what do you think this pitch will do?

[fastpitch91]

(the right pic is a little off it should not really have the ring and pinky coiled back they just lay on the side of the ball like shown on the left pic, was just struglling with the camera!)

OK, I was visiting one of my pitchers pitching coach to make sure I was not messing up what the pitching coach was teaching and to find out about some things that were a bit of a mystery to me. One of these was the "two seam fastball" she was throwing. i use the qoutes cause that was what he called it. (So you know he was 72 and a veteren of mens industrial league fastpitch pitcher who bantied about some pretty fancy names he played with.)

So the grips shown above are across the narrow seams with the thumb on the space. Not touching a seam with the thumb was key. I was instructed to throw this like a peel drop - rolling the ball off the fingers. I was being given the ole "can you actually pitch coach test"! Well I was in my dress shoes but at least did not have on a tie! Now i tossed a dozen or so of these and cause I can throw a decent (but kinda slow) 4 seam peel drop I had the ball breaking down pretty good.

Now what I could not understand was this pitch was supposed to be "screwing" inside to a righty in addition to going down. Which in my view it rarely did for my player but she and her dad thought it did (this is why I came to the lesson to get the skinny on this) Now after a dozen pitches they were seeing 8-12 inches of break on the pitch inside - from my pitches. Now for the life of me I could not see any break. I asked if he intended me to pressure the index finger and off load the index finger to "cut it in" as i have heard Bill Hillhouse discuss. Nope, even pressure on both fingers, just keep the thumb away from the seams was the formula.


What do you think? should this pitch screw inside?

 

[CoachFP]

Look, the grip is way down on the list of what makes the ball move. It's the action of the body, arm, wrist and fingers that will make the ball move. Hold it any way you want it and throw it straight and it will go straight.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I gotta agree with CoachFP.

But hey, it's great to experiment with grips and finger pressure. Most pitchers with any imagination will slide the fingers around ( along with snaps, and finger pressure ) to see what they can come up with. A grip that works for Sally may not be as effective for Suzie due to strength and dominant fingers.

 

[halskinner]

If you want that grip to be a fastball, release it a little farther out in front, make that 'Peace sign' as big as you can and stop the hand with the palm up and the middle finger of the peace sign pointing straight at your target.

If you want that grip to be a down and in, grip it like that but halfway between a 4-seam and a 2-seam. Watch what happens.

 

[Lozza]

That's my old fastball grip. It's got a heck of a lot of movement which does slow it down. I still use it if the batter is fouling me off.

 

[dbias]

That's my old fastball grip. It's got a heck of a lot of movement which does slow it down. I still use it if the batter is fouling me off.

My DD uses the "two seam" fb the same way. it has a wicked down and in screw type motion and the catcher does not like it at all. She has been experimenting with with thumb location but cant anything consistantly working other than the late screwball motion.

She was at Ohio State pitching clinic a few weeks ago and they were working on screwballs, which is a pitch she has never even officially thrown, and was doing terrible. They helped her with grip and broke down the motion a couple of times.... I finally gave her the "two seam sign" and she smiled and threw one and the all said "thats it" and moved on. lol