Curveballs

A-rob

As far as grip goes, have you ever gripped a CB with the thumb up on the side of the ball rather than under the ball? My sons get a lot more ball rotation using this grip. I read that Koufax used it and had my sons try it. See what you think. It feels strange at first but the ball seems to spin better.

Sometimes you can have too much spin on a curve. Think about how sharply a splitter can break and all it is doing is tumbling a bit. When you are trying to get the ball to break down sharply more velocity and less spin allows you to release the ball level, slightly downward or at least not as much upward resulting in a much sharper break than a ball with more spin that has to be released upwards to keep it from hitting the plate. Of course if you do release it a bit too much upwards without much spin it is really going to hang.

Thanks guys, i'll try both methods to see what works out

It is a "feel" pitch so I hate to generalize, but.....back of the hand will give you a slower better breaking (more rotation) curve. Farther out in the fingers (like a fastball) will give you less break (less rotation) but a higher velocity curveball. So people call this a power curveball. It is the hot pitch right now along with the splitter. However, if it doesn't work for you, than, it doesn't work for you. Find what helps that pitcher get batters out....simple, right?

A couple of thoughts on the curveball:

1. There are a BUNCH of poor videos on teaching the curve. Be careful when you buy one.
2. The curve should never be taught to anyone under 14. Even then, the 14 year old should be mature.
3. The curve is best taught in stages. START AT 30 FEET. Don't try to teach it and have the pitcher throw from 60'6" the first day. It is a feel pitch.
4. A good tennis ball an is invaluable when teaching the curve.
5. We like the idea of taping two baseballs together with one where you can get your fingers on the seams so that you can teach the curve.
6. I would like to add more but in doing so, if some young person read this and misunderstood, I don't want to be responsible for them hurting themselves if I posted unclear thoughts on the subject.
7. Coach Jamie Shoope has a video on the "Power Curve." It is one of the best videos I own.

JMHO!

my friend, one of the ebtter pitchers on our staff, was talking to me about his curve (pretty decent) and he said that the was he gets his curve to bend is to really emphasize breaking your wrist as teh last second, and also out in front of the ball.... hard to explain, but think of it like this... when he is done breaking his wrist, his index and middle finger is pointing at first base, or alteast the visitors dug out (he is right handed)....

im not sure if u understand this, but does this help? or is this really not the reason for his good bender, but he thinks it is?

I really like the knuckle curve. We have a few guys who can vary their "tilt" with it. Similar to Mussina but obviously not as good.

quote:

Originally posted by CoachB25:
...2. The curve should never be taught to anyone under 14. Even then, the 14 year old should be mature.

I disagree. I taught it to my 11U kids because I am not naive enough to think they won't throw them while I am not around.

I did tell them, however, that I will break their arm if they throw them around me and, thus, will not have to worry about the CB hurting their arm.

IN order to throw a curve I would first see if the kid knows and understand how to properly throw a fastball. If he cannot I would start there and make sure he understands the mechanics before moving to the next verse.

So many do not know how to use the entire motion/ body to get the FB velocity and it is my personal belief this hurts more arms than what we think about the CB. Why have two pitches you know nothing about?

I agree with Redbird on the "given" that kids will try to throw it. I've heard the argument several times that if "I don't teach it, then they will do it wrong and so...!" It is really hard to know what to do then. From my standpoint, and I'm a hard butt, when I tell my child that she isn't going to do it, then she isn't going to do it. If she does...

14 is often cited by Doctors as to that critical time when their arm is starting to make changes. Ossification begins and then the young man matures both physically and mentally. (Or at least we hope he does.) I made a blanket statement because I don't know the people involved. Perhaps generalizations don't work in every case. Then again, none of our local yougnins can say I've encouraged them to throw it.

I DO LIKE THE SUGGESTION OF A KNUCKLE CURVE. I'VE SEEN SEVERAL YOUNG MEN THROW IT AND SOME HAVE HAD OUTSTANDING SUCCESS. Well, that's my opinion. My opinion and just a little over $20 Dollars will fill your tank with gas if you own a Saturn. (Seems like just the other day, I filled it up for $15!) LOL!

Filling a gas tank is too much money these days. So is car insurance for HS (1500 bucks for 6 months) . As far as curves go, it seems to me like a feel pitch. All I like to to is just let it float off, and I like that better than snapping and forcing it too hard.