Hitting in/out locations

[sluggers]

ALL pitches break down some. it's called gravity Ray.

Using your definition, all pitches are breaking pitches.

A breaking pitch is compared to the pitcher's fastball. If the pitch doesn't deviate from the flight path for the fastball, then the pitch is not considered a breaking pitch.

A slider, when compared to a fastball, breaks down and away.

 

[ArmWhip]

The horizontal movement pitches don't get the job done against good hitters.

In baseball the slider has significant horizontal movement vs the curve ball which goes down. The cutter has 'lateral' movement, another word for horizontal.

 

[sluggers]

In baseball the slider has significant horizontal movement vs the curve ball which goes down. The cutter has 'lateral' movement, another word for horizontal.

I'm glad you brought up the cutter. Yes, it has lateral movement. It doesn't have anything close to the movement of a drop, MLB curve, or a rise.

The video you posted says "Rivera had only one pitch", which is inaccurate. He also threw a FB. He had great control with both. Even with that, he couldn't make it threw the batting order more than once.

Anyway, I'll bet you $100.00 that the OP's DD is being "taught" to put 3-6/6-3 spin on the ball to throw the curve, which is not even close to how a cutter or slider is thrown.

Again, watch NCAA D1 softball. Turn off the volume. Count the number of curves, screwballs, rises and drops you see. The pitcher will usually throw two or three riseballs/drop balls to each batter, and an equal number of FBs.

By the end of the game, a pitcher will throw about 50 rise/drops, 50 fastballs, and maybe 5 curveballs.

A HS kid throwing 55MPH with a riseball will eat alive HS and TB teams.

 

[texasheat]

A slider, when compared to a fastball, breaks down and away.

Exactly. So does a softball curve ball.........................because of the aforementioned gravity. Bottom line is a softball curve breaks down and away and a MLB slider breaks down and away so your original statement that MLB doesn't throw the equivalent of a softball curve is false.

Now granted I agree with you that a North/South pitcher in softball is more effective than a East/West pitcher. And most D1 pitchers are N/S pitchers. But that wasn't the point of my original post.

 

[ArmWhip]

Again, watch NCAA D1 softball. Turn off the volume. Count the number of curves, screwballs, rises and drops you see. The pitcher will usually throw two or three riseballs/drop balls to each batter, and an equal number of FBs.

I need to see some type of statistics before making judgements about what kinds of pitches are thrown by college pitchers, looking at them on the TV screen makes it difficult to determine what a pitch is, and we certainly don't want to rely on what Michelle Smith says. We also have to determine what type of spin a fastball has. From what I have seen bullet spin is very common, do we classify that as a riseball, and if a fastball has top spin is that a drop? Top spin is the easiest spin to throw and true back spin is the hardest with curve spin somewhere in between. I think I see a lot of rollover curves on TV, but I can't be certain. I think that Rachel Garcia throws a rollover drop/curve, but they only replay the bullet rise because that is her strike out pitch, so I can't be certain.

 

[ArmWhip]

I found this today from UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez after they were beaten by Washington in the 2017 CWS.

Q. Coach, from your vantage point was Taran (Alvelo) doing or throwing anything that you hadn't seen before or was she just a sharper version? KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: She was throwing her curveball I think a little higher today. We kind of got her when she came up and in last time, and she threw pretty much a majority curveballs today, so you credit her. She changed thing up a little bit. She definitely did. There you go.

 

[Bonesaw]

I bet alvelo's "curveball" that day was pretty similar to riveras "cutter".

I.E not offspeed. Just hard(a little backspin and fast) and breaking horizontally.

Might be wrong.

 

[ArmWhip]

I took a look at the video of the 2019 WCWS game between Washington and UCLA. At the start of the game they talked about Rachel Garcia's curve ball and showed video of it.

 

[texasheat]

I took a look at the video of the 2019 WCWS game between Washington and UCLA. At the start of the game they talked about Rachel Garcia's curve ball and showed video of it.

Next thing you're going to do is tell me she isn't palm up at 9 o'clock. Can't be true.

 

[Gags]

Is that a curve ball grip she's using?

Side note 1: Velcro?!?! ​

Side note 2: Her wristband has more pixels than most QR codes...​

re: KIP quote - they didn't have any trouble with Juarez's curveball 2 years later in the 2019 WCWS.

Anyway, I'll bet you $100.00 that the OP's DD is being "taught" to put 3-6/6-3 spin on the ball to throw the curve, which is not even close to how a cutter or slider is thrown.

Since I don't think ArmWhip ever accepted the challenge, as the OP I'll save sluggers the $100 and admit she's not being taught the curve. TBH, I was just going to skip it altogether, giving her time to better develop her drop, CU, and accuracy, and then start on the rise in ~2 yrs (14U).

But I did ask the team's PC about the curve, and her thinking was that she's seeing a lot more horizontal movement pitches in the last few years, not as strictly curveballs, but in combinations - drop-curve, rise-curve, etc. And then of course there's always that gif of Ken throwing his curve running through my head. Maybe we do need a few more knee-bucklers in softball!