Looking at the Florida stats page, Barnhill 9-0 and Gourley 9-1 have similar stats. Barnhill more SO (+19%), Gourley less walks (-57%). I do not know who pitches faster but both are successful. Gourley (to me) has great mechanics and is giving away 4" in height and definitely some mass but remains just as successful. Maybe the hardcore fan can rank the "value" of their wins (strength of opponent) to give some subjective qualification to their wins, but obviously the strength of the remaining Gator team factors into the success of the pitching staff. My point, in a roundabout way, is to say the illegality of the leap and/or replant does not seem significantly benefit the team.
The Kelly Barnhill Thread
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Like I said once before when I sorta quoted Trump....."without laws we have no country"
- Feb 7, 2013
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Rick - I respect your opinion, what is your thoughts about moving the pitching plate back to 46 feet and let the women pitch like the men?
It seems to me that there is nothing even remotely "natural" about dragging the pivot along the ground like an anchor when doing an athletic move. Combine that with the fact that the governing bodies have basically given up enforcing the "leap" and "replant" rules which tells me that a) there is no real advantage gained with these flawed mechanics, and b) it's nearly impossible to enforce consistently within the games or tournaments across this nation. The rules and rule books are changed and updated ever year (rules added, modified, or dropped) and this may just be one of the pitching rules that needs to be re-evaluated to determine if it should even be on the books anymore?
[MENTION=3314]Rocket[/MENTION]ch1 so this would be ALL of the mens pitching rules?
I happen to give lessons to some male pitchers also......and of course they all crowhop......and I hate that the men's game has come to this.....many of them also leap way outside the pitching lanes that we have in the women's game......which is going to be the next illegality that weak administrators will give into. I am pretty strongly opinionated that the inability to recognize and call both crowhopping and landing outside the lines is POOR UMPIRING. Within the definition of POOR is a wide range of interpretation.
We moved the pitching distance from 40 feet back to 43 feet several years ago because pitchers were dominating hitters at 40 feet.....if we moved it back to 46 feet it would be a huge disadvantage for any legal pitcher and make the crowhoppers mere mortals again......the added reaction time for a hitter would really tilt in the hitters favor.......plus the girls that do have a legit riseball from the 43 foot distance would become homerun fodder.....the riseball would significantly flatten out prior to entering the hitting zone....aka homerun. city. IMO, next to a heart stopping change up, the riseball is the most exciting thing in fastpitch......let's not turn our wonderful game into a "fat mans slow pitch beer league".
I think the other issue you'd have with moving the rubber back to 46' is the trickle-down effect it would have on youth softball.
Remember that the move to 43' started out as something they did for college to bring in more offense (and thus make it more TV-friendly). There was a period where the international distance was still 40', so college pitchers participating in international play had to go back and forth.
The next step was to move the high school distance back to 43', mostly so that when college coaches were scouting high school pitchers they could get a better idea of how those pitchers would fare at their schools. This was shortly followed by the mandate to move the rubber to 43' all the way down to the 14U level. Again for the benefit of scouting travel ball. That was fine for the early maturers and great athletes, but made it more of a struggle for the short, scrawny pitchers who hadn't filled out or hit a growth spurt yet. I believe the 12U pitching distance was also moved from 35' to 40' at that time.
So what would be the fallout of moving the college distance back to 46' to allow the illegal pitchers to illegally pitch? Eventually you'd have 13 year olds, or maybe even 12 year olds playing up, throwing from 46'. Especially as colleges recruit earlier and earlier. At that point, you really would have what Rick said - a "fat mans slow pitch beer league."
Remember that the move to 43' started out as something they did for college to bring in more offense (and thus make it more TV-friendly). There was a period where the international distance was still 40', so college pitchers participating in international play had to go back and forth.
The next step was to move the high school distance back to 43', mostly so that when college coaches were scouting high school pitchers they could get a better idea of how those pitchers would fare at their schools. This was shortly followed by the mandate to move the rubber to 43' all the way down to the 14U level. Again for the benefit of scouting travel ball. That was fine for the early maturers and great athletes, but made it more of a struggle for the short, scrawny pitchers who hadn't filled out or hit a growth spurt yet. I believe the 12U pitching distance was also moved from 35' to 40' at that time.
So what would be the fallout of moving the college distance back to 46' to allow the illegal pitchers to illegally pitch? Eventually you'd have 13 year olds, or maybe even 12 year olds playing up, throwing from 46'. Especially as colleges recruit earlier and earlier. At that point, you really would have what Rick said - a "fat mans slow pitch beer league."
Wait, so is there a benefit to leapers or not?
Yes, because its one less mechanic they have to focus on.
- Feb 7, 2013
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- 48
Here's some food for thought based on some posters comments in this thread:
CROW HOP: I'm not an expert in ALL of the men's pitching rules but would suggest that the women should be allowed to "crow hop" pitch just like the men.
MOVING THE RUBBER BACK MAKES THE RISEBALL INEFFECTIVE: If the concern is that moving the pitching plate back takes away from the riseball and change-up, then you certainly can adjust the strike zone height. Heck the high strike was recently lowered from under arm pits to sternum. No reason you can't adjust back upward and or downward? However, adding a "crow hop" may increase speed and lessen the distance (bigger leap)to home plate making this a non-issue. Make the change AND have the umpire enforce the rules every time!
MOVING THE RUBBER BACK HURTS THE YOUTH SOFTBALL PLAYERS: I would argue that allowing a "crow hop" which is a more "natural" move (i.e. like throwing overhand long distances) would give the young pitchers more power and an extra foot or two of stride to make up for any increase in pitching distance. They would get better, more quickly because they are not worried about having to "unnaturally" drag their pivot foot along the ground. They also would not have to deal with god awful field set-ups (i.e. huge holes in front of the pitching plate) and could focus on what is truly important in pitching which is good arm circle mechanics, internal rotation, and brush interference.
HISTORY OF THE WINDMILL PITCH: Wasn't there a time in softball where you could only sling shot the pitch with step style stride (Similar to modified rules today?). Over time, there seemed to be a need for leap and drag mechanics and were ruled legal. Doesn't this give an advantage to the pitcher leaping and striding closer to the batter? The point is the rules are constantly changing (e.g moving fences back as the bats have gotten hotter and better conditioned athletes) based on the current times and trends.
LEAP AND REPLANT IS AN ADVANTAGE: I'm not convinced that leaping is move efficient than a light drag of the pivot and the replant is the women's game is not getting the pitcher any closer to the batter (unlike a crow hop).
CHANGING THE RULES IS UNFAIR TO THE PITCHERS WHO CONFORM TO THE CURRENT RULES: With this argument you can NEVER make any changes to the pitching rules. Can't new pitching rules be phased in at the younger age groups over several years? Right now you have many, many pitchers who don't 100% conform to the pitching rules and the Umpires turn a blind eye and refuse to enforce them. How is that fair. At least if you changed the rules everyone would have the opportunity to pitch using crow hop mechanics.
The bottom-line is the pitching rules are in limbo and need to be fixed ASAP.
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