Curveball grips

[SunnySkies]

Daughter throws a 2 seam curve and 2 seam riseball. Been talking about changing them to a 4 seam. Would the 4 seam for both pitches generate more movement?

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[ArmWhip]

The first thing is to check and see if she's actually spinning the ball with a 2 seam orientation. When throwing spin pitches the ball often comes off the hand in strange ways, just because you start with a 2 or 4 seam grip doesn't mean that's the way it's spinning. The way I check this now is to color the seams with a marker. Then I stand behind a chain link fence with my iPhone and have the pitcher throw her spins at me while I take video of them. Then I use the freeze frame replay to look at the spin and seam orientation.

The only time I have seen two and four seam orientations with the same spin axis compared showed the difference was negligible (using baseballs). Common sense would say that 4 seam is better for break but in the video that I saw you couldn't see any difference. And don't use baseball as an example for 2 seam vs 4 seam fastballs, the two pitches are thrown differently and break differently.

 

[Ken B]

This is the grip I teach. I like 4 seam spin which creates a blur. With 2 seam rotation the seams can be seen as horizontal. Like Arm Whip said, purposefully getting either can be tough. Ultimately, spin rate and axis are the most important factors.

 

[BucketDud]

This is the grip I teach. I like 4 seam spin which creates a blur. With 2 seam rotation the seams can be seen as horizontal. Like Arm Whip said, purposefully getting either can be tough. Ultimately, spin rate and axis are the most important factors.

Do you teach that grip for both curve and rise?

 

[Ken B]

Do you teach that grip for both curve and rise?

Yes, but we’re flexible with what feels right or works better for a given pitcher.