Hitting a Rise Ball
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Take.
Some riseballs are meant to go over the fence.
Swing over the ball mental que. When facing rise ball pitchers, hitters need to have an approach that looks for the rise. You want the hitter to attempt to take away the pitchers best pitch. Rise is hard to lay off of. No pop ups
Good topic! Interested in what others think
Good topic! Interested in what others think
- Mar 7, 2020
- 17
- 3
The only change I would suggest is to move up in the box to hit before it rises.
- Aug 21, 2008
- 2,380
- 113
If "take" actually worked, riseballs would've become obsolete LONG ago. Assuming that was a comment in 1/2 truth and 1/2 humor, the problem is, there's a huge number of hitting coach's who's hitting lessons contain soft toss and hitting off a tee. And while working on the swing itself is important, there is nothing being done to work on hitting the pitch. Hitting the ball and the swing are 2 very different things. In a perfect world for hitters, they would simply lay off and take the pitch. Sounds great in theory, so does "lay off the change up". But again, if it was that simple, pitching coaches would be out of their jobs.
The reality is, a good pitcher can throw the rise at multiple levels. If every one they threw went over the catcher's head, then it would only be swung at by the most undisciplined of hitters. And it would be a useless pitch against a good team. So, in addition to learning how to swing the bat off the tee and with soft toss, the hitters that also work on hitting live pitching will have the advantage. And I believe you should always use a pitcher above your own team's caliber to help the hitters improve. This is true at the top levels on down. Ever since Softball went into the Olympics and during the build up to the 1996 games (and every year since), every Olympic team coach would use men's pitchers to throw live to the US Women's team.
I routinely throw live to young hitters, and once they get comfortable hitting BP off me, I'll start working in other pitches for them. Then we start the all important process of learning how to pick the pitcher to see what's coming in advance. No, it does not guarantee they will hit the ball or not pop it ups, but when they know what's coming that is 1/2 the battle. Once they start to get used to the movement of the pitch, they start to learn the adjustments they make to hit the movement pitches. So, if they encounter a situation in a game: R3, less than 2 outs, the hitters should expect dropballs to keep the ball on the ground avoiding the sac fly. But if the hitter knows how to make those adjustments, and especially if they can pick the pitcher to know for sure what's coming, I like their chances of hitting the ball to score the run.
Every week at indoor facilities I see hitting coaches working on the swing but, little is done to learn how to hit the movement pitches. I think that's sad. It wouldn't even be fair to say that the majority of men doing hitting lessons have never played fastpitch so they have no frame of reference for how to hit a rise or what it actually looks like because the majority of female hitting coaches(who probably did play softball) I see do the same thing: soft toss and tee work. While I'm not a hitting coach, I think this is a huge element that hitters are missing out on as they learn to hit a softball. Currently, I throw a TON of live hitting, although mostly to my pitching students who also hit. I tell them all the time to invite their hitting coach down to watch, observe and make pointers when they are swinging off live pitching. Few coaches ever come.
The reality is, a good pitcher can throw the rise at multiple levels. If every one they threw went over the catcher's head, then it would only be swung at by the most undisciplined of hitters. And it would be a useless pitch against a good team. So, in addition to learning how to swing the bat off the tee and with soft toss, the hitters that also work on hitting live pitching will have the advantage. And I believe you should always use a pitcher above your own team's caliber to help the hitters improve. This is true at the top levels on down. Ever since Softball went into the Olympics and during the build up to the 1996 games (and every year since), every Olympic team coach would use men's pitchers to throw live to the US Women's team.
I routinely throw live to young hitters, and once they get comfortable hitting BP off me, I'll start working in other pitches for them. Then we start the all important process of learning how to pick the pitcher to see what's coming in advance. No, it does not guarantee they will hit the ball or not pop it ups, but when they know what's coming that is 1/2 the battle. Once they start to get used to the movement of the pitch, they start to learn the adjustments they make to hit the movement pitches. So, if they encounter a situation in a game: R3, less than 2 outs, the hitters should expect dropballs to keep the ball on the ground avoiding the sac fly. But if the hitter knows how to make those adjustments, and especially if they can pick the pitcher to know for sure what's coming, I like their chances of hitting the ball to score the run.
Every week at indoor facilities I see hitting coaches working on the swing but, little is done to learn how to hit the movement pitches. I think that's sad. It wouldn't even be fair to say that the majority of men doing hitting lessons have never played fastpitch so they have no frame of reference for how to hit a rise or what it actually looks like because the majority of female hitting coaches(who probably did play softball) I see do the same thing: soft toss and tee work. While I'm not a hitting coach, I think this is a huge element that hitters are missing out on as they learn to hit a softball. Currently, I throw a TON of live hitting, although mostly to my pitching students who also hit. I tell them all the time to invite their hitting coach down to watch, observe and make pointers when they are swinging off live pitching. Few coaches ever come.
- Aug 21, 2008
- 2,380
- 113
I love when hitters try to do this.
I love when hitters try to do this.
Because you'll do what (as a pitcher)?
Whenever I see the old 'move up in the box' ploy I have to shake my head. If this really worked then when throwing any kind of breaking pitch a pitcher should take a shorter stride. As a hitter why would you want to shorten the distance to the pitcher, it just cuts your reaction time?
