Pitching Absolutes

[FiveFrameSwing]

My daughters spin on the mound wasn't slight! Lol as demonstrated in ffs's video. But I appreciate you pointing that out. I am stunned watching travel softball how many girls who don't pick up the toe and have mediocre velocity. My daughter also kicked to the side, losing forward momentum and making her fall slightly to the right. Jordan also pointed that out. I am now a huge video fan and "coaches eye" app has truly helped me see the flaws, that would never see at full speed!

Perhaps others use another approach to gain momentum and give the feel of a mini walk through.

 

[starsnuffer]

Perhaps others use another approach to gain momentum and give the feel of a mini walk through.

Yeah, it's pretty much to simulate a running start. I've heard you and a few other more technical analysts explain how the pre-tension stretch helps to fire muscles, and I think this plays a part as well. By lifting the toe, the toe has to be put back down on the ground just before firing/push.

-W

 

[Rocketech1]

I updated the OP to reflect the following (I hope I'm not stating the obvious but these could certainly be up for debate):

"When analyzing pitching stats over a season, the following criteria is important in determining the effectiveness of a pitcher (Note: these are trends and correlations):

- Strikeout to Walk ratio - At a minimum it should be 2K per 1BB. The best pitchers have a 3-1 or greater ratio. A 1K per 1BB is normally an indicator of an ineffective pitcher.

- Strike% - the optimum strike % seems to be around 60-70% once you get below 55%, you have an inconsistent pitcher that can't find the strike zone. Anything above 70% and you likely have a pitcher that gets hit pretty hard and frequently

- WHIP (Walks/Hits per Inning Pitched) - Pitchers with WHIP of 2.00 or lower are going to be fairly effective.

- Earned Run Average (ERA) - anything below 2.50 is good, below 1.50 is great.

- Pitches Per Inning (PPI) - Another indicator of an effective pitcher is the number of pitches thrown per inning. Below 15 PPI is good, ineffective pitchers have 20+.

- Opponents Batting Average - You want to keep your opponents batting average below .250."

 

[Rick Pauly]

RT...some good stats to use for analysis. I am going to add a couple thoughts/experiences.
1. Strike%....at the upper levels quite often a pitch will be called intentionally to be missed, so in this case the ball should not be counted in the % calculation. In this type scenario a 70% ratio is the benchmark. The farther below 70%, the chances of giving up runs increases. Below 60% will often end in a poor result. If intentional misses are called it is not unusual for a good pitcher to be in the 75--76% range and the end result will likely be very good.
2. First pitch strike %.....this is as important as total strike %. Again, 70% is the benchmark.
3. Location accuracy....with all the high tech video equipment at college ballparks today it is relatively easy to go back and document location accuracy....this is probably the most important stat cause as you know, a strike could be right in the fat part of the zone....great %/poor result. Location accuracy % in the range of 95% is good ( this could actually include a pitch that didn't exactly hit the intended location but did miss in a less harmful location)...i.e/ Dropball outside....misses low or low and out.

I updated the OP to reflect the following (I hope I'm not stating the obvious but these could certainly be up for debate):

"When analyzing pitching stats over a season, the following criteria is important in determining the effectiveness of a pitcher (Note: these are trends and correlations):

- Strikeout to Walk ratio - At a minimum it should be 2K per 1BB. The best pitchers have a 3-1 or greater ratio. A 1K per 1BB is normally an indicator of an ineffective pitcher.

- Strike% - the optimum strike % seems to be around 60-70% once you get below 55%, you have an inconsistent pitcher that can't find the strike zone. Anything above 70% and you likely have a pitcher that gets hit pretty hard and frequently

- WHIP (Walks/Hits per Inning Pitched) - Pitchers with WHIP of 2.00 or lower are going to be fairly effective.

- Earned Run Average (ERA) - anything below 2.50 is good, below 1.50 is great.

- Pitches Per Inning (PPI) - Another indicator of an effective pitcher is the number of pitches thrown per inning. Below 15 PPI is good, ineffective pitchers have 20+.

- Opponents Batting Average - You want to keep your opponents batting average below .250."

 

[Rocketech1]

RT...some good stats to use for analysis. I am going to add a couple thoughts/experiences.
1. Strike%....at the upper levels quite often a pitch will be called intentionally to be missed, so in this case the ball should not be counted in the % calculation. In this type scenario a 70% ratio is the benchmark. The farther below 70%, the chances of giving up runs increases. Below 60% will often end in a poor result. If intentional misses are called it is not unusual for a good pitcher to be in the 75--76% range and the end result will likely be very good.
2. First pitch strike %.....this is as important as total strike %. Again, 70% is the benchmark.
3. Location accuracy....with all the high tech video equipment at college ballparks today it is relatively easy to go back and document location accuracy....this is probably the most important stat cause as you know, a strike could be right in the fat part of the zone....great %/poor result. Location accuracy % in the range of 95% is good ( this could actually include a pitch that didn't exactly hit the intended location but did miss in a less harmful location)...i.e/ Dropball outside....misses low or low and out.

Rick - some great points here. Since I primarily use GameChanger and iScore electronic scorebooks to keep track of and and analyze pitching data; unfortunately the scorekeepers don't have a way to keep track of things like missing your locations or type of pitch thrown, for example.

One of the frustrating things for me as a coach giving the pitching signs from the dugout is we sit so far from home plate and don't have a good angle to see the location and movement of the pitch and have to rely on where the ball hits the catchers glove and other factors such where the ball hits the bat (e.g. the end of the bat, or on the handle) to determine if the pitcher is hitting her spots. Probably another good reason that catchers should be calling the game once the players reach a certain level of play and age. Maybe someday, all catchers will have a helmet camera so we coaches can see and record the game from the "trenches" and adjust the pitch calling accordingly.

 

[starsnuffer]

The coach calling the pitches, if it is not the catcher, should be charting the pitches and will know the percentage of her location accuracy. This is the most important thing to know when deciding to keep or pull a pitcher, other then the other team simply figuring her out.

-W

 

[Rocketech1]

The coach calling the pitches, if it is not the catcher, should be charting the pitches and will know the percentage of her location accuracy. This is the most important thing to know when deciding to keep or pull a pitcher, other then the other team simply figuring her out.

-W

Good point. We do a good job of tracking what the batter did her last at bat but not a good job of tracking pitches.

 

[1bucketmom]

Giving this a bump..... it's a really good post and wondering if anything would be added or changed, after a year.

 

[Doug Romrell]

The foot work of the front foot shown here.. http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/16956-pitching-absolutes-5.html#post209707 is definitely not an absolute

 

[Jmyth]

NOTE:
Set-up, when standing on the pitching plate, the pivot and stride foot should be a comfortable length apart and the pivot on the front part of the plate and the stride foot on the back part of the plate creating maximum distance with both feet legally on the plate...

Thanks for your post!

Oddly, it is not illegal for the stride foot to be off the plate (behind) in NFHS.