Pitching Grips

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Pitching Grips GRIPS Being able to change speeds and use deception is very important, especially knowing that not every pitcher will be able to throw respectively hard. Being able to not only mix speeds but also locate with the different pitches can be the difference between someone being a key starter, reliever, and someone just trying to fill innings. Regardless a pitcher should be able to throw strikes or throw each pitch with some purpose. Here are some basic pitch grips seen in youth and high school baseball: Fastball 4-seam fastball is straight and has the highest velocity and little movement, and should be the pitch the thrower feels most comfortable when needing a strike. 2-seam fastball has downward movement and may tail away from the throwing arm. Effective pitchers who use the 2-seam will likely get more groundballs. Using either finger to put more pressure on a seam will give the pitch more movement (middle finger: ball will cut, index finger: ball will tail and drop more). It’s important to not squeeze the ball, the forearm should be relaxed. Off-speed Change-ups should work directly off of your primary fastball. Having a quality change-up can be more effective then a great curveball, especially for pitchers who throw considerably harder for their age but hitters are beginning to catch up to the fastball. A good change-up can help keep a hitter from being able to time up the pitcher because it looks identical to the fastball (same arm speed, arm slot and arm action). When explaining the deception of a good change-up its important to remember the relationship between it and a fastball. “The fastball sets up the change-up, and the change-up sets up the fastball.” Curveball Curveballs seem to be every young pitchers favorite new pitch to learn. It is a great pitch and when thrown properly can get the toughest hitter out when fooled. However, it is important that before teaching a young pitcher to throw a curveball that they have enough arm strength (especially in forearm) to prevent injury to the forearm, elbow and/or shoulder because of the snapping arm action. There are different variations of the pitch shown below: Other pitches: Slider Knuckleball Again, remember that a pitch is only good in its deception. Each pitch should be thrown with same arm slot and arm action. Varying between pitches will be easily spotted by a quality hitter and can provide an unnecessary advantage for a weaker hitter. .
Recommended publications
  • The Jurisprudence of the Infield Fly Rule
    Brooklyn Law School BrooklynWorks Faculty Scholarship Summer 2004 Taking Pop-Ups Seriously: The urJ isprudence of the Infield lF y Rule Neil B. Cohen Brooklyn Law School, [email protected] S. W. Waller Follow this and additional works at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/faculty Part of the Common Law Commons, Other Law Commons, and the Rule of Law Commons Recommended Citation 82 Wash. U. L. Q. 453 (2004) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by BrooklynWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of BrooklynWorks. TAKING POP-UPS SERIOUSLY: THE JURISPRUDENCE OF THE INFIELD FLY RULE NEIL B. COHEN* SPENCER WEBER WALLER** In 1975, the University of Pennsylvania published a remarkable item. Rather than being deemed an article, note, or comment, it was classified as an "Aside." The item was of course, The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule.' This piece of legal scholarship was remarkable in numerous ways. First, it was published anonymously and the author's identity was not known publicly for decades. 2 Second, it was genuinely funny, perhaps one of the funniest pieces of true scholarship in a field dominated mostly by turgid prose and ineffective attempts at humor by way of cutesy titles or bad puns. Third, it was short and to the point' in a field in which a reader new to law reviews would assume that authors are paid by the word or footnote. Fourth, the article was learned and actually about something-how baseball's infield fly rule4 is consistent with, and an example of, the common law processes of rule creation and legal reasoning in the Anglo-American tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • Season Throwing Program ( Position Players) Day 1/3 Short
    Moreau Off-season throwing Program ( Position Players) Day 1/3 Short Long Toss Day: *start with Jaeger Bands a. 8-10 throws at 15 feet (last 10%, wrist flips) b. 8-10 throws at 30 feet (feet facing partner, rotate and throw) c. 8-10 throws at 45 feet ( feet in power position, front-back-forward) d. 8-10 throws at 60 feet (step in front) e. 8-10 throws at 75 feet (step and throw) f. 8-10 throws at 90 feet (shuffle, throw ) g. 3-4 throws at 100 feet (shuffle, throw) h. 3-4 throws at 110 feet (shuffle, throw) i. 3-4 throws at 120 feet (shuffle throw) j. 3-4 throws at 110 feet (shuffle, throw) k. 3-4 throws at 100 feet (shuffle, throw) l. 3-4 throws at 120 feet (shuffle, shuffle, throw) m. 3-4 thows at 90 feet (shuffle, throw) n. 3-4 throws at 75 feet (shuffle, throw) o. 20 throws of quick catch at 60 feet Day 2- Long Toss Day Day 1- HeaVy Long Toss Day: *start with Jaeger Bands a. 8-10 throws at 15 feet (last 10%, wrist flips) b. 8-10 throws at 30 feet (feet facing partner, rotate and throw) c. 8-10 throws at 45 feet ( feet in power position, front-back-forward) d. 8-10 throws at 60 feet (step in front) e. 8-10 throws at 75 feet (step and throw) f. 8-10 throws at 90 feet (shuffle, throw ) g. 3-4 throws at 100 feet (shuffle, throw) h. 3-4 throws at 110 feet (shuffle, throw) i.
    [Show full text]
  • Outfield Skills and Drills
    Outfield Skills and Drills The following document is a high-level introduction to some outfield skills and description of potential drills. Skills General • Each player should have an opportunity to play an outfield position. Outfield is not punishment or a place to hide players less skilled. • Ready Position: should be in an athletic stance. Can stagger feet (glove side foot slightly in front) if prefer. • Backup, Backup, Backup. Outfielders should be exhausted because on every infield play they have a responsibility to backup the appropriate base. The one time an outfielder gets lazy, is the time of an overthrow, resulting in the opposing team receiving a free extra base/run. Backing up is effort and awareness. Catching • Catch ball at highest point (i.e. above shoulders) • Catch away from body • Catch the ball in the middle or throwing hand side • Two Hands only if stationary. One of the issues at the younger ages is that coaches mandating catching with 2 hands. Makes sense. However, catching with 2 hands is slow, limits the player’s range and not appropriate for certain situations (specifically tracking down balls in the outfield). Also, players use 2 hands because they aren’t confident in their ability to catch with one. That is why it’s so important to practice catching with one hand at a younger age. Fielding • Throwing a Runner Out / Do-or-Die → field ball on glove side. In general, should always coming up throwing. • Base Hit (nobody on) / Hard Hit Ball → field ball middle of body; do not let ball get by you.
    [Show full text]
  • Here Comes the Strikeout
    LEVEL 2.0 7573 HERE COMES THE STRIKEOUT BY LEONARD KESSLER In the spring the birds sing. The grass is green. Boys and girls run to play BASEBALL. Bobby plays baseball too. He can run the bases fast. He can slide. He can catch the ball. But he cannot hit the ball. He has never hit the ball. “Twenty times at bat and twenty strikeouts,” said Bobby. “I am in a bad slump.” “Next time try my good-luck bat,” said Willie. “Thank you,” said Bobby. “I hope it will help me get a hit.” “Boo, Bobby,” yelled the other team. “Easy out. Easy out. Here comes the strikeout.” “He can’t hit.” “Give him the fast ball.” Bobby stood at home plate and waited. The first pitch was a fast ball. “Strike one.” The next pitch was slow. Bobby swung hard, but he missed. “Strike two.” “Boo!” Strike him out!” “I will hit it this time,” said Bobby. He stepped out of the batter’s box. He tapped the lucky bat on the ground. He stepped back into the batter’s box. He waited for the pitch. It was fast ball right over the plate. Bobby swung. “STRIKE TRHEE! You are OUT!” The game was over. Bobby’s team had lost the game. “I did it again,” said Bobby. “Twenty –one time at bat. Twenty-one strikeouts. Take back your lucky bat, Willie. It was not lucky for me.” It was not a good day for Bobby. He had missed two fly balls. One dropped out of his glove.
    [Show full text]
  • Key Concepts for Injury Prevention in Baseball Players
    Baseball Key Concepts for Injury Prevention What kind of injuries occur in baseball? Traumatic injuries occur suddenly. These are typically prevented with proper equipment, rules, regulations and fair play. Overuse injuries occur over time. These can be prevented by knowing early warning signs, general conditioning and following recommendations for rest. What is forced rest? Body tissues can become worn out and painful when they get too much stress with certain activities. Forced rest is taking a strategic break from motions or activities that cause damage and sometimes pain. What else can be done to reduce injury risk in baseball? • Avoid playing on multiple teams in one season • Be smart about side session work, this counts toward pitch counts too. • Play multiple sports • Take 2-3 months off from pitching each year • Cross train during season and in the off-season • Ramp up slowly in pre-season Cross training ideas for young baseball players? • Flexibility exercises • Sprinting drills • Strength training with body resistance • Core stabilization and shoulder blade stabilization Who is more likely to get an overuse injury? • Pitchers that also play in other heavy throwing positions when not pitching, i.e. catcher, shortstop • Pitchers who play year-round or on multiple teams • Players who continue throwing through fatigue and/or pain. 469-515-7100 • scottishritehospital.org Continued on reverse Baseball Training Tips Balance baseball skills training with cross training. Focus on Proper Technique Age Recommended for • HOW is as important as HOW MANY Learning Various Pitches • Too many pitches leads to fatigue and poor form Pitch Age • Limiting total pitch count allows proper technique Fastball 8 during practice and games Change-up 10 See Little League recommendations for pitch counts and rest periods Curveball 14 Flexibility Exercises Knuckleball 15 Dynamic stretching activities or static stretching of major Slider 16 muscle groups including: hamstring, calf, shoulder, trunk Forkball 16 rotation.
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Contents This Game of Baseball
    6/21/2015 The Rules of Play MENU TABLE OF CONTENTS Dividing the deck Taking the Field At-bats Sample Half-Inning 1st Batter Switching and Substituting 2nd Batter 3rd Batter 4th Batter 5th Batter Special Rules The Fan Base Cards Optional Rules Relief Pitchers Pinch Hitters Pinch Runners Base Stealing Bunting Rules Without a Home Summary Why Did I Lose? THIS GAME OF BASEBALL The first thing to do is to divide the deck into two parts: a defensive deck and an offensive deck. The defensive deck consists of these 22 cards: CARD NAME VALUE CARD NAME VALUE The Fan 0 The Force Out 11 The Base Stealer 1 The Suspension 12 The Official Scorer 2 The Showers 13 The Owner 3 Beer 14 The Manager 4 The Bullpen 15 The Commissioner 5 The Bleachers 16 http://gbtango.com/rules/rules.asp 1/23 6/21/2015 The Rules of Play Spring Training 6 The On­Deck Batter 17 The All­Star Break 7 The Night Game 18 The World Series 8 The Doubleheader 19 The Winter Meetings 9 The Umpire 20 The Round Tripper 10 The Ball Girl 21 The remaining 56 cards make up the offensive deck. The offensive cards consist of 4 different suits (Bats, Balls, Gloves and Bases) with 13 cards in each suit (Ace­10, Rookie, Veteran, All­Star). In addition, there are 4 special wildcards: The Whiff, The Beanball, The Pickoff and The Circus Catch. Once the cards have been divided into a Defensive and Offensive deck, each part should be briskly shuffled.
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to Softball Rules and Basics
    Guide to Softball Rules and Basics History Softball was created by George Hancock in Chicago in 1887. The game originated as an indoor variation of baseball and was eventually converted to an outdoor game. The popularity of softball has grown considerably, both at the recreational and competitive levels. In fact, not only is women’s fast pitch softball a popular high school and college sport, it was recognized as an Olympic sport in 1996. Object of the Game To score more runs than the opposing team. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins. Offense & Defense The primary objective of the offense is to score runs and avoid outs. The primary objective of the defense is to prevent runs and create outs. Offensive strategy A run is scored every time a base runner touches all four bases, in the sequence of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and home. To score a run, a batter must hit the ball into play and then run to circle the bases, counterclockwise. On offense, each time a player is at-bat, she attempts to get on base via hit or walk. A hit occurs when she hits the ball into the field of play and reaches 1st base before the defense throws the ball to the base, or gets an extra base (2nd, 3rd, or home) before being tagged out. A walk occurs when the pitcher throws four balls. It is rare that a hitter can round all the bases during her own at-bat; therefore, her strategy is often to get “on base” and advance during the next at-bat.
    [Show full text]
  • Dynamical Chaos in a Simple Model of a Knuckleball
    Dynamical Chaos in a Simple Model of a Knuckleball Nicholas J. Nelson, Eric Strauss Department of Physics California State University, Chico 400 W. 1st St. Chico, CA 95929 Abstract The knuckleball is perhaps the most enigmatic pitch in baseball. Relying on the presence of raised seams on the surface of the ball to create asymmetric flow, a knuckleball's trajectory has proven very challenging to predict compared to other baseball pitches, such as fastballs or curveballs. Previous experimental tracking of large numbers of knuckleballs has shown that they can move in essentially any direction relative to what would be expected from a drag-only trajectory. This has led to speculation that knuckleballs exhibit chaotic motion. Here we develop a relatively simple model of a knuckleball that includes quadratic drag and lift from asymmetric flow which is taken from experimental measurements of slowly rotating baseballs. Our models can indeed exhibit dynamical chaos as long In contrast, models that omit torques on the ball in flight do not show chaotic behavior. Uncertainties in the phase space position of the knuckleball are shown to grow by factors as large as 106 over the flight of the ball from the pitcher to home plate. We quantify the impact of our model parameters on the chaos realized in our models, specifically showing that maximum Lyapunov exponent is roughly proportional to the square root of the effective lever arm of the torque, and also roughly proportional to the initial velocity of the pitch. We demonstrate the existence of bifurcations that can produce changes in the location of the ball when it reaches the plate of as much as 1.2 m for specific initial conditions similar to those used by professional knuckleball pitchers.
    [Show full text]
  • RULE 4 Ball in Play, Dead Ball, out of Bounds
    RULE 4 Ball in Play, Dead Ball, Out of Bounds SECTION 1. Ball in Play–Dead Ball Dead Ball Becomes Alive ARTICLE 1. After adead ball is ready for play,itbecomes a live ball when it is legally snapped or legally free-kicked. A ball snapped or free-kicked before it is ready for play remains dead. (A.R. 2-16-4:I)(A.R. 4-1-4:I and II)(A.R. 7-1-3:IV)(A.R. 7-1-5:I and II) Live Ball Becomes Dead ARTICLE 2. a. Aliv e ball becomes a dead ball as provided in the rules, or when an official sounds his whistle (eventhough inadvertently), or otherwise signals the ball dead. (A.R. 4-2-1:II)(A.R. 4-2-4:I) b. Ifanoff icial sounds his whistle inadvertently or otherwise signals the ball dead during a down (Rules 4-1-3-k, 4-1-3-m and 4-1-3-n) (A.R. 4-1-2:I-V): 1. When the ball is in player possession, the team in possession may elect to put the ball in play where declared dead or repeat the down. 2. When the ball is loose from a fumble, backward pass or illegalpass, the team in possession may elect to put the ball in play where possession was lost or repeat the down. Exceptions: (1) Rule 12. (2) If there is a clear catch, recovery or interception of a loose ball in the immediate continuing action after the inadvertent whistle, then the ball belongs to the recovering team at the spot of the recovery and anyadvance is nullified.
    [Show full text]
  • Title Ix and Baseball: How the Contact Sports Exemption Denies Women Equal Opportunity to America’S Pastime
    \\jciprod01\productn\N\NVJ\14-3\NVJ311.txt unknown Seq: 1 5-JUN-14 7:37 TITLE IX AND BASEBALL: HOW THE CONTACT SPORTS EXEMPTION DENIES WOMEN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY TO AMERICA’S PASTIME Brittany K. Puzey* INTRODUCTION Imagine yourself as a child. I know, I know, it seems a little silly and perhaps even oxymoronic to try to imagine simpler times while reading a legal article, but I implore you to do so. Each of us had something that we aspired to become, be it a racecar driver or a rock star, a ballerina or a ball-player. Do you remember what your aspiration was? For many kids, early dreams and aspira- tions planted the seed for a real career—a seed that gradually blossomed as those children learned what they liked and what they ultimately desired. That tiny seed of “make believe” helped them to decide how to achieve their particu- lar career choice. Would-be doctors began studying extra hard and taking advanced classes. Hopeful singers belted out tunes at the top of their lungs and enrolled in vocal lessons. Aspiring baseball players joined local teams, where they worked hard at practice—running sprints, catching flies, taking extra cuts, and lifting weights. Slowly, but surely, dreams began to morph into reality. In today’s society, laws of equal opportunity generally promote and encourage children of both genders to pursue whichever career choice they desire.1 Little girls who dream of becoming baseball players, however, do not have this opportunity. Instead, Title IX’s Contact Sports Exemption essentially denies women the chance to pursue baseball as a legitimate career, or even to play the sport at the collegiate level.
    [Show full text]
  • Kinematically Optimal Catching a Flying Ball with a Hand-Arm-System
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Institute of Transport Research:Publications Kinematically Optimal Catching a Flying Ball with a Hand-Arm-System Berthold Bauml,¨ Thomas Wimbock¨ and Gerd Hirzinger Abstract— A robotic ball-catching system built from a multi- purpose 7-DOF lightweight arm (DLR-LWR-III) and a 12 DOF four-fingered hand (DLR-Hand-II) is presented. Other than in previous work a mechatronically complex dexterous hand is used for grasping the ball and the decision of where, when and how to catch the ball, while obeying joint, speed and work cell limits, is formulated as an unified nonlinear optimization problem with nonlinear constraints. Three different objective functions are implemented, leading to significantly different robot movements. The high computational demands of an online realtime optimization are met by parallel computation on distributed computing resources (a cluster with 32 CPU cores). The system achieves a catch rate of > 80% and is regularly shown as a live demo at our institute. I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. The hand-arm system catching a ball. The system is built from the DLR-LWR-III arm with N = 7 DOF [7] and the 12 DOF DLR-Hand-II [8]. Catching a thrown ball with a hand is not easy – neither All joints are equipped with torque sensors and are impedance controlled. for humans nor for robots . It demands for a tight interplay of Weight: LWR-III 14 kg; Hand-II 2 kg. skills in mechanics, control, planning and visual sensing to reach the necessary precision in space and time.
    [Show full text]
  • Softball Basics INFIELD: OUTFIELD
    Softball Basics INFIELD: Keep your eye on the pitcher, when they are ready to pitch you should be in Ready position. If the ball is hit to the infield right side, shortstop would cover second base. If the ball is hit to the infield left side, then second baseman covers second base. Second baseman and shortstop are typically the cut-off for outfielders throwing into the infield. If ball hit to outfield right or right center, second baseman would turn to take the throw from the outfield and shortstop would cover second base. Pitcher should back up second baseman. If ball hit to outfield left or left center, shortstop would turn to take the throw from the outfield and second baseman would cover second base. Pitcher should back up shortstop. Infield when runners are on base you must remember to not block the runner’s base path. First baseman if the ball is not playable for you, get to first base and get positioned to take a throw. Always give the other fielders a target by holding your glove out. Catcher should always be alert to pop-ups they might be able to get to for a catch. Catcher should field a dribbler out in front of the plate or along either baseline. Catcher, if runner on third be positioned to take a throw at the plate if ball hit in infield. Pitcher, always be sure your team is ready and positioned before pitching. Pitcher, turnaround and loudly announce how many outs there are and where the play is (plays at first),.
    [Show full text]