Best and easiest Screwball

[HOG11]

My DD throws a "screwball". She kicks her butt out, steps slightly out and holds the ball on the horseshoe and spins the ball to the right(left for the catcher) it also has a slight rise. Her hand/arm movement is almost as if she is turning a door knob (opposite way) and pushing the door open. It's very effective and definitely breaks on the hands of a eighty batter. Her numbers and effectiveness as a pitcher have sky rocketed since learning this pitch. She throws a fast ball, curve ball, screw and change. Working on a drop(peel) but is having a hard time getting it down and leaves it over the middle too much for my liking to use in a game.

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[jsoftballcoach]

Step left and throw right (RHP). There, screwball


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[Hillhouse]

Wow. Just wow. Where the pitch finishes does not mean the ball moved there. Nobody can make a ball spin the way required for a ball to actually curve inward. Forget it, it can't happen. If you want to say stepping left, sticking your butt out, and throwing it inside go ahead works for her, great. Inside pitches are effective. But can we stop saying the ball "screwed" inward. It didn't. Cat Osterman, Monica Abbott, and others who are WORLD class... not in math class... cannot do this.

 

[Shawn]

Ok how about tilting the posture and fall towards third. Basically.

 

[Shawn]

Or step left, tilt and fall towards third, thus creating an angle, left to right of the pitch trajectory.

Is that basically it, creating an angle that stays away of the middle of the plate?

 

[Shawn]

Step left, throw right. In this case go right toward the batter and stride outside the pitching lane and throw right.

 

[Shawn]

I don’t see any break, looks like a straight angle pitch.Fastball with some questionable action.

 

[Fury_Mike]

Where is a video? Where are all these pitchers? Shouldn't there be ONE VIDEO somewhere showing the pitch during a game?

Sluggers, I'll get some video this week of what I refer to as a cutter that breaks down and in to a RHH

 

[Hillhouse]

Sluggers, I'll get some video this week of what I refer to as a cutter that breaks down and in to a RHH

This is a much easier pitch to throw. Not easy, I said easier. But, you have to keep in mind the principal rotation being described here is STILL forward/dropball. It's still spinning forward, with finger pressure that prevents straight 6/12 rotation, giving it the cut inward to a RHB (for a RHP). This is a common pitch and doesn't not require the step to the left, then the pitching arm going no where near the body at release, which angles the pitch inward. Not by it's spin, but instead by pitching around the hips forcing the ball to angle inward. Regular mechanics work with the "cutter".

Before anyone asks, Yes, a RHP could use finger pressure to make the ball cut the opposite way. But, common sense prevents this if you know anything about pitching. It's always very dangerous to make a ball go across the plate. If it doesn't have either or both of the breaks you're trying to get, then your pitcher has left a meat ball over the plate. Good luck with that. At least with the "screwball" that people pretend to have, at the very least most are actually inside and not over the middle of the plate.

This is why I only work on "cutters" with the most extreme of advanced students. If you're a PC and you wanna work on it with an "ok" level pitcher, go ahead. I'm not here to say what you can and can't do. But, missing across the plate is also why I've never taught a "drop curve", nor did I try this myself in actual games. As a RHP throwing to a RHB, I never wanted to take the chance on what I spoke of earlier of the ball not moving as it's thrown across the plate. Why not just throw a good old fashioned dropball to the outside instead of trying to get overly fancy with a "drop curve"? Probably because "drop curve", not to be confused with drop or curve alone is 1 of the 9 pitches many pretend to have. And still most just throw a pitch low and away, calling it a drop curve and because it ended up there, dad and the pitching coach give each other high fives. Yes, I know someone is going to reply their kid's best pitch is the drop curve. Since we're not allowed to speak in general terms without someone getting butt hurt that I've offended their kid's best pitch, I'll just tip my hat and say congrats for that. But, I'll be waiting anxiously for the posts about how her "drop curve" wasn't working that one day and she hung too many over the middle. We rarely see those posts oddly enough. Yes, a drop ball intended for outside can miss, be hung over the plate, and ripped too. Nobody is perfect. But pitching is about playing the percentages. Percentage wise, an outside drop is an easier pitch to throw and survive with than one where you're trying to make the ball do 2 different things.

I'm always bemused by the messages I get after a post like this. Half the people get angry at me for not believing their coach is actually teaching 9 pitches and telling it the way it actually is bothers them, others of my generation respect the brutal honesty. And before anyone accuses me of being a "guy who doesn't understand what it's like to be a young, up and coming pitcher" let me remind you all, I never played baseball. I got my a$$ handed to me in men's leagues at 12 years old pitching fastpitch softball. EVERYTHING your kid is going through and will go through, I also went through it as a young pitcher. I experimented with every wind up, every grip, and every pitch (real and imagined) that exist just as your kid is now. You don't have to like what I say but you can't say I don't understand what it's like. My father would probably be brought up on charges in today's world for letting a 12 yr old pitch against grown men. Would you let your 12 yr old daughter pitch against a college team? Heck, even an 18U team? I can still vividly remember being 12 and at my first team practice with the men's team, the veteran catcher sits me down and starts going over the signals: 1 is a riseball, 2 is a dropball, etc. etc. and I actually pretended like I had different pitches. I was 12 yrs old, pitching from 46 feet away (2 feet on rubber, no crow hopping like they do now) and was more worried about throwing ANY strikes before I got to ball 4. LOL. I bet he wondered why my drop went up and my rise went down!

 

[Fury_Mike]

This is a much easier pitch to throw. Not easy, I said easier. But, you have to keep in mind the principal rotation being described here is STILL forward/dropball. It's still spinning forward, with finger pressure that prevents straight 6/12 rotation, giving it the cut inward to a RHB (for a RHP). This is a common pitch and doesn't not require the step to the left, then the pitching arm going no where near the body at release, which angles the pitch inward. Not by it's spin, but instead by pitching around the hips forcing the ball to angle inward. Regular mechanics work with the "cutter".

Before anyone asks, Yes, a RHP could use finger pressure to make the ball cut the opposite way. But, common sense prevents this if you know anything about pitching. It's always very dangerous to make a ball go across the plate. If it doesn't have either or both of the breaks you're trying to get, then your pitcher has left a meat ball over the plate. Good luck with that. At least with the "screwball" that people pretend to have, at the very least most are actually inside and not over the middle of the plate.

This is why I only work on "cutters" with the most extreme of advanced students. If you're a PC and you wanna work on it with an "ok" level pitcher, go ahead. I'm not here to say what you can and can't do. But, missing across the plate is also why I've never taught a "drop curve", nor did I try this myself in actual games. As a RHP throwing to a RHB, I never wanted to take the chance on what I spoke of earlier of the ball not moving as it's thrown across the plate. Why not just throw a good old fashioned dropball to the outside instead of trying to get overly fancy with a "drop curve"? Probably because "drop curve", not to be confused with drop or curve alone is 1 of the 9 pitches many pretend to have. And still most just throw a pitch low and away, calling it a drop curve and because it ended up there, dad and the pitching coach give each other high fives. Yes, I know someone is going to reply their kid's best pitch is the drop curve. Since we're not allowed to speak in general terms without someone getting butt hurt that I've offended their kid's best pitch, I'll just tip my hat and say congrats for that. But, I'll be waiting anxiously for the posts about how her "drop curve" wasn't working that one day and she hung too many over the middle. We rarely see those posts oddly enough. Yes, a drop ball intended for outside can miss, be hung over the plate, and ripped too. Nobody is perfect. But pitching is about playing the percentages. Percentage wise, an outside drop is an easier pitch to throw and survive with than one where you're trying to make the ball do 2 different things.

I'm always bemused by the messages I get after a post like this. Half the people get angry at me for not believing their coach is actually teaching 9 pitches and telling it the way it actually is bothers them, others of my generation respect the brutal honesty. And before anyone accuses me of being a "guy who doesn't understand what it's like to be a young, up and coming pitcher" let me remind you all, I never played baseball. I got my a$$ handed to me in men's leagues at 12 years old pitching fastpitch softball. EVERYTHING your kid is going through and will go through, I also went through it as a young pitcher. I experimented with every wind up, every grip, and every pitch (real and imagined) that exist just as your kid is now. You don't have to like what I say but you can't say I don't understand what it's like. My father would probably be brought up on charges in today's world for letting a 12 yr old pitch against grown men. Would you let your 12 yr old daughter pitch against a college team? Heck, even an 18U team? I can still vividly remember being 12 and at my first team practice with the men's team, the veteran catcher sits me down and starts going over the signals: 1 is a riseball, 2 is a dropball, etc. etc. and I actually pretended like I had different pitches. I was 12 yrs old, pitching from 46 feet away (2 feet on rubber, no crow hopping like they do now) and was more worried about throwing ANY strikes before I got to ball 4. LOL. I bet he wondered why my drop went up and my rise went down!

Bill thanks for adding content on the pressure point cutter. I agree that I use it with the more advanced pitchers. Do you teach it with the grip I showed in this post? When my pitchers throw it, they start it a ball on the plate and run it off the plate in on the back knee. Thoughts?