Pitch Tunneling

[jfitch12]

I had always thought of “tunneling” as an analytical quality—something that you might work on through pitch design or pitch sequencing (with a Rapsodo scatter plot, for example)—as opposed to the act of literally trying to throw the ball down a tunnel. So improvements in tunneling would come from figuring out what existing pitches play off each other—rather than trying to develop new ways of throwing those pitches so that they better resemble one another. The only training that you might do would be to make sure that all pitches are released from the same spot, which for softball pitchers is a lot easier than in baseball, since softball release points are virtually identical from pitch to pitch.

All that said, I do wonder if the hula-hoop concept might work as a low-tech check on which pitches are in fact tunneling. The first article below reference a “tunnel point” of 23.8 feet for baseball (the point where the batter has to make a decision), so maybe about 40-45% of the distance from release to the plate, and an average differential at the tunnel point of 10 inches between pitches (for MLB pitchers). So maybe a hoop of similar diameter, set at about 17 feet for softball, might work. The second article below also references that not all pitchers rely on tunneling through a small window (contrasting Greg Maddux’s small tunnels with Bary Zito’s big tunnels). I am not sure that’s as relevant to softball either, since softball movement pitches don’t break nearly as much as in baseball. (You don’t see anything that resembles Zito’s curveball in terms of speed or amount of break in softball.)

Would be curious to hear how this works for folks in practice. I think you would need a lot of trial and error to get the hoop at the right distance and diameter.

Prospectus Feature: Introducing Pitch Tunnels | Baseball Prospectus

Greg Maddux was on to something, whether he knew it or not.

www.baseballprospectus.com

Prospectus Feature: Two Ways to Tunnel | Baseball Prospectus

Tunneling from Greg Maddux and Barry Zito to Kyle Hendricks and Rich Hill, and everything in between.

www.baseballprospectus.com

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fury_Mike]

I question the whole idea of tunneling for the pitcher. I would want a pitcher to focus on her target and if she trying to throw thru hoops she is not focused her end target. Seem almost backwards to me.
I have seen tunneling devices for pitch recognition. If I remember correctly it was a series of rings and pricey.

its a form of visualizing your pitch, and getting it to travel through a location to get there.

 

[Fury_Mike]

I had always thought of “tunneling” as an analytical quality—something that you might work on through pitch design or pitch sequencing (with a Rapsodo scatter plot, for example)—as opposed to the act of literally trying to throw the ball down a tunnel. So improvements in tunneling would come from figuring out what existing pitches play off each other—rather than trying to develop new ways of throwing those pitches so that they better resemble one another. The only training that you might do would be to make sure that all pitches are released from the same spot, which for softball pitchers is a lot easier than in baseball, since softball release points are virtually identical from pitch to pitch.

All that said, I do wonder if the hula-hoop concept might work as a low-tech check on which pitches are in fact tunneling. The first article below reference a “tunnel point” of 23.8 feet for baseball (the point where the batter has to make a decision), so maybe about 40-45% of the distance from release to the plate, and an average differential at the tunnel point of 10 inches between pitches (for MLB pitchers). So maybe a hoop of similar diameter, set at about 17 feet for softball, might work. The second article below also references that not all pitchers rely on tunneling through a small window (contrasting Greg Maddux’s small tunnels with Bary Zito’s big tunnels). I am not sure that’s as relevant to softball either, since softball movement pitches don’t break nearly as much as in baseball. (You don’t see anything that resembles Zito’s curveball in terms of speed or amount of break in softball.)

Would be curious to hear how this works for folks in practice. I think you would need a lot of trial and error to get the hoop at the right distance and diameter.

Prospectus Feature: Introducing Pitch Tunnels | Baseball Prospectus

Greg Maddux was on to something, whether he knew it or not.

www.baseballprospectus.com

Prospectus Feature: Two Ways to Tunnel | Baseball Prospectus

Tunneling from Greg Maddux and Barry Zito to Kyle Hendricks and Rich Hill, and everything in between.

www.baseballprospectus.com

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The analytical is whats driving the hula-hoop concept (or other device). At least for me