Science people vs what the eye sees, simpletons

[X pitcher]

There needs to be away to get the science people together and the common sense simpletons like me together and separated in discussions. When a person with a big science background starts talking pitching in science terms that half of us don't understand the whole point. Like Dewy Cox's dad told the doctor when Dewy cut his brother in half. "Speak English Doc". English is easier than science to understand for the simple act of pitching. Pitching should be kept simple and not as complicated as some make it. I didn't need lessons and science to learn to pitch, 55 years ago.

 

[halskinner]

Pitching is not a science. Pitching is an art.

Science can be applied to any art for a better understanding of it. If it wasnt for the science of radar guns telling the truth, every parents 10yo pitcher everywhere would still be throwing 64 to 67mph, in their opinion. We all know that only happens in California.

"Pitching is like owning a piggy bank; The most you will ever get out of it, is EXACTLY WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN WILLING TO PUT INTO IT". (Coach Hal Skinner)

 

[Hit by the Pitch]

Pitching is not a science. Pitching is an art.

Agree 100%

 

[Sweet Lou]

Pitching is not a science. Pitching is an art.

Science can be applied to any art for a better understanding of it.

Pretty well said. Science can't teach you how to pitch better but it can explain the movement and velocity of the ball after release. We'll maybe it can't explain a good knuckle ball.

 

[sluggers]

I agree that pitching is an art.

Pitching is about speed, movement and control. The more you have of each one of these, the better the pitcher.

The problem is that people come up with some silly ideas. Newbie parents and pitchers decide to start chasing unicorns rather than doing the hard and often boring work of improving speed, movement and control.

Well maybe it can't explain a good knuckle ball.

It can. A knuckle ball is like firing a ball from a musket. A spinning pitch (fastball, drop, curve, etc.) is like firing a ball from a rifled gun (like a Kentucky long rifle).

In a knuckleball, the lack of spin allows small forces to move the ball around. (The same principle causes muskets to be much less accurate than rifled guns.) The seams act like a rudder, moving the ball left, right, up and down.

 

[starsnuffer]

Pitchers try to fool batters. Batters are fooled when the ball does not move at the speed and direction that the batter believes the ball is going to move in. Many of the reasons for this are due to how the human body perceives depth and movement and the "optical" (or more aptly named "mental") illusions created to accomplish the job.

The problem with the "common sense simpletons" is that they keep claiming that they "saw it happen" and that "we should believe them" and using this as the basis for their own truth. . .when the entire premise around what they saw was designed to fool their senses.

Science explains reality and the way the world really works. It does not require belief or faith in order to be true.

Now, is a riseball any more or less effective if the batter knows the science behind it, or if the batter "believes" the dusty old coot that tells them the ball hops? Nope. Still an effective pitch.

-W

 

[X pitcher]

I agree that pitching is an art.

Pitching is about speed, movement and control. The more you have of each one of these, the better the pitcher.

The problem is that people come up with some silly ideas. Newbie parents and pitchers decide to start chasing unicorns rather than doing the hard and often boring work of improving speed, movement and control.



It can. A knuckle ball is like firing a ball from a musket. A spinning pitch (fastball, drop, curve, etc.) is like firing a ball from a rifled gun (like a Kentucky long rifle).

In a knuckleball, the lack of spin allows small forces to move the ball around. (The same principle causes muskets to be much less accurate than rifled guns.) The seams act like a rudder, moving the ball left, right, up and down.

Not everybody can be pitcher and not everybody can teach pitching. To get speed, movement and control a pitcher has to have a little bit of size, and not always have to be 6' and weigh 200 lbs.,but it helps. They also need a bit of athletic ability and some sort of a dance skill or rhythm. The ones that will never be pitchers should be weeded out and not led on to believe that some day they'll be college material, when you know they won't. Pitching coaches should stay away from teaching curves, fast balls, and screw balls.
Three pitches are all that are meant to be in FP. UP, Down and change up. Simple as that. Vertical movement and change of speeds is where it's at in FP. Chelsea don't have a fastball, curve ball or a screw ball. She spend all her learning years on 3 pitches, and it shows. Why are females taught to pitch different than males?
How many pitching coaches are there across the states? Hundreds or thousands? And they all learned how to teach pitching on the internet watching videos.

 

[X pitcher]

Pitchers try to fool batters. Batters are fooled when the ball does not move at the speed and direction that the batter believes the ball is going to move in. Many of the reasons for this are due to how the human body perceives depth and movement and the "optical" (or more aptly named "mental") illusions created to accomplish the job.

The problem with the "common sense simpletons" is that they keep claiming that they "saw it happen" and that "we should believe them" and using this as the basis for their own truth. . .when the entire premise around what they saw was designed to fool their senses.

Science explains reality and the way the world really works. It does not require belief or faith in order to be true.

Now, is a riseball any more or less effective if the batter knows the science behind it, or if the batter "believes" the dusty old coot that tells them the ball hops? Nope. Still an effective pitch.

-W

If a rise ball doesn't rise it is just a high drop ball. Girls will never throw rise balls that rise, they just throw high pitches that start low and fall slower than a drop ball. A ball thrown high is an effective pitch in the girls game if it is in the eyes for a waste pitch and not in the zone for a strike. Some pitchers over power weak hitters with speed in the zone up or down. I bet Hal could make a rise ball rise and hop. The men throw 15 mph faster from three feet further back and know how to throw with greater rpms on their back spin. Into a stiff wind helps, but Hal says he could make one hop indoors with out the wind and I believe he could for as big as he is/was.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Rising rise balls and disappearing elephants go hand in hand. Book the act in Vegas and sell out the show with special guest David Copperfield. Maybe snorting rosin bags back in the 70s and 80s was not such a good idea in retrospect.

 

[X pitcher]

Rising rise balls and disappearing elephants go hand in hand. Book the act in Vegas and sell out the show with special guest David Copperfield. Maybe snorting rosin bags back in the 70s and 80s was not such a good idea in retrospect.

Ever see a man pitch a rise ball? Big difference, and all men can't make one hop. I think it was from running through the bug fog they sprayed. Did we land on the moon in 1969?