That is probably what DD throws. She ran across i believe his name is Jeremy Manley who showed her this pitch at age 11. Can be a nasty pitch.
The Drop Ball
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- Aug 21, 2008
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Manley is now the pitching coach at Ball State. For quite a few years, he was one of the (if not THE) best pitcher in the world. And he never did the leaping/crowhopping that is famous in men's fastpitch. He was purely a push and drag pitcher. You can find video of him pitching on YouTube, winning the 2013 ISF World Championships.
Bill
I should have added that a backhand change typically has backspin. A change that floats is not really what you want. Ideally the hitter should swing over a change up so topspin is preferred. But spin is not as important as the difference in speed and deceptive mechanics that achieve it.
- Aug 21, 2008
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Not to split hairs ArmWhip, I would contend spin IS important if the pitcher struggle to keep the ball down. As I said before, I have seen several pitchers who throw a backflip/backhand change up and keep the ball down nearly every time, despite having backspin on the ball.
From a pure deceptive standpoint, the backflip change is hard to beat. The pitcher HAS to keep the same arm speed and push off the rubber or else the ball won't even make it to homeplate. HOWEVER, so many things can go wrong with this pitch: floating in the zone, too slow, etc. That can make it dangerous.
Bill
- Oct 26, 2019
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@Hillhouse and other PC’s. With all the discussion about different change up types and the consensus seeming to be “the best change is the one that works best for that pitcher”. I’m curious to hear what type of change up is the first type you try with a new student learning the change?
I have to throw in my 2 cents worth because after much work/study/success and failure there two ideas that have proven true to the young ladies I have helped.
1. DROP - Spin counts but here is what I have observed happening and both the "peel drop" and "turnover drop" have in common. Both releases make the pitcher concentrate on putting more spin on the ball BUT what consistently is actually happening is BOTH releases cause the pitcher to release the ball slightly earlier (even though that is not the stated intention). this means the pitch is thrown flatter - not slightly upward like a fastball. Because it is released flatter it is more affected by gravity (since it's not being thrown uphill to overcome gravity) and falls more near the plate than the ball strown slightly upward...thus...it drops.
2. CHANGE UP - The change up of whatever variety is slower because it is not being pushed by the influencing index and middle fingers which create the speed. So a palm change, flip change, horseshoe change, knuckle change and circle change all take the speed influencers off the ball. I think the flip change is by far the worst and hardest to throw accurately. The easiest could be described as an upsidedown horseshoe or whatever at release but really it is just getting the fingers to the outside of the ball and working them around and at/after release to the front (some see this action and think it's a flip...it's not) and not behind the ball. It's the big off speed pitch many MLB pitchers throw like Kluber does. He describes it here https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/sports/a23683/corey-kluber-how-to-throw-a-curveball/
1. DROP - Spin counts but here is what I have observed happening and both the "peel drop" and "turnover drop" have in common. Both releases make the pitcher concentrate on putting more spin on the ball BUT what consistently is actually happening is BOTH releases cause the pitcher to release the ball slightly earlier (even though that is not the stated intention). this means the pitch is thrown flatter - not slightly upward like a fastball. Because it is released flatter it is more affected by gravity (since it's not being thrown uphill to overcome gravity) and falls more near the plate than the ball strown slightly upward...thus...it drops.
2. CHANGE UP - The change up of whatever variety is slower because it is not being pushed by the influencing index and middle fingers which create the speed. So a palm change, flip change, horseshoe change, knuckle change and circle change all take the speed influencers off the ball. I think the flip change is by far the worst and hardest to throw accurately. The easiest could be described as an upsidedown horseshoe or whatever at release but really it is just getting the fingers to the outside of the ball and working them around and at/after release to the front (some see this action and think it's a flip...it's not) and not behind the ball. It's the big off speed pitch many MLB pitchers throw like Kluber does. He describes it here https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/sports/a23683/corey-kluber-how-to-throw-a-curveball/
