1st year 14 pitcher

[Catscratch]

thank you for the feedback. She had been working on the drop for about 6 months and the rise of about 3 months. With the season quickly approaching we wanted to concentrate on only one other pitch. Her TB coach is not a huge fan of the drop ball so we decided to really work on the rise. Her pitching coach feels it shows alot of promise and has decent movement. She also believes that the riseball, even if not perfect, will fool alot of 14U batters as they have rarely seen it. I have seen alot of debate about the rise ball which I will admit is beyond me. The one thing I do see is that when she pitches the rise, her catchers often need to quickly adjust their gloves up to catch it, and the batter's swing is often under the pitch.

 

[FPMark]

Regardless of what the riseball does or does not do, it is still an effective pitch. I am curious why her coach doesn't like the drop though. It is also an effective pitch, not to mention, a fastball that doesn't drop is less effective than either one. IOW, don't throw it too close to the plate.

 

[Catscratch]

The concern she has with the dropball is that she feels that many of the batters around here are taught to swing down thaen up through the strikezone thereby making the drop easier to hit than the rise.

 

[starsnuffer]

Having a good drop makes a good rise twice as effective. This coach is not a student of the game.

-W

 

[Sparky Guy]

The concern she has with the dropball is that she feels that many of the batters around here are taught to swing down thaen up through the strikezone thereby making the drop easier to hit than the rise.

OK..... I'll take a team hitting ground balls to my infielders any time.

 

[Mrek]

The concern she has with the dropball is that she feels that many of the batters around here are taught to swing down thaen up through the strikezone thereby making the drop easier to hit than the rise.

If hitters are swinging up through the strike zone to hit a drop, then the drop is being located far too high or is really not "dropping". A drop should be thrown no higher than the bottom of the zone as it crosses. Ideally, the last point a drop should be in the zone is about 4-6 feet out and it should be caught just off the dirt. Batters will not be swinging up at the bottom of the zone or below, they will be swinging down producing ground balls. It sounds like the coach is used to pitchers throwing drop with bad location.

 

[c3scott]

OK..... I'll take a team hitting ground balls to my infielders any time.

Exactly. Problem is, it appears some coaches dont understand this principle.

 

[Jojo]

If hitters are swinging up through the strike zone to hit a drop, then the drop is being located far too high or is really not "dropping". A drop should be thrown no higher than the bottom of the zone as it crosses. Ideally, the last point a drop should be in the zone is about 4-6 feet out and it should be caught just off the dirt. Batters will not be swinging up at the bottom of the zone or below, they will be swinging down producing ground balls. It sounds like the coach is used to pitchers throwing drop with bad location.

I actually have a pitcher with a coach that wants her to locate her drop high.
He'll call drop high in or high out.

I've asked her if maybe she was getting her signals mixed up and her dad said no, he really wants them there.
Actually this was her old coach, she is looking into another team.

 

[FPMark]

The concern she has with the dropball is that she feels that many of the batters around here are taught to swing down thaen up through the strikezone thereby making the drop easier to hit than the rise.

Hmmm... so a rise would be easier to hit if a batter swings up then down? Maybe I need to teach my DD the "toma-hack" swing.

 

[dbias]

Having a good drop makes a good rise twice as effective. This coach is not a student of the game.

-W

exactly. a good dropball needs a riseball just like a fastball needs a changeup