Curveball

You don't have someone that can throw you curveballs?

I agree with SoS, get someone to throw them to you. I also lob balls to my son to simulate them.

quote:

Originally posted by MSUMatt24:
Any ideas on how to work hitting curveballs with no pitching machine? We work hitting the ball to right field. In fact all our BP tells the players to hit it up the middle or right side. But can't get it going in the game. Any ideas?

Alot of reps. I dont like to just mix them into the batting practice i want alot of succesful reps. So we will do 5 curves 5 fast ect. the kids know whats comming and works on it. we also have used these this year and i like them http://www.baseup.org/hitthis.php im not affiliated in anyway but it is a easy station you can mix in outside for reps.

Like the others have said above, getting reps is key for you to read a curveball rotation. It just takes time.

Unless you are facing a massive amount of pitchers who are throwing curveballs for strikes on a regular basis, I'd say get VERY good at hitting the fastballs that enter the hitting zone.

I work with my hitters on being patient and hitting pitches in what I call their "hot zone." This is essentially identifying fastball locations that you can hit extremely well and keying in on those pitches ahead in the count.

I don't mean to minimize the importance of learning to recognize a curveball, but keep in mind that nobody hits GOOD curveballs. Therefore, be patient and ignore curveballs when you're ahead in the count. Over time and with enough at bats, you'll begin to learn to pick them up better. Just takes time.

As a former pitcher I have to agree that good curve balls can't be hit successfully very often at all. Most contact is minimal.

I tell my players to KNOW what pitch they are CONFIDENT they can hit HARD almost every time...and too look for that pitch EARLY.

Unless it's a hanger I have my guys leave curve balls alone until they get two strikes...then at that point it's just follow the ball and make contact. On good curve balls, if you make decent contact, many times it will be a foul ball.

Also, for a pitcher to be throwing a curve ball consistently, he HAS to get the FB over for strikes. So there are other pitches to look for if you're a hitter.

Some good post here on the general hitting approach, but the poster was looking for ideas on how to hit the curve ball. I would add to what BOF recommends and include soft toss with the ball tossed with a lot of arc and have the hitter let the ball get deep into the strike zone. What makes a curve ball hard to hit is the break and speed of the pitch. Most hitters reach for the ball and either miss it entirely or hit weak ground balls. All drills should be done with the idea of letting the ball get deep into the strike zone.

To hit a curve ball you focus on the release point to
identify the curve ball. A curve ball will appear as a full white ball, because of the rotation. A sinking fast ball appears as 1/2 ball and a slider you look for the "red" dot.

Also pray for a "hanging" curve, then do not miss. Many great hitters use a "logical" guess.

Bob

Nice post Bob, have heard this before on recognizing the pitch early.

Simple philosophy. If he hangs it you bang it otherwise let it go until you get two strikes.

That said if a kid throwing lots of 1st pitch CB strikes (some HS coaches fall in love with this pitch since in most cases it is a freebee) them sit on one you can drive. If you are a 3 or 4 hitter you will see more of them so you need to practice this pitch.

quote:

Originally posted by BOF:
Simple philosophy. If he hangs it you bang it otherwise let it go until you get two strikes.

That said if a kid throwing lots of 1st pitch CB strikes (some HS coaches fall in love with this pitch since in most cases it is a freebee) them sit on one you can drive. If you are a 3 or 4 hitter you will see more of them so you need to practice this pitch.

Saw this the other night... and example of the hanger. Man this was hit hard..

Nate;

Thank you.

That is "bat speed". I can imagine his eyes became "big" when he saw this pitch appear "on a string".
Did he break any LF seats?
Bob

quote:

Originally posted by MSUMatt24:
Any ideas on how to work hitting curveballs with no pitching machine? We work hitting the ball to right field. In fact all our BP tells the players to hit it up the middle or right side. But can't get it going in the game. Any ideas?

Lots of great posts regarding approach here. Regarding not having a machine, some other options are...

- using wiffle at a short distance, it's very simple to throw RH curves or LH curves - just throw a screwball for LH curves (if you're a righty). Plenty of videos available via yahoo search or youtube on the motion.

- using cage soft toss, move your screen about four feet over and toss slower to simulate the proper down and across motion.

- have hitters stand behind the catcher (and behind a screen) when pitchers are throwing BP so they get lots of looks at CB's.

- have pitchers occasionally throw BP's live to your hitters.

- invite guest BP pitchers (ex players, kids home from college, etc.) that you know will throw lots of strikes with breaking stuff.

If you have Vision Training such as our training it will help you a bunch. Also have the hitter use Central Vision instead of Peripheral Vision all the way from the release to the catcher. Most hitters see the ball on release lose it then regain it then they are so far outside of central vision that they never pick it up. Stat: for every 10degrees the ball falls outside of Central Vision, hand eye coordination if off 1ft.

I train hitters to be effective on Curves and it works.

From Hank Aaron himself " I can wait on the curve ball because I know the pitcher can't throw the fastball by me." Wait to see the ball break. Develop a swing that puts you on plane with the fastball (in case he throws a fastball). Don't worry about it too much. Most curveballs (something like 45-50% are not strikes)

Curves and sliders have either a quarter sized red circle, or a red dot, depending on whether the pitcher uses a 4 seam or 2 seam grip.

quote:

Originally posted by Low Finish:
From Hank Aaron himself " I can wait on the curve ball because I know the pitcher can't throw the fastball by me." Wait to see the ball break. Develop a swing that puts you on plane with the fastball (in case he throws a fastball). Don't worry about it too much. Most curveballs (something like 45-50% are not strikes)

I'm with you on this.

How to hit curveballs--

Answer #1 is that you learn to hit CBs by working on hitting curveballs.
Answer #2 is that you learn to hit CBs by working on hitting fastballs with a short last-second swing.

I'm with #2. [a] Confidence that you can wait on fastballs is the key to hitting bad curveballs. [b] Don't waste time trying to learn how to hit good curveballs. Until you've got two strikes, if you swing at one, hope that you missed it. Once you've got two strikes, hope you can foul off good CBs until you get a bad one or a fastball.