Arm whip

[RADcatcher]

I don't think a day of lessons goes by that a parent doesn't start singing that song when I instruct the kid to whip their elbow. And almost always, they think they are the first to start singing Devo and associate that song to the words I'm using in the lesson. Without fail, this happens every time. Over the years, I've come to completely despise that song.

Honestly, I don't even know what that study was investigating. And just when I didn't think it was possible to overcomplicate softball pitching any more, I find out that it is possible

when that album come out I was in high school and had a cassette tape of it and a portable cassette player. One of my high school alumni friends many years later told me every time they hear Devo they remember the cassette tape I had. One side of the cassette tape would finish and I'd flip it and we'd start the second side and over and over it went.
On the bus to games we went!
GOOOD STUFFF growing up in those years!

 

[Rolling Hard]

Does anybody try to stretch and strengthen a pitchers fingers/hand muscle/ ligaments inorder to gain speed? I saw a guy on Instagram prescribing it for baseball pitchers and it kind of made sense.
Maybe I should start a new thread 'Finger Whip' and Mr. Setpro might return. What does he sell?

 

[ArmWhip]

Does anybody try to stretch and strengthen a pitchers fingers/hand muscle/ ligaments inorder to gain speed? I saw a guy on Instagram prescribing it for baseball pitchers and it kind of made sense.
Maybe I should start a new thread 'Finger Whip' and Mr. Setpro might return. What does he sell?

The biggest remaining mystery for me when it comes to pitching mechanics is how some elite pitchers throw bullet spin 'fastballs'. Bullet spin in softball equates to the slider in baseball, and in baseball fastballs (4 or 2 seam) are faster than sliders. Which makes sense to me because the fingers remain behind the ball and propel it forward. But in softball this doesn't seem to be the case. I base this on the fact that in a 'lab' setting both Jennie Finch and Yukiko Ueno threw bullet spin, and in the Amanda Scarborough Power Drive video, if you look closely at the ball after release, you can that it has bullet spin. Now it's possible that any or all of these pitchers throw a top spin pitch that has more velocity than the bullet spin they threw when the video was taken but I think that that's unlikely.

 

[lostcreek1]

The biggest remaining mystery for me when it comes to pitching mechanics is how some elite pitchers throw bullet spin 'fastballs'. Bullet spin in softball equates to the slider in baseball, and in baseball fastballs (4 or 2 seam) are faster than sliders. Which makes sense to me because the fingers remain behind the ball and propel it forward. But in softball this doesn't seem to be the case. I base this on the fact that in a 'lab' setting both Jennie Finch and Yukiko Ueno threw bullet spin, and in the Amanda Scarborough Power Drive video, if you look closely at the ball after release, you can that it has bullet spin. Now it's possible that any or all of these pitchers throw a top spin pitch that has more velocity than the bullet spin they threw when the video was taken but I think that that's unlikely.

My DD throws a bullet spin pitch that she just started throwing on her own (she called it her 360 special) playing around when she first started pitching. She thought she had invented a new pitch. It has always been faster than her fastball, by 1-2 mph. Just enough to be noticeable if you are catching. Which always seemed weird to me, because there is no way I can throw bullet spin overhead with more velocity than a normal fastball spin.

 

[ArmWhip]

My DD throws a bullet spin pitch that she just started throwing on her own (she called it her 360 special) playing around when she first started pitching. She thought she had invented a new pitch. It has always been faster than her fastball, by 1-2 mph. Just enough to be noticeable if you are catching. Which always seemed weird to me, because there is no way I can throw bullet spin overhead with more velocity than a normal fastball spin.

What spin does she normally throw on her 'fastball'? The most common seems to be 3/4 top-1/4 bullet.

 

[lostcreek1]

I would say normally it spinning from 7-1 instead of a true 6-12 spin. Like a 6-12 spin with the axis off just a little. If that makes sense.

 

[Hillhouse]

The biggest remaining mystery for me when it comes to pitching mechanics is how some elite pitchers throw bullet spin 'fastballs'. Bullet spin in softball equates to the slider in baseball, and in baseball fastballs (4 or 2 seam) are faster than sliders. Which makes sense to me because the fingers remain behind the ball and propel it forward. But in softball this doesn't seem to be the case. I base this on the fact that in a 'lab' setting both Jennie Finch and Yukiko Ueno threw bullet spin, and in the Amanda Scarborough Power Drive video, if you look closely at the ball after release, you can that it has bullet spin. Now it's possible that any or all of these pitchers throw a top spin pitch that has more velocity than the bullet spin they threw when the video was taken but I think that that's unlikely.

I take your post question another step in my own brain. I don't ask why they do it, typically I ask why their instructors allowed it to happen. This question and situation spawns a very rant that I could go into, which I'll spare everyone (unless you wanna read it) but I think it answers ArmWhip's question and probably others that he didn't even ask. lol.

I highly disagree with the part I highlighted though. And the reason is, sliders actually break and move. Nothing in softball will actually move with bullet spin. Bullet spin pitches require forced movement like letting the riseball go a little later so the trajectory is upward. Or overstepping the power line (center line) then twisting back to throw it outside to a RHB, then calling it a curve. Or the famous RHP step way to the left, letting the arm leave the line of the body to the pitch goes inside and then calling it a "screw".

 

[LEsoftballdad]

I take your post question another step in my own brain. I don't ask why they do it, typically I ask why their instructors allowed it to happen. This question and situation spawns a very rant that I could go into, which I'll spare everyone (unless you wanna read it) but I think it answers ArmWhip's question and probably others that he didn't even ask. lol.

I highly disagree with the part I highlighted though. And the reason is, sliders actually break and move. Nothing in softball will actually move with bullet spin. Bullet spin pitches require forced movement like letting the riseball go a little later so the trajectory is upward. Or overstepping the power line (center line) then twisting back to throw it outside to a RHB, then calling it a curve. Or the famous RHP step way to the left, letting the arm leave the line of the body to the pitch goes inside and then calling it a "screw".

I agree with you here, Bill. When the slider was first introduced, it was almost unhittable since no one had seen a ball thrown that hard that also broke.

 

[ArmWhip]

but I think it answers ArmWhip's question

Actually it doesn't, I want to understand how these pitchers throw bullet spin with the velocity that they do. At about 50 seconds into this WCWS game you can see Jordy Bahl throwing a bullet spin pitch. I'm not interested in whether she was taught this pitch or learned it on her own, I want to know how she does it mechanically.

 

[RADcatcher]

Actually it doesn't, I want to understand how these pitchers throw bullet spin with the velocity that they do.

Thank you for wanting to look at the reason they are having success doing that!

I'm not interested in whether she was taught this pitch or learned it on her own, I want to know how she does it mechanically.