon as they get married..
- Aug 21, 2008
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It has nothing to do with women not being able to detect a backswing. This is no different than anything else, such as calling pitches. It comes down to whatever they are TAUGHT to do. 99% of females are taking hitting instruction off a guy who's never played fastpitch, or taking them off a lady who did play fastpitch but was taught by the above man who did not play fastpitch. The bottom line is, the "art" of picking, reading, or even understanding what the pitcher is doing is just simply not taught to females. This is STARTING to happen. More and more men's FP players are into NCAA coaching, and travel coaching. So picking pitchers is starting to happen more and more but, it's not a global thing as it is in men's softball. I mean, if you grab a bat and stand in on Folkard's 88mph riseball.... good freaking luck. Unless you have a pick on him to know that pitch is coming, or you absolutely guess 100% correct, you aren't hitting it. Period. That's why it's SOOOO important in men's softball. This is also why you see the overwhelming majority of male pitchers wear long sleeves too, to help hide the pitch. Guys like Folkard who throw inhumanly fast aren't overly worried about being "picked" because their philosophy is to just blow it past you anyway. So he doesn't wear sleeves the way others do every game, to hide forearm muscle flexing. Personally, I have worked with hitters (by throwing them BP) and taught them how to read pitchers, pick the pitches, notices differences, etc. etc. etc. So it's not about gender, it's about what they are taught.
You're absolutely right of all those pitchers still using a backswing and having tremendous careers. All I will say in response to that is, I wouldn't have wanted to pitch to Crystal Bustos with a backswing where she could see what I was throwing. End of story. None of the pitchers you mentioned would get past the 2nd inning vs. a top tier men's FP team. It would be a double whammy of the speeds simply not fast enough to fool anyone and the pitchers practically telling the hitters in advance what's coming.
Matsuda from Japan does the the closest thing to a backswing. We refer to what he does as giving a "Snapshot". You will notice his hand drop out of his glove with the grip, in front of his body before he starts the arm circle. That gives the hitter a "snap shot view" of what pitch is coming. I do not know if he throws his pitches with similar grips to deceive the hitters or not. I'm guessing not because he was lit up over the course of the North American season when hitters were able to see him. His trickery didn't last long. In the WBSC tournament (shown above), this would be the first time hitters have seen him in 2 years or more. And I don't think he pitched against the same team twice. Not sure Japan would've been to the finals if he had.
There seems to be significant differences between the men and the women as it stands right now. It has to do with the sequence or timing between the arm and footwork. What effect does spending more time airborne have on timing? I'm wondering what would happen to the mechanics of the women if they didn't have keep the back foot in contact with the ground. Would they start jumping like the men?
Matsuda has some instructional videos, he throws a palm up 'slider' (curve), a rollover drop, and a backhand change up, or thinks he does.
Matsuda has some instructional videos, he throws a palm up 'slider' (curve), a rollover drop, and a backhand change up, or thinks he does.
inumpire
Observer, but has an opinion
- Oct 31, 2014
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I agree. I am being told by a couple of the NCAA powers to be in the umpire world that the NCAA is going to drop all the pitching rules in the next couple year and let them pitch like the men do, and they will be able to pitch just like they do in the WBSC. And it will then trickle down to the younger age groups. Hold on, as this will change the game, and pitchers again will dominate!!
Any chance of a YouTube video on this topic in the near future?
