Riseball spin clips

[FiveFrameSwing]

As Ken tried to explain the other day ..... take note of the result when you pitch. Here you see the 'profile' of a riseball. In the end, you are throwing a riseball to obtain this movement/profile.

Have seen folks chase a phantom dream of a riseball .... pure frustration on the part of the pitcher and instructor. Clear up the notion of what a riseball looks like and the job is much simpler.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Clearing up a possible misconception about what good Riseball spin looks like is what I am trying to do by showing the actual spin of very effective riseballs at the top D1 level and above. Clips of riseball pitches that do not show the spin are plentiful. You can watch any game and see them 50 times. Seeing the actual spin of these pitches allows people to see the correlation so they know if the spin axis is correct for a good Riseball and can start working on other things like spin rate and release angle
If you have a description, opinion, clip of what you consider good RB spin then please share.

 

[JJsqueeze]

I've watched numerous games in the World Series Tournament going on; every "rise ball" clip shown by ESPN and identified as a rise ball by the announcers has had a bullet spin. I'm not saying that there's no one throwing backspin but they are a rare breed for sure. I say if you've got a girl throwing a nice bullet spin rise ball go with it. It sure seems to be working for the top D1 pitchers around the country.

This is what I a am seeing as well. The bullet spin is tilted though so it does usually have a little backspin and curve spin too it.

 

[mothgirl]

What's a riseball grip for small hands? My dd has small hands, they are strong she plays piano, she has strong fingers, but kinda short stubby fingers unfortunately and she's not ready to actually throw a riseball yet but she wants to work on spins in the house when she's not practicing outside, thanks for and help!

 

[mothgirl]

Here are two photos of Pauly showing me the riseball grip that he prefers if the pitchers fingers are long enough. The index finger needs to be spring-loaded. That is not only is the tip of the index finger jammed into the edge of the seam, the inside (or palm side) knuckle of the index finger is pressed against the ball. It's this spring-loaded action that helps pop the ball out to the right axis orientation for a riseball.

View attachment 8241View attachment 8242View attachment 8249

(Forgot to reply with quote my last post)

Do you have any suggestions for a grip for smaller hands?

 

[Edy]

I personally like grips that pre-load the spin with finger tension.
For a RB I put my index finger along the horseshoe seam and push it into the ball so the pressure will bend my finger outside (the index and middle fingers are spread and far). The other fingers just grip the ball to keep that pressure.
To better understand the idea, as you release the other fingers the tension in the index finger will naturally put spin on the ball (just like a spring). At release, all fingers work to spin the ball, but the pre-load will help it a lot

It looks something like this:

For the RB I use three fingers instead of two, but I have big hands. Your DD might want to try it with all four fingers

 

[Ken B]

Some of my favorite RB posts/threads:
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18364-riseball-spin-41.html#post238569
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18364-riseball-spin-3.html#post235023
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18580-how-do-you-throw-riseball.html
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18364-riseball-spin-5.html#post235087
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18364-riseball-spin-9.html#post235247
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/18364-riseball-spin-16.html#post235522
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-pitching/16761-creating-spin-5.html#post205085

 

[mothgirl]

Thank you! The high school coach asked my dd to learn the rise ball. I just don't want it to mess with her FB/DB and what she really needs to get down is her CU! But I figured she could at least play around with the grips and see what's best for her to spin it good?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[corlay]

Ive said it before, and Ill say it again:
if you can throw a bullet-spin "rise",
along with a biting, down-spinning "drop",
and a good "change"; you will be a very effective pitcher.

<TossingFuelOnTheFire>

Givin the video evidence presented so far:
a) a 12-6 (or even anything close to that) "riseball" is looking more and more like a rainbow-colored unicorn
b) and does that mean a "low rise" is essentially a bullet-spin "fastball" thrown without an upward trajectory? Hmmmm...

 

[sluggers]

JJ...do you have the full recording of the UCLA v. Michigan game on May 29? The intro to the show had slow motion of Megan Betsa throwing a rise with about 1-7 rotation.

The rise is a very difficult pitch to throw. Few pitchers have good breaking stuff. The stuff about 12YOA kids have a great *anything* is just crap.