Spin, Speed or Spot??? in light of the WCWS

[Sweet Lou]

Location will always be most important.
Speed will be next (obviously there is some minimum speed you need for level) but the more speed you have, the more margin for error you have on missing your spot and still being successful
Spin is important, but still last of the 3.

If you want a great example from baseball, just look at Randy Johnson. he always threw exeptionally hard and he always had devistating spin on his wipe out slider. But he was esentially a little better that a league average pitcher until he turned 29 and figued out how to LOCATE his pitches. He didn't add any speed or spin as he aged up from 28 but he did refine his location and won 5 CY-Young awards in the next 10 years.

 

[torpedo #8]

I guess nobody said speed doesn't matter at all, however you have to have enough speed or nothing else matters at all. Therefore speed has to matter the most. I guess you are talking about Kelly Barnhill she went 104-22 with 1.17 ERA in her career plus numerous other awards. I guess if that is getting tagged all day a lot of pitchers would settle for that.

No you don't. You can have marginal speed and be very good if you can hit your location with all your pitches. I guarantee if all you have is a fastball you won't last. I guess you're right about 1 thing

 

[lostcreek1]

No you don't. You can have marginal speed and be very good if you can hit your location with all your pitches. I guarantee if all you have is a fastball you won't last. I guess you're right about 1 thing

“No you don’t”. Which is in reply to me saying “you have to have enough speed or nothing else matters”. If you do not realize that what I said is absolutely true you must be watching a different game than me. What was the names of the pitchers in the WCWS or the super regionals that were throwing low 50s but super accurate, because I must have missed them.

 

[radness]

No pitcher threw the same speed every pitch.
___________________________
Controlling speeds is more important than only having speed.
Speed in itself becomes irrelevant
because timing is timing.
Within those mixed speed's
location is most important and spin is relevant to making location happen.

 

[_MIA_]

How many of the all time great softball/baseball pitchers threw in the 50’s/80’s..yeah that is what I thought.

 

[radness]

Spin adds illusion to mixing speeds.

Would not underestimate that factor.

 

[tomorrow]

Maybe the word "speed" in terms of pitching should be broken down into 1. Max Velocity 2. Changing Velocity.

 

[lostcreek1]

You have to have enough speed. How much is that I’m not sure, but from my observation it seems like you are going to have to be at least low to mid 60s to pitch D1.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

Having speed and being able to mix pitches is a key to success.

I just got back from the Sparkler in Colorado, and I saw a lot of pitches get deposited over the 200' fences out there. I remember the Rockies used to put balls in a humidor to give pitchers a better grip because the balls flew out of Coors Field. I don't know if the same is true for softballs, but I never saw so many balls flying out on what would be a routine can of corn at a normal altitude. I think the pitchers struggled with their movement pitches in the thin air and dry conditions.

That being said, you have to be able to mix speeds to succeed. If not, you're not fooling anyone.

 

[Chilixa]

Haven’t seen an elite pitcher without all three. I think it is easier for a pitcher to improve accuracy and spin with practice than it is speed. Now don’t get me wrong you can Improve speed some with hard work but some girls are just born with stronger arms. Top end speed is a combination of hard work and good genetics. I think many want to believe accuracy and spin matter more because they can Improve those faster. But to be truly elite you need all 3. Now if you have really good accuracy and spin and average speed you can still be a very good pitcher.


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