Screwball rotation?

[Gags]

From the pitchers perspective, wouldn't a counter-clockwise spin result in a drop ball?

 

[Tatonka]

From the pitchers perspective, wouldn't a counter-clockwise spin result in a drop ball?

No

 

[DNeeld]

Her new screwball has her right thumb turning down and in and towards her body..
Her old style had her thumb turning up and away from her body...
Coach said that is an unnatural motion.
Made sense and the pitch is much better

Good lord.

Just throw an inside location IR pitch and call it a screwball.

All the useless "door knob" motion -- whether turning clockwise or counter-clockwise -- is doing is imparting bullet spin anyway, so despite all the contortions all that is being thrown is an....inside pitch.

 

[ArmWhip]

Clockwise or counterclockwise is still bullet spin which won't break. A screwball has the opposite spin that a curve ball has, there needs to be some degree of horizontal spin orientation. You might be able to 'cut' a top spin fastball and get it to break a little but I wouldn't consider that a screwball. I have been to hundreds of college, high school and travel games and never seen a true screwball.

 

[Ken B]

I've only seen 3 scrops--two of which were thrown almost sidearm. I've seen a handful of cutters that sometimes move and sometimes don't. Nyree White has a video on one of her pages that shows a girl throwing what seems to be a legit screw. Not sure of the spin or how it's achieved? All the other screwballs I've seen are the drive left and throw right type. I just don't know if it's humanly possible to get 3-9 (or 2-8) spin without throwing sidearm.

Nyree's video:
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https://www.facebook.com/brickwallsoftball/videos/1051011111771333/&show_text=0&width=380

 

[sluggers]

Clockwise or counterclockwise is still bullet spin which won't break.

I mentioned this is in a different thread...but we really don't know enough to make a blanket statement that bullet spin pitches don't break.

It would be possible to throw a bullet spin pitch where the axis of rotation with the ball is different than the direction of the ball flight.

If that happens, then the seam orientation is not symmetrical. One side of the ball would have more drag than the other side of the ball, and the ball would break.

Here is a Rachel Garcia riseball:



This is clearly a bullet spin pitch. Yet, the batter swings 6 inches below the ball....suggesting that it was a riseball.

 

[Hillhouse]

I mentioned this is in a different thread...but we really don't know enough to make a blanket statement that bullet spin pitches don't break.

I'll make the blanket statement. Bullet spin pitches don't break. They can't. And in the other thread I used the example of a baseball curveball... why is it necessary to twist the ball as pitchers do in baseball to make it curve? Because the ball will break in the direction it's spinning. How they grip it is not important, the rotation is important and any baseball pitching coach will tell you that. You don't see anyone throwing a fastball outside and calling it a curve in baseball, yet in softball we see that all the time because instructors are either too lazy to fix the problem, don't know how to fix the problem to make it spin correct, they don't know what correct spin looks like, or they rely on bad hitting to make their pitchers look good.

Bill

 

[sluggers]

Bullet spin pitches don't break.

Then, how to explain MLB sliders? Are MLB pitchers and batters crazy for saying the pitch breaks?

 

[Hillhouse]

Then, how to explain MLB sliders? Are MLB pitchers and batters crazy for saying the pitch breaks?

No, not crazy at all. Keeping in mind this is all off of research not personal experience, I've never played baseball.

A curveball has more of a sinking action with the break (consider it a "drop curve) for reference. A slider is more of a sideways break, and sometimes doesn't break as sharply as a curve but it's thrown faster. Either way, the pitcher gets their grip and turns their wrist at the release making the ball spin in the direction it's trying to move. As I understand it, a curve is thrown more off the middle finger, the slider more off the index finger. Curve balls try to get the 12/6 rotation for the dropping action, sliders want the 2/8 rotation for sideways break.

Bill

 

[mmeece]

Then, how to explain MLB sliders? Are MLB pitchers and batters crazy for saying the pitch breaks?

As you said earlier, the axis matters greatly. When I played baseball we called straight bullet spin sliders "cement mixers" (since they had that completely sideways spin) and they get hit very hard. But, turn that axis so that it spins slightly more over the top and you get a sharp slider.