lefty natural curve?

[all]

Is a natural curve a true "natural" thing or is it because of poor mechanics?

I've heard the term several times before.

I have a girl on my team who has a pretty wicked curve to the left batters box. She's a lefty, I've never had a left handed pitcher before so I wasn't sure.

Thanks

Ali

 

[all]

Her hand is definitely rolling over top.

 

[starsnuffer]

If the ball is curving then there is a spin on the ball. Fastballs are usually taught to release off the middle finger (3 finger grip) with the fingers behind the ball at release. If the pitcher does this in practice, then the spin will be 12-6, or the same as a peel drop (although spinning a bit slower).

With good arm whip (called IR on these forums), there is a tendency for the fingers to come around the ball somewhat (to the outside of the pitcher) putting a slight skew on the spin, usually 11-5 or even as much as 10-4 (from the batters perspective) which gives the ball a bit of a curving and dropping tail. How much the fingers should come outside the ball is really up to the pitcher and her instructor. The pitcher should experiment with this a bit and find out what works best for them.

The most important point, however, is that the pitcher have pinpoint accuracy with this pitch. This means that whatever "natural" break the ball has, it is consistent and repeatable. The pitcher needs to be able to move this pitch an inch at a time in order to find the umpires strike zone.

-W

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Is a natural curve a true "natural" thing or is it because of poor mechanics?

I've heard the term several times before.

I have a girl on my team who has a pretty wicked curve to the left batters box. She's a lefty, I've never had a left handed pitcher before so I wasn't sure.

Thanks

Ali

A curve from a LHP is not going towards the left handed batters box. That would be a screw. Unless its a back door curve, but it's still breaking towards the right handed batters box.

DD is a LHP, and Screwball is right, I'd call it more of a "tail" or "dance" myself. Not all lefties have it, I picked up another LHP second year of 12's, she did not have the mythical natural movement. DD can get her fastball to tail down like a drop, or dance down and in with different finger pressure. I've tried the same things with good RHP and not gotten the same results.

You know what they say, " lefties just ain't right ".

 

[all]

Thanks for the breakdown Starsnuffer... She isn't accurate with it. Well actually she isn't very accurate right now at all because her coach said she is coming on top of the ball instead of a straight release. I know a little about pitching but not enough to do much. So Thanks guys

 

[starsnuffer]

Good luck, all. Accuracy is a product of consistent, not necessarily "proper" mechanics. If she's pitching the same pitch, in her mind, and the ball is all over the place, then she isn't consistent with her mechanics.

There's a silver lining though: Consistency comes through practice and repetition. However, like Bill Hillhouse likes to say, Practice makes permanent, not perfect. This means that your player has not made these mechanics permanent yet, so it should be much easier to fix then a pitcher who had improper mechanics but was still very accurate.

-W

 

[LAdad]

A curve from a LHP is not going towards the left handed batters box. That would be a screw. Unless its a back door curve, but it's still breaking towards the right handed batters box.

Correct, but the term he used was 'left batters box', which is probably the batter's box on the left, as seen from the umpires point of view (the box used by right-handed batters).

 

[redhack]

DD is a 12u LHP and once in a while it shows up. Not too much anymore, but it scares the hell out of batters when it does. I think it happens when her release is late and her natural IR has started. They are almost always high and at the batters face.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Correct, but the term he used was 'left batters box', which is probably the batter's box on the left, as seen from the umpires point of view (the box used by right-handed batters).

True, I didn't catch that the first time.

 

[NVfishing]

I think IR puts an 11-5 to 10-4 spin on the ball which curves and drops on it's own. If that's her go to pitch and it's working why would you change it? It's a fastball with movement. Just what you want.