Small colleges - MPH

[riseball]

Rise, I gotta nothing but love for you, but OILF is right.

She said:



So, riseball, name me a top-notch college pitcher without a vertical movement pitch?

"All top-notch college pitchers have both a vertical movement pitch and a horizontal moving pitch."

She said both a vertical and horizontal movement pitch. But to your point I do not know of any that do not move the ball North and South. However, I am pretty sure that Nickie Blue from South Carolina does not throw a East/West pitch. The use of ALL in lieu of MOST is vintage OLIF where she asserts her personal observations and opinion as matters of fact.

 

[Madsdad]

Rocketech1,

I see this quite a bit in our area with the girls who throw hard. All fastballs thrown on angles with the same spin. Stride to the left, stride to the right. It works well at the high school level with most weak hitters. I have never been a fan of this but some people teach it.

 

[sluggers]

Rise...I agree with you.

My DD threw a really good drop. Her curve and screw...not so much.

 

[riseball]

Rise...I agree with you.

My DD threw a really good drop. Her curve and screw...not so much.

To me the drop, regardless of how you throw it is a must have. When all else fails it will usually get the job done.

 

[Rocketech1]

Hillhouse is a big proponent of working vertically: riseball, drop ball, changeup. However, IMO the lowering on the upper strike zone in recent years has made the riseball a little less effective than prior to the change. Even at 12u travel, the high strike is not called at the lower sternum per the rules.

Agree with you guys that the drop ball is an important pitch to have to keep the ball in the park. Nothing wrong with ground balls and relying on the other fielders to make some outs.

 

[JAD]

Vertically moving pitches are more effective because the distance the ball needs to move is significantly less. The sweet spot on a 33" bat is probably 6-8" long and 1.5" wide.

 

[riseball]

Vertically moving pitches are more effective because the distance the ball needs to move is significantly less. The sweet spot on a 33" bat is probably 6-8" long and 1.5" wide.

In addition the bat tends to be horizontal so you are often moving away from, not with the typical plane of the bat.