- Sep 26, 2019
- 3
- 1
Screwball help
- Thread starter Man10
- Start date
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The spin is not 9-3.
As with most screwballs it looks like bullet spin home run fodder to me. Amazing how many people think a screwball is supposed to look like that.
- Sep 26, 2019
- 3
- 1
I'm new to this, my dd's first year in club ball.
Looks 9-3 to me. You can see the same letters on the ball face the camera the entire time and its spinning clockwise.
Whats the difference between a bullet spin and a 9-3 screw spin? Does a bullet spin just mean it didn't break or is the spin visually different?
9-3 spin, the mythical screwball, is horizontal for starters. From a right handed pitcher the front of the ball is seen as rotating from 1st base towards 3rd base. Bullet spin is the same spin as a football spiral, the ball rotates in a vertical plane with the axis lined up with 2nd base and home plate. Spins are often not 'pure' meaning the axis is not always perfectly aligned. I have seen tipped bullet spin break into a hitter a little, very little.
That is bullet spin. If it were 9/3 spin, it would be spinning like a globe.
If you notice in the referenced video the "riseball" and "screwball" have just about the same spin. So what is the difference in the two besides the location it is thrown to?
- Aug 24, 2018
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A globe spins on an axis, just saying. Not sure what spins on 9/3, maybe a UFO ;-)
- Jul 1, 2019
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For true 9-3 spin, think of a basketball spinning on a finger. The axis that the ball is rotating around is vertical, ie the finger it's spinning on. Bullet spin has that axis running directly toward the catcher. For the most effective movement, that axis needs to be as vertical as possible. You will still get some movement if that axis is tilted forward toward the catcher, but it looses effectiveness for every degree that it tilts forward.
- Sep 26, 2019
- 3
- 1
I got it now! that helps a lot. my imaginary clock was on the wrong axis
- Aug 21, 2008
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Ok, I can't take it. I realize the fallacy of the screwball will be embedded in the minds of pitchers and parents of pitchers the way Bigfoot, Lockness monster, and Atlantis is to others. This is partially thanks to the genius insights of ESPN color commentators who proclaim every pitch to be amazing, anything thrown inside "Oh, what a screwball!" Or, anything high: "Oh, what a riseball!!" No, bull crap. Those commentators are actually, what I call, "A safe distance from genius". Sometimes an inside pitch is just that, an inside pitch. And what moron decided that stepping way left and throwing it in to a Righty is a screwball? That's like saying anyone playing slowpitch throws riseballs because they throw the ball sky high! Somewhere along the way people have confused forced movement with breaking pitches. And it truly needs to stop. It makes kids think they need 8 pitches.
One of my basic principals of throwing pitches is, you need the ball to spin in the direction it's trying to move. Riseballs need to spin backward. Dropballs need to spin forwards. Curveballs need to spin sideways. Baseball is the same thing: look at the spin needed to generate a curveball. But the screwball, the best you can hope for is a bullet like spin. That spin actually keeps the ball flat, without any movement. You're never going to get the ball spinning the polar opposite way of a curveball. Maybe, maybe if you're double or triple jointed? I don't know. But, to me, the things required to throw this non-existent pitch are silly to do. You have to change how you stride (way out to the left for a RH pitcher), you have to twist your wrist in opposite direction of where it wants to go, and you have to unwhip your elbow. Why would you change your mechanics so much to simply throw a ball inside and it doesn't go up or down? Nevermind all the things you're doing that are tipping to the batter what pitch is being thrown!!! I simply don't get it. I was a pretty good pitcher, and I know I couldn't make the ball "curve inward" the way people want to believe. Again, it's forced movement not breaking pitches. And changing your mechanics to do that is ridiculous, not only for the sake of tipping off the pitch but also breaking yourself out of rhythm of actual good mechanics.
End of rant.
Bill
One of my basic principals of throwing pitches is, you need the ball to spin in the direction it's trying to move. Riseballs need to spin backward. Dropballs need to spin forwards. Curveballs need to spin sideways. Baseball is the same thing: look at the spin needed to generate a curveball. But the screwball, the best you can hope for is a bullet like spin. That spin actually keeps the ball flat, without any movement. You're never going to get the ball spinning the polar opposite way of a curveball. Maybe, maybe if you're double or triple jointed? I don't know. But, to me, the things required to throw this non-existent pitch are silly to do. You have to change how you stride (way out to the left for a RH pitcher), you have to twist your wrist in opposite direction of where it wants to go, and you have to unwhip your elbow. Why would you change your mechanics so much to simply throw a ball inside and it doesn't go up or down? Nevermind all the things you're doing that are tipping to the batter what pitch is being thrown!!! I simply don't get it. I was a pretty good pitcher, and I know I couldn't make the ball "curve inward" the way people want to believe. Again, it's forced movement not breaking pitches. And changing your mechanics to do that is ridiculous, not only for the sake of tipping off the pitch but also breaking yourself out of rhythm of actual good mechanics.
End of rant.
Bill
