Baseball Pitching (Post 3): The Curve Ball

The Curveball

The Curve ball is one of the most useful and deceiving off-speed pitches in the game. The curve ball excellent for putting batter off-balance and it keeps them guessing which pitch is going to be thrown next. In this post I will be discussing why the curve ball is useful, when to use it, and of course how to throw. The curve ball, as a pitcher is my favorite ball to throw, as a batter it is not as fun.

How to Hold

Similarly, to knuckle balls, there are a few different ways to throw curve balls. First, place your index and middle finger on the seams like so:

Then, place your thumb on top of the seams that are along the same seam, but is further down on the ball. This helps with stability when releasing. And then, just like many other pitches, curl your pinkie and ring finger on the seams opposite of the index and middle. Make sure that these fingers are resting on top of the seam and not too much pressure is being used when placing them (Clark 50).

The Release

When releasing, do everything you would normally do to throw a fastball (Clark 51), except when releasing snap your arm (not too much or you can injure your arm) but just enough so that the ball rolls off your index finger and has top spin. This allows aerodynamics to take over and the seams on the ball act like wings and force the ball to drop at a steeper angle than a traditional fastball. When practicing, especially if you are a younger pitcher, don’t over use your arm especially with curve balls because when throwing can put stress on your UCL (tendon that is in your elbow) and damaging it can lead to the extreme case of Tommy John surgery.

Extra Tips:

With curve balls, I don’t suggest throwing them unless your arm is in good shape for pitching. Also just like with all the other pitches, practicing right before a game isn’t the best idea. I suggest practicing your throwing well before your first game, at least a couple of months to help build muscle memory and strengthen your arm beforehand.

Question: Do you think this pitch will be effective in the game? Or will it be too easy to hit.

Source:

Clark, Dave. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2006. Print.

Baseball pitching (Post 2): The Knuckle Curve

Nate Dalizon

Period 6 

Post #2

Knuckle Balls: The Knuckle Curve

The knuckle curve can arguably be one of the most difficult pitches to throw with perfection. There are also many types of ways to hold it, so today I will be attempting to demonstrate how to throw a fairly common holding of the pitch. The knuckle curve is a very difficult pitch to hit as a batter, not because of the movement from the ball, but the main reason is that the release makes it harder to see when its coming out of the pitcher’s hand. The purpose of the knuckle curve is to have the off-speed advantage of a traditional curve ball, but mixed with the unpredictable movement pattern of a traditional knuckle ball, this pitch is very deceiving and effective if you know how to use it.

How to Hold

"To hold this pitch, think it as holding a fork-ball, or split finger fastball" (Clark 34). This helps with the first placement of your palm and middle finger. It is very important that when you are holding this pitch is to dig-in with your index finger knuckle and not your nail, which is different from most knuckle balls. Once your middle and index finger are placed on the ball, curl the remaining finger behind your middle finger. "The placement of your thumb is crucial in order to release this pitch correctly" (Clark 34). Place your thumb on the adjacent seams and cover the two seams that are closest together.

Notice how my index finger is curled tightly around the seam.

The Release

This release is probably the hardest part of any pitch especially the knuckle curve since there is no definite way to release. The release can range dramatically from player to player. The way I would suggest to release it is to snap with your wrist and elbow, like a traditional curve ball, and flick your index finger to prevent the ball from spinning, just like the traditional knuckle ball, the floater.

Extra Tips

The same way with the floater, the best way to be able to throw this pitch is to practice the grip and release. I highly suggest trying different ways of releasing that fit your pitching and arm style. Whichever way is most comfortable to your throwing style will maximize accuracy.

Question:  Between the floater from my first post, and now the knuckle curve i just talked about, which pitch do you think is most effective in the game and why?

Citation:

Clark, Dave. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2006. Print.

Baseball pitching (Post 1): The Floater

Nate Dalizon

Period 6

Post #1

Knuckle Balls: The Floater

There are multiple types of knuckle balls. Including the floater, which I will be describing how to hold and release this pitch. Knuckle balls are rarely thrown correctly, and a correct form usually leads to upsetting and disorienting batters, and is usually very exciting to see a perfect knuckle ball thrown in a game. Understanding how to throw and when to use this pitch doesn’t guarantee success, it takes hours of practice and passion, to master anything, including being able to throw the strangest pitches in the game. In this case a floater.

How to Hold:

"When holding this pitch, make sure to have your middle and index nails comfortably grasping into the ball" (Clark 39). Also make sure that your index and middle fingers are in the center between the stitching. "Be sure to have your thumb resting slightly above the bottom stitching and held tight against your palm" (Clark 40). The ball should rest in your palm, rather than having a big space, this will help you grip the ball, and throw strikes consistently. Your remaining two fingers should be curled with your ring finger resting just underneath the top stitch like so:

When releasing, the goal of the pitch is to have no spin or as little as possible on the ball. This creates a whiffle-ball like affect, meaning when the ball is thrown the stitches act like wings and create turbulence causing the ball to move unpredictably. Therefore, the floater is a very useful pitch against batters.

The Release

When releasing the floater, once you get to your release point begin to push off your index and middle finger like so, but be very careful to fully throw the ball completely and don’t just rely on your wrist and fingers, not using your entire arm can cause injury (Clark 41).

Once you have started the release keep pushing off the with your index and middle fingers. This is to ensure that the ball keeps from spinning, greatly decreasing velocity, and getting the batter off balance.

Extra Tips:

"When throwing the floater (or any other pitch) it is best not to look at the ball when it is being thrown, rather focus on where you want the ball to go also known as your target" (Clark 43). When first learning to throw floaters, or any pitch, be sure that your catcher knows when you are going to throw it. This is helpful for two reasons: your catcher can see much more than you can and he can help make adjustments to help with your throw. "Another reason is if you are a catcher, you would like to know what is being thrown at you beforehand" (Clark 43).

Citation:

Clark, Dave. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2006. Print.

Difference Between Lefties and Righties

Lefty Curve
To me, being a lefty baseball player has always made me feel like I have a bigger advantage over the players who are right-handed. There are not as many positions that a lefty would recommend playing in the infield, but there are definitely positions that lefties have the upper hand in. As explained by Robert Adair, everyone knows that a right-handed batter has more trouble hitting off of right-handed pitcher, and lefties have more trouble hitting off of left-handed pitchers (71). I find it a lot easier to hit off of right-handed pitchers, and I usually feel uncomfortable seeing a lefty on the mound. I'm not exactly sure why, but seeing a left-handed pitcher forces me to think more than any other situation in baseball.

My left-handed stance

My right-handed stance

Recently, I switch off between swinging on my left and right sides, depending on the situation (right vs. left-handed pitcher). Most of my power comes from my left side because it's my most used/comfortable swing. But, against lefty pitchers, I have a better batting average when I swing in my right-handed stance. I never really understood why, until Adair explained it: "the left-handed and right-handed pitchers throw from different angles" (73). After reading about this, I wondered how I never thought about this before. To any type of batter, a left-handed pitch will move left-to-right and a right-handed pitch will move right-to-left. This clearly creates an advantage because it's a lot easier to see a ball that is coming towards you rather than starting towards you and drifting away.

A small portion of baseball players believe that right-handed and left-handed pitching has the same effect on the batter regardless of the hitter's stance. Do you think that there's an advantage in hitting between right and left-handed players?

Adair, Robert Kemp. The Physics of Baseball. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.

Smart Defenders and Base-running

FIELDING

I've been playing baseball all my life and still haven't perfected the art of catching a fly ball. To me, judging where a fly ball is going to land is the hardest thing to do as a defender on the field. Although my main position is in the outfield, I can tell that an outfielder gets a much larger applaud from their team when they catch a fly ball than infielders do when they simply field a grounder. Adair agrees that a ball hit straight to a player is the most difficult to judge and balls that are hit at different distances can look fairly similar initially (148). If you've ever played on a baseball team for more than a year, you've definitely heard the overused phrase "first step back". This line is said by almost every team to express how you must make stepping back your first instinct the moment the ball is hit because you can cover more ground running forward than you can from behind. "If he waits a couples of seconds to start running, he won't cover the 50 feet he needs to in order to catch the short fly that lands after another 3 seconds" (149). Outfielders have to make judgments, calculate distances, and maintain certain fundamentals in the matter of seconds while under the pressure of catching a ball. Unlike the infield, outfields don't have someone behind them to back them up if they make a mistake.

Basic fielding techniques for ground balls

Infielders have more plays to handle during a baseball game than outfielders do. I personally have not played a lot of infield recently and still struggle with fielding even an easy ground ball. There are many complexities with fielding and throwing a baseball during one single play. "A ball thrown 135 feet by the shortstop or third baseman to the first baseman's glove will take about 1.09 seconds. A player who throws a ball 5 mph slower will allow the runner to travel 2 feet farther" (155). This two foot difference will play a big role in an umpire calling the runner safe or out. To practice strengthening my arm and fielding tactics, I find it effective to throw a tennis ball against any large surface to practice basic fundamentals. The more comfortable I feel when I field a baseball, the greater the chance that I will make a better throw during a game. So, consistently practicing allows me to stay in my comfort zone even during pressure-filled moments.

Outfielders provide a strong line of defense that their entire team depends on during a game. Infielders are consistently pounded with plays that they must routinely make. Which position do you believe has the harder job during a game?

Adair, Robert Kemp. The Physics of Baseball. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.

Continuing the Dryland (post 4)

So since I posted my last post I've continued the basic workout that Salo had said to start with. After doing them for a couple of weeks I felt ready for what he considered to be "the next step" in perfecting and improving my swimming abilities.

What he says you do after the basic work outs is you begging to work on your abdominal and the general core of your body. He says you need to work on your core because, "If there is a weak or broken link, it can compromise the integrity of the entire chain" (Salo 90). What he means by chain is each individual body part. And if one is weak than you swimming will suffer as a whole since the one part is messed up.

How he suggested you fix your core is through a series of workouts. These range from various forms of planks in different positions. Then also doing certain types of core stretches. He says that while doing these you go through steps of beginner, intermediate, then advanced. Switching from each level is determined with how easy each exercise is for you (Salo 92).

(On the left is me doing planks and the right is leg drops)

What i was wondering though with the new things tat I've read about Salo's book do you think that being weak in one part of your body will really hamper your swimming ability or is he over reacting that part?

The Swing

THE SWING

In my mind, hitting a baseball has always been considered the hardest thing to do in any sport. There's no doubt that no one can be triumphant in any other sport where they succeed only one-third of the time. Keeping my hands closer while swinging the bat has always been a great challenge for me, although I feel that is the most effective way to hit a ball. Adair would disagree with that. He believes that keeping your hands closer to your body for a longer duration throughout your swing creates more bat velocity. More arm extension during the swing slows your bat speed and decreases your control over the bat (31). No athlete would argue with an author with a Ph.D. regarding baseball, but I believe that my swing is more effective when I am the most comfortable with it. Maintaining control of my hands during a swing is one challenge, but baseball is a mind game; as a result, baseball comes down to how comfortable you perform, how focused you stay, and how much effort you put in.

The reaction time of a batter during the pitch determines where/whether they hit the ball. Adair explains the reaction time: "he will swing so that the hitting area of the bat strikes the ball squarely-he hopes! All of this takes time and judgement-and good judgment takes more time" (38). My biggest strength, in my opinion, is my hand-eye coordination. I can hit the ball very squarely and prefer executing rather easy hits than powerful ones. During each of my practices however, I try altering my swing little by little until I find the most effective one. Practicing keeping my hands in longer and generating a shorter, quicker swing allows me to feel more confident going up to hit with a newer swing.

The picture on the left shows me in a swinging stance with a soccer ball under my back shoulder. This helps with two things while swinging; forcing your hands close to your body and keeping your back shoulder level. It's very essential to maintain balance-leveled shoulders so that when you swing, you minimize the chance of hitting the ball directly up in the air.

Would an athlete perform better with a proven, technical swing or a comfortable, relaxed swing?

Adair, Robert Kemp. The Physics of Baseball. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.

Pitching Forms and Techniques

This position is known as "The Windup" because
it's motion is a multiple-step procedure of twists
and turns before throwing the ball.

If you ask any baseball player what is the most important job while playing, they will say pitching. Pitching is considered one of the hardest things to do in sports. "The pitcher must not only throw the ball so that it passes through the strike zone, he must throw so that the batter does not hit the ball squarely" (Adair, 48). Constant decisions are being made by the pitcher from when he looks at the batter to as soon as he throws the ball. With the potential of the game being on the line and everybody focusing on you, pitching can build stress when your whole team relies on your decision making.

This single motion pitching position is called "The
Stretch" where the pitcher takes multiple pauses
before deciding when to throw the ball.

The speed of a pitcher is one of the first things that is noticed when anyone looks at the person on the pitching mound. A 95-mph pitch will reach the plate in 0.41 seconds after release, a 93-mph pitch will be around 1.5 feet from the plate after 0.41 seconds, and a 90-mph pitch 3 feet (Adair, 60). A small difference such as a 2-mph slower pitch can cause such a large effect where the batter can be thrown off by a one and a half foot difference. I can't throw a 90 mile per hour pitch just yet, but to utilize what I can do, I make sure to throw fastballs and change-ups frequently.

Typically, a trained pitcher finds that when throwing a fastball, throwing it high and inside the strike zone is the best way to utilize it. If a change-up is thrown, you'd most likely find that pitchers locate it low and away from the batter (71). Although, a pitcher must mix things up while on the mound because he/she doesn't to throw a pitch that the batter is already expecting. When I first started pitching, I was around 11 years old and just threw the ball to get it over the plate. Now that I've practiced consistently and frequently, our coach wants me to focus on hitting certain locations while pitching because he truly believes that it will be my most deadliest pitching trait.

I personally love pitching because I enjoy finding new ways to throw off the batter. I look for patterns in the batter's swings and make sure I don't fall into patterns myself. If I'm facing a team that we've never played against, I usually pitch with the same comfortable patterns that I normally use. But, I wouldn't do the same with a team that I normally face because they can easily pick up routines that I might fall in.

What do you think will throw a batter off his game more effectively, changing the speed of a pitch or changing the location?

Adair, Robert Kemp. The Physics of Baseball. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.

Art of the Knuckle Ball

Square-cut fingernail (allowing
more of your nail to be on the ball)

Normal fingernail

Most knuckle ball pitchers throw their knuckle ball of their fingernails, which they carefully cut into a square shape (Adair, 55). Having a square-shaped nail allows you to maximize the amount of surface area you can apply to the ball as you are throwing it. The most important thing a pitcher wants while he is pitching to a batter is control. Reconstructing their nails to have the maximum amount of control as possible can be a key difference between a successful knuckle ball and an easy target for the batter to swing at. Personally, I prefer to keep my fingernails at a fairly long length so I could flick the ball with more potential. But, this book believes maximizing your control is more important in pitching.

To counter my long-nailed tactic I use four
fingers to gain as much control as possible

When throwing a knuckle ball, the idea is that the ball spins only about 1-2 times from the moment it leaves the pitcher's hand to the time it hits the plate. This is one of the slowest types of pitches thrown in baseball but also one of the deadliest as well. Because of its lack of spin, the knuckle ball creates more drag on the seams and essentially generates more movement. In fact, it has so much movement that the catcher actually has difficulty catching this type of pitch. A catcher known to catch for knuckle ball pitchers states that "It was easy, I just wait until the ball stopped rolling and then I'd pick it up" (54). Ever since I was 6 years old, I played on some baseball team and practiced every year, making it my main hobby. But I haven't started to actually try to improve and become more competitive until the last few years or so. I practiced so much with my pitches, that I can successfully throw 7 different types of them, (Fastball, Change-Up, Slider, Knuckle, Knuckle Curve, Curve Ball, and Side-Arm) where professional pitchers have 2-3 pitches at the most. I've never been thrown a knuckle ball by someone who knows how to throw a good one, but I can see the catchers that struggle (even in the MLB) to catch one.

Eddie Cicotte was the great Chicago "Black Sox" pitcher, who threw his knuckle ball without using his fingertips/fingernails. On the other hand, the worst part about the knuckle ball is the lack of control while in the air. If it breaks sharply, it will be harder for the catcher to successfully catch the pitch and if it doesn't break, it will be no more than batting practice for the batter to easily hit it out of the park. These key differences make this pitch both amazing and risk-taking to use.

What do you think is more important, having more control (causing less movement) or having more unpredictable movement (with less control)?

Adair, Robert Kemp. The Physics of Baseball. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.