Recent content by jfitch12
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J
When is it time to give up?
One question: how many pitches a week does she throw? And by “pitches” I mean from full motion to a catcher. There’s obviously no magic number, but command is generally a function of one of three things (1) mechanics, (2) repeatability of mechanics, and (3) emotional state. Item “2” can be...- jfitch12
- Post #18
- Forum: Softball Pitching
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J
Welcome to Bulletspin Season!
One of the best around (based on whom you identified earlier in the thread)--and probably better known for his riseballers, which just illustrates the point that good coaches find individual strengths and play to them.- jfitch12
- Post #92
- Forum: Softball Pitching
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J
Welcome to Bulletspin Season!
Exactly. And here again, a little data would help a lot of pitchers. Most athletes gravitate toward either a drop or a rise. You can often tell which just by whether their center of mass is more over the front foot at release (promoting down spin) or more behind the front foot (promoting up...- jfitch12
- Post #89
- Forum: Softball Pitching
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J
Welcome to Bulletspin Season!
I think the counter argument is: why not just throw a drop or rise inside, both of which move more, thus minimizing the margin for error? That’s where I think conventional wisdom matches the data. Pros with lots of experience, especially in the men’s game, like Hillhouse, emphasize up, down...- jfitch12
- Post #86
- Forum: Softball Pitching
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J
Pitching 700+ pitches in two days.
I am not sure it is an opportunity issue so much as basic demand. Most college teams have a few ex-high-school pitchers, who were decent, but not good enough to play in college. The same is true for high-school teams that usually have some OK ex-middle-school pitchers. A lot of these pitchers...- jfitch12
- Post #56
- Forum: Softball Discussions
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J
Pitching 700+ pitches in two days.
And if I drive 100 mph through a school zone (with good mechanics, right at 10-2), and don’t hit anything, we’re all good then, right? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk- jfitch12
- Post #41
- Forum: Softball Discussions
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J
Pitching 700+ pitches in two days.
The issue here is whether it is ever OK to throw 700 pitches in two days. Your view apparently is that it is (or may be). Fine. That’s crazy from my standpoint, and all the more reason why there should be regulation on the issue. If everyone could agree that there was an outer limit on...- jfitch12
- Post #36
- Forum: Softball Discussions
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J
Welcome to Bulletspin Season!
I agree it is not a “simply can’t.” As I said above, actual data shows east-west movement in softball—it’s just fairly small (about 2-4 inches at best). But you said you don’t see why softball pitchers can’t get “a ton” of horizontal movement, as in baseball, and the reality is that they...- jfitch12
- Post #78
- Forum: Softball Pitching
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J
Welcome to Bulletspin Season!
They really are different, not only because the ball size, weight, velocity, and throwing distance are fundamentally different, but more importantly because softball pitchers come from one “arm slot.” Baseball pitchers with a lot of east west movement are primarily 3/4 to low 3/4 pitchers...- jfitch12
- Post #74
- Forum: Softball Pitching
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J
Pitching 700+ pitches in two days.
No, the rule should be 400 or 450–whatever it is, the number is so far below 700 that no one could say it was “arbitrary” to outlaw 700 or 699 or 698 or 697. You could argue that 400 or 450 is “arbitrary” in the same way that it is arbitrary to set the speed limit at 20 mph or 25 mph in a school...- jfitch12
- Post #28
- Forum: Softball Discussions
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J
Welcome to Bulletspin Season!
This is what I mean about being in the stone age. We are trying to judge the efficacy of a whole genre of pitches based on how the catcher's glove moves in response to a single pitch from a single pitcher from one camera angle (but doesn’t appear to move when the same type of pitch is shown from...- jfitch12
- Post #72
- Forum: Softball Pitching
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J
Pitching 700+ pitches in two days.
A rule against throwing 700 pitches in two days isn’t “arbitrary.” There is no world in which that amount of work would ever make sense. What’s harder for me to understand is how this is even possible. Is it four games in two days? Or five? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk- jfitch12
- Post #11
- Forum: Softball Discussions
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J
Welcome to Bulletspin Season!
Maybe so, but my point is that the camera angle gives the same pitch a different look. The view from the catcher has more backspin appearance than the view from centerfield. I think Bill is making a similar point. Anyone who has caught college pitchers will tell you that many have backspin (even...- jfitch12
- Post #39
- Forum: Softball Pitching
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J
Welcome to Bulletspin Season!
I think we are still in the stone age on this whole issue. My sense is that absolute movement (as measured by a Rapsodo, for example) is really the relevant question, and until that data is more systematically linked with consistent video of spin pitches, it remains tough to know what will work...- jfitch12
- Post #22
- Forum: Softball Pitching
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J
Would you consider this brush resistance
I would not, FWIW, since there is no visible contact below the elbow. But I also think the best way to tell is with your ears, not your eyes. You can hear something between a “psst” and a “thwack,” followed an instant later by the sound of the ball hitting the glove. (You don’t want too much...- jfitch12
- Post #2
- Forum: Softball Pitching
