Screwball

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Mar 28, 2014
1,081
113
I just watched Miss Royalty pitch to 3 different batters. Her game is simple. Shes deadly accurate. Who cares what spin is on the ball
Ditto my thoughts exactly. Ball looks straight as an arrow but she can throw hard and can hit a pie plate on demand so who cares if it moves.
 
Jun 8, 2016
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Many youth softball coaches don't look much past their nose and then in 2 or 3 years time when the softball starts to get "real" they wonder why they cannot win anymore...
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
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Just another great example of a bad coach. Theres a lot of them

I just watched Miss Royalty pitch to 3 different batters. Her game is simple. Shes deadly accurate. Who cares what spin is on the ball

I'd say her pitching coach cares quite a bit about what kind of spin is on the ball. In fact, I'm 100% confident the spin, it's direction and amount of RPM's are discussed whenever they see each other.

Second, her "stride to the left" is something she has been working on trying to fix. That said, I know this game, the stride left looks a lot worse than it actually is based off the camera's angle. And I remember her saying there was a large hole, or a pit of sand that she was desperately trying to avoid so she had to alter her position on the rubber, direction of her push, etc.
 
Sep 3, 2015
372
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I've heard about this screwball, but I find it hard to believe. DD does the step left throw right "screwball", can be effective to both righties and lefties.

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Oct 4, 2018
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113
Just had this conversation with a parent yesterday-

There are coaches out there that ONLY call it as a strike-out pitch and then get upset when the kid can’t throw it late in a game on Sunday when all the pressure is on, after only getting it called once or twice all day, because she threw it poorly once in a pool game on Saturday.


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Agreed. In 10U it was almost predictable that 0-2 count meant "here comes the change-up". I handled pitch calling and often went high fastball (out of the zone) on 0-2. Sometimes the change. Didn't want to be predictable.

I loved using the change-up to get the first strike. Liked to get batters a bit frustrated to start their AB.
 
Jan 6, 2009
6,590
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Chehalis, Wa
I've had a lot of pitchers in FP say they're throwing it but I've never seen it. A screwball is commonly referred to but doesn't work commonly. I can't imagine how you have to manipulate your arm in fast pitch to get a screwball spin.

The way many teach to throw the screwball is an impossible release. You can learn a two seamer similar too baseball. A two seamer moves like a screw ball in some cases.
 
Last edited:
Jun 11, 2012
741
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Is it a bad thing that I looked quickly at this post title and briefly wondered why there was a post about Screwball peanut butter whiskey?
 
Sep 25, 2015
15
3
Brooklin, ON
Would agree that if the screwball requires the opposite spin of a curve...then no one throws a screwball that has enough speed and spin to do anything. However, there are many discussion on this forum that talk about how balls break in different directions that oppose spin direction logic. My DD (righty) throws a rise ball that quite often breaks up and to the right. I know another girl (also a righty) that has consistent right break on her pitches. Her pitches have more of a bullet spin.
So what do you call a pitch from a righty that breaks right but not based on spin direction?
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
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Mom doesn't want to hear a pitching coach that makes their daughter throw for accuracy and work tirelessly spotting a fastball before doing anything else

Then Mom and her DD can go find another coach who will steal her money. On more than one occasion I've had to stop seeing a kid for something similar, and I'm certainly not going to bow to pressure and start teaching things when she's not ready. Thats like building your house's foundation on quick sand.

Most of the time this comes from the pressure of the girl's teammates who claim their coach has taught her 6 pitches. The daughter hears the teammate has 6 pitches and thinks she's behind. This upsets momma. And when momma is mad, daddy gets mad. And once again it's one of those situations where the other girl doesn't actually have 6 pitches. And I think I've broken some hearts when I have said unapologetically that I only threw 3 pitches, not 7 in my career.
 

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