I haven't read the article yet but will, I always thought that the ball breaks the same amount over the same time periods but as the pitch slows down as it gets closer to the plate, during the same time interval the ball travels less distance but breaks the same amount giving the appearance of it breaking more at the end. So if throwing harder, the ball would break less overall at the same spin rate.
Put simply, all break is late break.
Spin rate and Velocity
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- Apr 14, 2022
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That does not rule out late break. That is just trying to explain why people see late break under the assumption late break does not exist.
Batters have to see pitch angle or they cannot hit. At roughly 22’ after release a hitter has to start their swing and recognize flight path within .15 degrees to hit a 1” circle on the ball.
Tech used since 2017 has measured deviation from the wake effect and changing spin vectors.
Would a pitch that is going up halfway to the plate but crosses the plate going down at 6-8 degrees be late movement?
No, because that's not the intended break on the pitch, is it? Late break implies a pitch breaks more towards the end of its flight to the plate than it does out of the hand.
If all break is late break then is there a possibility that late, late break exists?
- Apr 14, 2022
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I can understand that definition, just feel it is to simplistic into what pitchers are trying to do.
I would look at movement from the hitters perspective instead of the release. Pitchers manipulate this for intended movement.
In softball all pitches start off moving up. They then peak and move down. Lowering the apex by an 1” can create an extra 1.5” of drop between the apex and home plate. Something like a drop ball that is 2.5” inches of additional drop keeping the apex the same height and slightly sooner gives 3” of additional drop. Doing both would be more.
If you are spinning the ball to get movement, it will curve continuously from release. If you are using yawed bullet spin then there is an optimal alignment where the Seam Shifted Wake Force that Armwhip referred to, is the greatest. If the orientation is not optimal, it will break less When it gets to the alignment that is optimal, it will break the most and that is how you can get late break.
As most of you know, I'm a slow pitch pitcher, not fast pitch. And as RADCather pointed out, we use this fact to get movement on the way down rather than the way up. But I can make it do either of those. Curve on the way up and straighten out on the downward side which I don't use at all because it doesn't fool anyone. Or I can get no movement on the upward arc but start to move on the downward slope trying to make it get into the optimal orientation about halfway down. That's when it works the best for me.
As most of you know, I'm a slow pitch pitcher, not fast pitch. And as RADCather pointed out, we use this fact to get movement on the way down rather than the way up. But I can make it do either of those. Curve on the way up and straighten out on the downward side which I don't use at all because it doesn't fool anyone. Or I can get no movement on the upward arc but start to move on the downward slope trying to make it get into the optimal orientation about halfway down. That's when it works the best for me.
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