Saw something interesting last weekend

General Pitching Topics
#1

Played a little ball. One of the pitchers we faced threw a pretty good curve. I don’t know if he did it the whole time he was in, but from the time I noticed threw the rest of the inning, he would whence, and sometimes grab his elbow after the pitch. No one seemed to notice until I pointed it out. And no one (parent/coaches) on their team seemed concerned.

Do people believe that is part of throwing the pitch? Could this be the reason the pitch has a bad name. My son does it all with the fingers, basically like snapping your fingers. I assume the way the op was doing gives it gives it a different motion?

#2

Biggest question I’d have is how was this pitcher finishing? Pronation? Supination? That gives you a quick answer to whether it was thrown correctly.

It’s my opinion that the curve ball has such a bad rep because kids have been taught to throw it incorrectly. They’ve been “chopping” the belt, and fighting against the natural finish in pronation, as that’s how most are taught to make sure they pull down through it. If throw correctly, and in a proper finish, it has less stress to the elbow than a fastball. I could easily see (and understand as that was me way back when) the elbow flaring up from forcing the finish.

#3

I just can’t imagine everyone acting like they didn’t see it. Some… it is telling to me that you were the only one taking note.
It makes you wonder at their point…I mean does a $15 chunk of cheap metal and plastic really mean that much?
Oh well, I’m sure they thought he should suck it up so they could get the membership bucks for next season…this to me is the wrong side of win, no matter what.
I always leave myself thinking…“heck jd it’s just an elbow or shoulder…he isn’t going to die…and at worst he wasn’t going pro anyway…so he’ll have all those great memories…”

Each parent has to answer to themselves and if they care, answer to their kid…honestly I don’t know the answer here, I dealt with it with my value system and would advise any that asked me in a similar way.

#4

Didn’t anyone teach those kids how to throw a curve ball correctly???
sure, there are several different ways to throw a curve ball, and each one has to be individualized—tailored to the particular requirements of each pitcher. With a curve, as with just about any other pitch, the cookie-cutter approach just isn’t going to work. Or didn’t anyone ever tell those so-called pitching coaches about that?
Yes, there are a lot of questions here that need to be answered. And in the meantime, those of you who stay away from playing that particular kind of ball are doing the right thing. :roll: