Pitching session today

General Pitching Topics
#1

O-kay this was my first pitching session in about a month or 2. and i started off terrible…i couldn’t get my fastball to hit the zone. But i told my dad i wanted to learn a third pitch (i recommended the slider) and he said i should try it so i did. the first few had a lot of break but were no where near the strike zone so i slowed my arm down to get the snap and timing of it down. It was pretty sweet but i didn’t get a consistent break to it. Some dropped some cut left and some cut and dropped. but all of those movements are effects seen in many sliders so I;m not doing to shabby with that. the control wasn’t bad either i hit the zone with it more than i missed.

Ive also being trying out the screwball and i told him " Let my try one more pitch" i threw the screw it was too low but it definetly cut into a right-y. My dad was suprised and asked which way i snapped my wrist (since most breaking ball from a right-y go towards a lefty) and i told him it was a screw… He thought it was cool but said it might be too dangerous to throw cause it could damage my elbow (i already knew but i just wanted to see if i could do it)

Sooooo this spring if i practice enough i will be pitching a :
2 seamer, a splitter , and a slider…and i would seriously want to try a screwball too…i don’t want to throw it a lot but it would help as a suprise pitch

you gotta admit the pitches i throw are a bit unorthadoxed which might give me a good edge. (most HS pitchers throw 4 seamer a curve and a change up)

#2

How old are you? Because I defintely dont recommend a screwball in high school. Your arsenal right now is good, pretty equal to mine except I replace the splitter with a circle change that has good movement. For help with the slider, hold it like a wide two-seam with your fingers on the outer edges of the seam. Move your index finger to the inside of the seam your other finger is resting on. So youll have both fingers on one seam. Then throw it exactly like your fastball, just turn your hand to the side. I mean same velocity, same follow through, same everything. You might need to release a little bit higher but you’ll figure it out. Dont snap the wrist. Just let your arm do the work. You should get a hard breaking slider like K-rods.

#3

Wait, forget that slider thing if your just starting to pitch again. Wait a month or two.

#4

IM 17. 18 in May so thats a ways off… but yeah I dont want to over throw the screw …i just mean that it would be goodto have it if i need it. its not a particularly hard pitch to control so i shouldnt have to practice with it much. But the slider looks great im throwing it slower right now to get everything down…after that i want to get it near fast ball speed… but its also nice to mix speeds up… hard slider then a slower slider etc

#5

Oh. Try that screw. But if your arm starts to feel discomfort defintely stop. Thats good the sliders looking good. There pretty easy to learn. My dad tried to teach me a curveball for 2 years. One day he tells me to throw it like I throw my slider (he was hoping it would be a curveball) and I had it down in 3 throws haha.

#6

Yeah the reason I’m not an orthodox style pitcher isn’t really a choice…i just cant control a curve ball worth a damn ha ha so i try other pitches to balance it out. It works out pretty well.

#7

I recommend throwing 90% fastballs for the time being. Since you haven’t pitched in a couple of months, the priority should be to get your arm back in shape, and starting hitting your spots again. A slider is useless if you aren’t hitting the zone with your fb. Luckily, you have months to get that done. So you should have plenty of time to develop a third pitch, but for now I think it’d be safest to get your arm back in shape.

#8

Better command the fastball first and foremost.

If you can’t command the fastball you could have 28 other pitches and it won’t matter. Fastball first.

#9

if you just started up again and your fastball doesnt feel right you shouldn’t be trying to learn a new pitch at that very moment, let your arm work itself back in.

#10

you might want to check out hall of famer steve carlton’s web site. just google him to find it. he has some great pictues and explainations of how he threw his slider (which was considered one of the best in the history of the game).

remember you work on building arm strength and sound mechanics (everyone has their own personal style within some fundamental parameters of good mechanics. that is why the great pitchers that throw for years without major arm problems and get people out do not all look the same).

once you develop a solid base of reasonable arm strength and good mechanics, usually you throw one of three types of bullpens: 1) velocity-you focus on throwing harder; 2) stuff-you focus on gaining maximum movement and rotation on your pitches; and 3), location-you focus on locating your pitches. it is difficult to work on all three of these at the same time, especially in the off-season.

hopefully you are working on gaining some strength in your body and core while you are in the off-season. strength usually equates to better velocity and durability. this is normally gained in off-season and pre-season.

probably more than you wanted to hear.

dusty delso

#11

haha did you take that screwball thing from my post? i did one about that game i pitched going fastball curveball screwball all the way. i came back to my original fastball-tailling change up because i couldnt get it to be reliable. mike marshall jim mecir fernando valenzuela threw screwballs pretty often but the movement is deceptive enough to always be deceptive. if you learn it the right way you could go fastball screwball for 20 years. i threw that a whole game and it did worked others did it in the bigs.

#12

actually i someone posted the kh-q with this japanese pitcher throwing a scrw\ew ball and i thought “heh…thats nice i should try it” and i did! and i liked what i saw and felt in the pitch. both the slider and screwballare interesting pitches overall… theyre both not particularly hard to throw… or control for thta matter… why is it you dont see many pros using a screwball?

also i dont think it was the lag in pitching that made me start off wild… it might have been because i was lifting weights right before that… once i started trying breaking pitches i felt my arm like… become less tense and i started throwing strikes with my fastball and it felt harder too

#13

there as been thaughts that a screwball is damageable for the arm so coaches stopped teaching it and thats why you basically dont see anyone throwing it now. coaches dont know how to throw it. you have to be able to throw it mechanicaly wise too. not everyone can throwq it. jim mecir said he never felt it put extra straine on his arm bwecause he was throwing open. its all about finding the pitches that work for you and most people go with the circle change when they want movement on arm side.

#14

Ok well got any info on throwing it. I just hold it on the opposite side i would hold a curve and think fastball and at the last point before release start turning my wrist. its hard to explain but i dont think it hurts my arm all that much. I dont snap violently or anything

#15

yeah that could work but read this topic

http://www.letstalkpitching.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4869

thats the one i made about that game i threw and i explained how the guy shown me how to throw it. if you are willing to give it some of your time to be effective and controlable, if you want to turn yourself into a lefthanded pitcher thasts the way to go. with that pitch youll be able to think like a left hander but with extra surprise effect. something even the best tailling changeup cant do.

#16

Intresting thread. The way i hold it is like this :

and i turn my wrist so the ball comes out of my hand like this :

im not sure how it spins yet…

oh and for my slider… i took 2 baseballs… and colored in 2 opposite sides that have the horse shoe cause i want it to get the football spin and it would make it easier for my and the catcher to tell if i got it right.

#17

I’ve heard people claim the screwball is hard on the arm but I’m not sure if there’s sound proof or if that’s just bogus conventional wisdom. The throwing hand always pronates after the ball is released so pronating to throw a screwball is just causing the arm to rotate the same direction it will end up rotating any way. Could pronating early be hazardous? Dunno. But it sure seems a whole lot better than supinating.

#18

Yeah the only thing i could see that might make uit hard on the arm is either having more weight behind the rotating (the ball) if u pronating earlier.

#19

Screw ball is just an extreme hand position. Not hard on the arm. See Roger’s reply.
Don’t snap or twist the wrist on delivery. Start with the correct hand position with ball in glove.

Correct hand position: Hold your hand up, like swearing an oath. Palm faces forward. That’s fastball wrist position. Now, rotate your hand outward so palm faces away. If you can make your wrist twist so palm faces directly away from you, then you can throw a screw ball. If in making your hand face away, your wrist bends, you don’t have enough flexibility to throw one effectively. In such a case stick with a 2 seam and think “pronate” on release.

Cheers, and good luck!!

O

#20

lol ur in HS and u gonna throw a slider splitter and screwball, your arm is gonna fall off
i kno u dont wanna hear it cuz u think ur new pitches give u an edge, but ur hurting ur chances of long term success the splitter kills ur elbow if u spread ur fingers 2 far apart and if u snap off on the slider thatll destroy ur elbow too. i have no experience with the screwball but its pretty common knowledge that it isnt good for ur arm. work on that 2 seamer and a changeup and ull b fine