Screwball Spin vs Fastball Spin

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Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
I beg to differ...a "meatball" is a legitimate pitch thrown with bullet spin, and my DD has thrown more than her fair share of them!

After a fatty I tell my pitchers that if they are going to serve up meatballs they should include some marinara and bread sticks. :)
 

bmd

Jan 9, 2015
301
28
WOW 2 pitchers....sounds fun !!! Speaking of Fun... Curves & Screws are fun. Started out around 10U teaching DD both. The idea was to make her feel like a magician, & she did.

Here is a couple things I found very helpful...

-When I started out early, only build on what I'd keep. Speed increases with size, and you know, they grow up fast. Your going to need off speed that breaks 2 planes. With DD I was aware of catching a hitch, when learning CU's. I knew how hard it was to fix... so I stayed out of it. Besides she could hit them, she wasn't impressed.

-Because she could always see the ball real good hitting, the best thing to teach is why to throw a SB/C first. I did that by pitching them to her. Even now @ 14, I have her hitting BB, on a machine, that can move the ball in & out, but it can't move them as much as she can. She would hate to face a pitcher like herself.

-Really the ball only has to move the width of the bat, or out of the sweet spot. The goal now becomes... keeping your corners from getting drilled, and spreading the pop-ups around to all the fielders.

Here she is taking a little pop out of a big bat. :cool: She was guesting, and didn't have her #57 on. But the 57 showed up, on 1/100 seconds form release to plate. The team had 10 double plays, in three games that day...
glad she got 1 like the big girls :{)) Same speed...same pitch she learned in 10U

<video width="512" height="100%" controls loop video controls autoplay>
<source src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58923514/Resent/Bend_HB.mp4" />
</video>

Good Luck with the Newbie

Cool clips! Is that you sitting on the bucket with the purple shirt on??? If so the yawn as your dd makes a double play is funny to me. LOL
 
May 30, 2013
1,442
83
Binghamton, NY
I beg to differ...a "meatball" is a legitimate pitch thrown with bullet spin,

the only deviation to this is pure velocity.
Abbott seems to get away with placement, velocity, and a very "bullety" ball...
70mph sure helps...
 
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Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
My daughter is throwing a beautiful screwball at 12. Her screwball is absolutely a 9-3 at about 47 mph.

With all do respect, a "screwball" thrown from 40 feet with a speed of 47mph (the speed of some high school pitchers change-ups), is going to have a huge hump on the pitch for it to reach home plate. Would love to see a real screwball, with 9-3 spin, thrown at 65pmh+. Maybe it exists, I just have never seen it, just like I have never seen a rise ball "jump" or banana upwards...:)
 
Nov 16, 2016
13
0
Understood. I will get video footage at her next lesson. She absolutely doesn't have hump in the screwball pitch.
 
Jan 4, 2012
3,848
38
OH-IO
Cool clips! Is that you sitting on the bucket with the purple shirt on??? If so the yawn as your dd makes a double play is funny to me. LOL

Thx....on the cool clips...No, its not me... I'm @ the fence in center field shooting the clip.... The gentlemen was from the other team...:cool:
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
the only deviation to this is pure velocity.
Abbott seems to get away with placement, velocity, and a very "bullety" ball...
70mph sure helps...

Hard to call any pitch thrown 70 MPH a "meatball", but the number of pitchers who can throw 70+ is few and far between (radar Grandpa's don't count).
 

JAD

Feb 20, 2012
8,231
38
Georgia
I'd have to see a true 9-3 screwball with enough rotation and velocity to make a difference to believe it. Can I believe there's a martian out there that can do it? Sure. Most of what I have seen called a screwball is a bulletspin pitch with a slight nose down yaw that creates a subtle inward "drift". The pitch for most part, based on what I have seen, relies on the smoke and mirrors of angles. Not to say it's not effective.... just not buying the 9-3 gig. I'd love to see someone throw it with a striped ball and show me a nice crisp "flat" line.

My DD throws a pretty good screwball, but when she really tries to amp one up, the spin tends to become more 8-2 vs. 9-3. We call this a "scrise"...
 
Jan 4, 2012
3,848
38
OH-IO
Understood. I will get video footage at her next lesson. She absolutely doesn't have hump in the screwball pitch.

Great !!! Here is a humpless curve while we wait. :cool:

sydney_littlejohn_.gif


Here is a jumping banana Rise

Rise.gif
 
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