One of the things I find fascinating when I read discussion boards is how many people — especially the old-time pitchers — seem to have a bias against the curve and the screw. Their basic premise is you should only be throwing pitches that move up or down, i.e. the rise and the drop, because they’re harder to hit than a ball that stays flat.

It makes me wonder what their expectations are or experience is with the curve and screw. I’ve found them both to be very effective pitches when thrown correctly and under the right circumstances.

First of all, the curve and screw don’t have to be flat pitches. A screw that goes up as well as in can be tough to hit (more on that later). The curve will tend to be flatter, but will still have some tendency to drop in most cases.

But the real advantage is in location. I think too often the people who don’t like the curve or screw tend to throw them or see them thrown for strikes. That’s not necessarily what you want to do.

I like a curve that starts out as a strike, out on the outer third of the plate. Then, a couple of feet before the plate it breaks off and is essentially a ball. The thing is, the hitter made her decision to swing before the ball broke, so she’s essentially swinging at a ball. If she does hit it, she likely won’t hit it very hard. But the odds are she will swing and miss, chasing a pitch that’s too far outside to hit. That’s a great 0-2 pitch. If she doesn’t go for that outside pitch, come back with a pitch on the outside corner that doesn’t break laterally. If she laid off once she’ll likely lay off again, only this time it is a strike.

If you can throw a back door curve on the other hand, you’re throwing a pitch that looks like it will plunk the hitter in the ribs. She backs off, and the ball goes across the plate for a strike. As long as the blue is watching the pitch the entire way you get an easy strike.

On the screw, there are a couple of strategies that make it effective. To simplify the description, we’ll assume a right-handed pitcher (RHP). Her pitch will break in toward a right-handed hitter and away from a lefty.

Assuming you can get actual break and not just angle, the screw can be very effective against a big hitter. It starts out looking all fat, around the middle of the plate, then breaks in on the hands. The bigger hitter who was planning on crushing the middle of the plate pitch has to pull in her hands and hit with alligator arms. If she does catch it in time, odds are you’re going to see a long foul ball down the left field line, which looks spectactular but is still a strike, same as a ball popped back into the screen.

With less talented hitters, a ball darting up and in toward their hands or face masks can be pretty intimidating. They back off, the ball stays on the plate, again you get an easy strike. One of the beauties here is that there usually aren’t many kids around who throw a good screw, so if you can the hitter has fewer reference points to use in recognizing it. If one happens to get away and plunk someone, so much the better. The others will think twice before digging in.

For lefties, the screw can be used the same as a curve for righties — a pitch that breaks off the plate. You can also have lefty slappers chasing what looks like a good pitch to slap — providing you can adjust the break point to the front of the batter’s box. Otherwise, the slapper will catch it before it breaks. Since slappers are taught to swing down, they may wind up getting the bat too low too early, swinging under the pitch because it’s not where they thought it would be. No need to throw it for a strike; it only has to look like it will be a strike when the hitter makes her decision, which is usually about halfway between the plate and the pitchers rubber.

The objective with pitching is to get hitters to swing at pitches that they thought would be good but turn out not to be. The curve and the screw can both qualify if you use them correctly.

Had this thought earlier today and just had to share.

Everyone talks about how the softball pitching motion is a “natural” motion. If that was true, parents wouldn’t pay thousands of dollars for their kids to learn how to pitch.

One of the things I’ve always struggled with is finding the right way to tell pitchers  how to use their bodies to throw the pitch. I’ve been describing the arm motion as pulling the elbow down or leading the elbow through the circle but that has had limited results. Some kids got it, but many others couldn’t quite seem to figure out how to do it at full speed.

A few weeks ago I was watching one of my students, a girl named Katie, during her lesson. I commented to her on how she looked like a young, much shorter Jennie Finch with the way she was using her arm. (Katie has very long arms, too, so the motion was a bit exaggerated. It also makes throwing some pitches a bit more challenging, but that’s a story for another day.)

As I observed her, I drew a mental picture of some of the videos I have or have seen of Finch pitch. That’s when it hit me — a way to describe the use of the arm and the shoulder complex that would make sure the big muscles in the shoulder become more engaged. When I watch her, Finch seems to do a better job of getting the big muscles in the back involved — probably the result of using the Finch Windmill all those years since it looks to me like those are the muscles it will work the most. When I watch in analysis mode I can almost feel the power she’s developing myself.
 
I tried it with Katie and got immediate results. I’ve tried it with pretty much all my students, and have seen universal results. They are able to throw harder/faster while remaining relaxed. So I thought I’d share the explanation I use now.





It really comes down to using or focusing on different muscle groups at different points of the pitch. I tell them when the arm is going up the front of the circle they’re using the pectoral muscles in their chest, and muscles at the top of the shoulder. (Technically that’s the supraspinatus muscle, but that’s a bit of over-explanation that causes the eyes to glaze.)

Then comes the critical part. As they start down the back side of the circle, it’s important to get the big muscles on the back side of the shoulder engaged — the deltoid, trapezius and latissimus dorsi. Sometimes I will name them, but mostly I’ll just indicate the area on the back side of the shoulder where the muscles are located. I’ve been telling them what they want to do is use those muscles to pull the upper part of the arm — from the shoulder to the elbow — down, and only that part of the arm. If they do that (as opposed to trying to pull the ball down), the elbow leads down the back side of the circle as if by magic. Finally, I tell them when the arm gets to a low point (ball is around 7:00 on a right handed pitcher, but I just show them the point) the muscles in the forearm get added on to finishing pulling the ball through to release.

Why I think this works is that most young pitchers, when they get the ball to the top of the circle, are thinking about pulling the ball to the release point. So, they engage their triceps and forearm muscles, and maybe their biceps to an extent, to do it. This motion allows them to shortcut the circle, stiffen up their arm, etc. But by separating the arm more with different sets of muscles they are able to stay loose and use a better path to bring the arm down, getting the three main pieces of the arm (upper arm, forearm, hand/wrist) to fire in sequence. It’s specific and easy to understand, which makes it easier to feel and execute.

While it may be out there, I’ve never seen the arm and shoulder action described this way before (at least that I can recall). It definitely works, though. When they do it, the pitchers can feel the added power, which puts a big smile on their faces. And ball speed definitely picks up.

Of course, this isn’t the only key to developing speed and power. That’s what makes pitching such a tough skill to learn. But it certainly helps, especially if you keep the wrist loose and ball pointed away instead of down on the back side of the circle. Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you.

A common problem for pitchers, especially here in the Northern climes where a lot of time is spent practicing indoors, is developing a habit of “walking off” the pitching rubber. In other words, instead of loading, transferring the weight to the pivot foot and then pushing off, pitchers will start to let the pivot foot slide forward off the rubber then plant and push off. This is often found with pitchers who practice on a flat gym floor instead of on a pitching mat. Here’s an illustration of that problem to make it clearer (those reading this on the Discuss Fastpitch forum may need to go to my blog to see the video — http://fastpitchlane.softballsuccess.com):

Stepping off the pitching rubber

Ashlee, the girl depicted here, is one of those who had developed this issue. (EDIT: I actually don’t have the video for Ashlee anymore, so another student, Emma, kindly stepped in {no pun intended} to demonstrate the concept.) We tried a number of the standard solutions, such has applying light pressure to her foot as she started to pitch, putting a piece of paper under her toes and having her try to drag it forward, etc. All would work while we were doing the exercise. But as soon as we went back to regular pitching she was right back into walking off. She is very aggressive in her footwork which contributed to the problem. Ultimately it got to the point where the walk off was very obvious.

This movement is a problem for two reasons. One is that it’s illegal. It’s essentially a crow hop without the hop, and because of the way it happens it’s pretty easy for an umpire to call. Beyond that, though, by not loading properly she wasn’t developing the proper level of drive she needed to maximum speed and sharpen her movement pitches.

So, rather than continue to fight her body’s desire to introduce early movement into her footwork we decided to work with it. Essentially, what we did was have her start with the heel of her front foot just barely touching the pitching rubber. Then, as she goes into the loading phase she actually pulls her foot backward so the ball of the foot is against the pitching rubber. Here’s how that looks:

Pushing off from the pitching rubber

As you can see, she still “walks forward,” which feels comfortable to her. But now when she does it she is loading better and remaining legal.

As a side note, the “after” video is her natural motion now most of the time. We actually had to take several shots to get the “before” video because it is no longer her habit. Not to say she doesn’t backslide every now and then, but for the most part this is where she is now, without having to think about it. Let’s say it’s a work in progress, but progress is good.

So if you have a pitcher with this problem, give it a try. It may be just the trick to help her overcome the issues.