Should pitchers be taught a bullet spin fastball?

[starsnuffer]

Therefore, Hoyt Wilhelm and Phil Niekro should be removed from the Hall of Fame They were knuckleball pitchers, and there re is nothing more unpredictable than a knuckle ball, so, according to your logic, they were terrible pitchers.

My DD had movement on her fastball. It would break between 2 to 4 inches on most pitches. She did not have 12-6 spin or bullet spin on her fastball. The axis of rotation was tiled. She had small hands and she used a two finger grip.

Good catchers never had a problem with it once they realized they had to watch the ball all the way into the glove.

That's like saying a model T doesn't belong in the automobile hall of fame just because it can't do 80mph. I can't remember the last time I saw a knuckleball used in a top 25 college game. (although I do know a pitcher who used it playing for St. Mary's a few years back).

What I'm trying to say is that if the pitch is thrown the same way every time, the ball will have the same movement every time. Isn't that why we practice, so that we're consistent? I've never heard anyone in any sport trying to practice a skill in a way that it was not consistent every time when done right.

Shockcoach, the entire reason our pitchers have multiple pitches is so they can be unpredictable to the batter. The curve ball is thrown to a particular spot, it isn't simply thrown. Same with the drop, rise, screw, fastball, and everything else.

What the hell is the use of an "unpredictable" fastball? Where does the pitcher aim it? Does she throw it down the middle and hope it breaks down and in? If it doesn't, is it just a big old fat honking pitch to it? Or does she try for the corner and hope it doesn't break for a ball or even a passed ball? If the pitcher doesn't know where it's going, how exactly is this used?

Sluggers, your daughters fastball had movement, nothing wrong with that. A lot of pitchers have movement on their fastball. My daughters drops a bit a drifts an inch or two to the outside. It does this consistantly though (because she doesn't have a "perfect" release yet), but it's not random. It doesn't not drop on one pitch and drop on another, or break in instead of out. She can hit softballs off a T at the plate wherever I put them, which is the point of a fastball, it can thread the needle when you really need that strike.

I guess I'm not specifying that "random" or "unpredictable" movement is bad, rather then any movement. Make sense?

-W

 

[SoftSocDad]

My little one loves to experiment with her grip and wrist action, because she's absolutely fascinated by the physics with respect to the path the ball takes relative to her finger placement, etc.

That being said, both her 'proper' fastball and her modified bullet spin ball travel on the most direct line to her target and I cannot detect any noticeable difference in speed.