The magical riseball story.

[GunnerShotgun]

I disagree. I don't believe a rise ball 'magically rises' but, sit on a bucket and tell me if gravity 'drops' the ball into your shins.

Allow me to rephrase.

It's clear that a rise ball doesn't rise. The reason that batters perceive it to rise is that they have expectations (experience) on how gravity affects a thrown object (the ball).

Every pitch has an arc to it (fastball, rise ball, and drop ball).

"The perceptual illusions of a rise ball are caused by the batter tracking the ball over the first part of its trajectory with smooth pursuit eye movements, making a saccadic eye movement to a predicted point ahead of the ball. At the end of the ball's flight, resuming smooth pursuit tracking.

The batter is misestimating the acceleration or speed of the pitch."

It's merely an optical illusion and an effective one if you haven't seen it before (experience).

 

[JJsqueeze]

This whole argument is silly. A drop ball, fastball and rise ball are the same pitch.

Some just fall less than would be expected because of gravity.

the whole forum is silly then. Fastpitch is just baseball with a larger ball right?.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

the whole forum is silly then. Fastpitch is just baseball with a larger ball right?.

There seems to be more crying in softball. But that is anecdotal.

 

[JJsqueeze]

^^^^best response ever.

 

[rdbass]

There seems to be more crying in softball. But that is anecdotal.

Beings I'm guilty of making statements with no facts to back them up I agree.

 

[SBFAMILY]

I have seen Hillhouse throw a riseball and he has the best one I have seen. I also got to watch it in slow motion video. Does it go up no!

Dave Patekau did a video presentation that convinced me. I would have swore it went up till then. Although most of us pitching instructors, pitchers, hitters, coaches, and parents feel that we have seen rise balls “hop” over the top of a bat, there is no scientific evidence to prove that a softball can be thrown with sufficient speed and backspin to make an upward arc in its trajectory. Many of us have flicked a table tennis ball to make it dramatically curve, drop, and even rise. However, it has been estimated that a 6.8 ounce softball would have to be thrown at over 90 mph with a spin speed in excess of 35 revolutions per second in order to give the ball even a minor upward arc. So…



A “RISE BALL”, EVEN WHEN THROWN CORRECTLY, DOES NOT RISE…

it simply falls slower than a similar speed fastball that doesn’t have backspin and therefore has a more level plane on its path to the plate. Although the example below is exaggerated to show a more dramatic arc than what is actually less curved on a 60 mph fastball, look at the comparison:

Does a Rise Ball Really Rise? Great softball pitching hints and recommendations for girl softball pitchers

 

[halskinner]

the whole forum is silly then. Fastpitch is just baseball with a larger ball right?.

Hitting, fielding and the rest of the rulebook, yeah, pretty much the same. BUT NOT THE PITCHING REGS. The windmill motion and the different windups make it ridiculously different. There are so many things, variations, tactics and ways to take away a hitters timing in fast pitch, you cannot compare the pitching to baseball because they are extremely limited in those areas.

Bring your HS baseball team out and see how they do against a good 18u softball pitcher.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Hitting, fielding and the rest of the rulebook, yeah, pretty much the same. BUT NOT THE PITCHING REGS. The windmill motion and the different windups make it ridiculously different. There are so many things, variations, tactics and ways to take away a hitters timing in fast pitch, you cannot compare the pitching to baseball because they are extremely limited in those areas.

Bring your HS baseball team out and see how they do against a good 18u softball pitcher.

Hal baby....it was dripping with sarcasm...

 

[CoachFP]

I have seen Hillhouse throw a riseball and he has the best one I have seen. I also got to watch it in slow motion video. Does it go up no!

Dave Patekau did a video presentation that convinced me. I would have swore it went up till then. Although most of us pitching instructors, pitchers, hitters, coaches, and parents feel that we have seen rise balls “hop” over the top of a bat, there is no scientific evidence to prove that a softball can be thrown with sufficient speed and backspin to make an upward arc in its trajectory. Many of us have flicked a table tennis ball to make it dramatically curve, drop, and even rise. However, it has been estimated that a 6.8 ounce softball would have to be thrown at over 90 mph with a spin speed in excess of 35 revolutions per second in order to give the ball even a minor upward arc. So…



A “RISE BALL”, EVEN WHEN THROWN CORRECTLY, DOES NOT RISE…

it simply falls slower than a similar speed fastball that doesn’t have backspin and therefore has a more level plane on its path to the plate. Although the example below is exaggerated to show a more dramatic arc than what is actually less curved on a 60 mph fastball, look at the comparison:

Does a Rise Ball Really Rise? Great softball pitching hints and recommendations for girl softball pitchers

So Hillhouse and other pitchers rise balls don't go up? They drop? Why would someone call them a rise ball then? Why would people teach it then? Sure the good ones go up. You are confusing trajectory with the fact that it rises.

 

[CoachFP]

The rate of climb is decreasing from the moment the ball leaves the pitchers hand. The ball rises through the zone because of the initial trajectory of the ball.

The ball begins to drop because of the force of gravity the moment it leaves the pitchers hand.

The spin on a good rise ball is such that it counters some of the pull (drop) caused by gravity such that the ball drops from it's initial trajectory at a slower rate than pitches with a non-rise ball spin.

The ball does not begin to "drop" as soon as it leaves the hand. I took college physics and am by no means an expert. But gravity's pull on the ball does not mean it is dropping. The ball is deaccelerating, meaning it is not going up as fast as when it left the hand but deaccelerating does not mean dropping. You can be driving at 100mph and put on the brakes but still be moving in a certain direction until you eventually stop. Look at gravity as analogous to the brake. It will slow up the rise on the ball, but not stop it immediately from rising. Think about it. It is not that difficult.