Question about position on pitcher's plate for LH

[MandM]

I have noticed some of the D1 college pitchers (eg Keilani Ricketts) who are leftie drive off the left side of the mound (sometimes far left). Is there a rhyme or reason to this (eg angle to right-handed batter) or is it just personal preference?
Thx

 

[MandM]

For this, a real observation is better than video! Thanks- just wondering if there was some more new things to think about

 

[CoachFP]

For what it's worth the pitcher's rubber is not that big and both feet have to be on it. Not much advantage to getting on one side or the other. It's in their head.

 

[Carly]

It's not just lefties. Sometimes pitchers who rely primarily on their screw or curve and step across or to the side a lot (which IMO isn't necessary but that doesn't mean pitchers don't do it anyway) set up on one side of the rubber or the other to maximize their step over. Legally you have to stay within the width of the rubber, so starting all the way to one side gives a pitcher a few more inches of sideways step.

Some pitchers have a slide step in their load too. They'll start on a far edge but end up closer to the middle before pushing off.

 

[starsnuffer]

For what it's worth the pitcher's rubber is not that big and both feet have to be on it. Not much advantage to getting on one side or the other. It's in their head.

That's not exactly true. If you take a string and lay it from the 3b side of the pitching rubber to the front edge of the 1b side of home plate, you create an angle that gets you a few inches outside of the plate at its center point. A few inches is all a curve ball moves, so when you add up a few inches with a few inches, you get a few more inches. Hitting is a game of inches, and it does matter. At the same time, throwing from the 3b side of the rubber to the 3b inside corner of the plate, you create a straight line, and a slightly shorter pitching distance. Inside pitches already must be attacked sooner by a batter then outside pitches, so using a straight line to create an illusion of more speed compared to an outside pitch (that a batter already has more time to hit as these must travel deep) also creates an advantage.

Not big advantages, but it's more then just in their head.

-W

 

[Kaizen]

Some pitchers also tend to step a bit sideways and can get called for illegal pitches if they step outside the 24" lane. So they adjust their starting point to one side to stay within the lane.

 

[CoachFP]

That's not exactly true. If you take a string and lay it from the 3b side of the pitching rubber to the front edge of the 1b side of home plate, you create an angle that gets you a few inches outside of the plate at its center point. A few inches is all a curve ball moves, so when you add up a few inches with a few inches, you get a few more inches. Hitting is a game of inches, and it does matter. At the same time, throwing from the 3b side of the rubber to the 3b inside corner of the plate, you create a straight line, and a slightly shorter pitching distance. Inside pitches already must be attacked sooner by a batter then outside pitches, so using a straight line to create an illusion of more speed compared to an outside pitch (that a batter already has more time to hit as these must travel deep) also creates an advantage.

Not big advantages, but it's more then just in their head.

-W

Granted, if you move those couple of inches to one side you get those inches on a certain pitch. But you also take a couple inches away from the other side of the plate. Secondly, if you are moving around for different pitches that will be found out quickly and you'll lose your advantage.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Granted, if you move those couple of inches to one side you get those inches on a certain pitch. But you also take a couple inches away from the other side of the plate. Secondly, if you are moving around for different pitches that will be found out quickly and you'll lose your advantage.

Some pitchers have a slide step in their load too. They'll start on a far edge but end up closer to the middle before pushing off.

Since mine is a LHP, guess I'll throw in my 2 cents. Mine will corner push time to time and slide from time to time. Like CoachFP stated you don't want to signal or give the batter any indications of the pitch, that's why we mix them.

Now for DD the slide will add a better drop to her outside screw. The corner push will tend to give more side break to the screw. But again we incorporate the corner and the slide on all pitches making it almost impossible to read. I also feel using the two loads helps some from batters timing the release.