Position on rubber

CADad:

Early on my son's pitching coach moved him to the far right side of the rubber. (R thrower) He indicated that it gave better angles to R handers and allowed him to work the outer half against Lefty's more effectively.

I don't think it matters much where you throw from as far as ball movement. I can see your point on how it might be more difficult to locate a CB from the left side to a RH. Regarding Zito and CB's, I don't think he necessarily would throw closed more....his stride might be slighly shorter on a CB.

BOF,
I'm not saying Zito strides more closed on a curve. I'm saying he strides closed on every pitch. I think that in general you'll see that pitchers who rely on the breaking ball tend to stride more closed than those who rely on the fastball. Good point about the shorter stride.

We've seen noticeable differences in movement based on which side of the rubber and pitch location. The amount the ball actually moves relative to the initial trajectory is not changed as the rpm hasn't changed but the fact that the ball is overcoming a trajectory that is opposite the spin results in less movement. This is the same reason that a high curve tends to hang even though there's as much spin on the ball. For example a fastball thrown to the outside will straighten out due to the tail on the ball and may fool a batter by catching the outside corner but it isn't actually tailing into the batter, while the same ball thrown to the inside corner would tail in and be moving in toward the batter as it crosses the plate. (Righty to righty) If we assume that the ball is released about 2' to the armside of the location of the foot plant then a RHP who starts on the far left side of the rubber and doesn't stride closed at all is releasing the ball roughly in line with the inside corner so there's no initial angle on the inside fastball but there is an initial angle opposite the tail on the outside fastball.

Now I'll go out on a limb based on your description of where your son sets up and make a guess that your son throws fairly over the top as someone throwing from that angle isn't as likely to get as much tail on the ball and is most effective getting the good angle and better break on the breaking ball.

It'll be interesting to hear if I've guessed right or wrong.

Got it, interesting.

You are correct. He is tall so he is most effective throwing down hill and down in the zone from the right side. When he does this he is not unhittable...however the ball is generally pounded into the ground. When he can get his 2 seamer breaking down-and-in the combination is deadly.... As you know these stars don't align too often.

Mine throws 3/4 with tail so is most effective working down and in to righties as he gets both tail and sink on that pitch. He also has a fairly long arm action so hitters can pick up his release point fairly well and it is important for him to have the fastball movement to keep the hitters from squaring him up.

This is a really interesting conversation. I can see how changing angles can impact the hitter's perception of how the ball is traveling. Allow me add a thought from a slightly different angle and see if this makes any sense to you.

My son was taught a couple of years ago to set up on the mound with the goal of having his drag line ending on the line where the center of the pitching rubber would meet the center of home plate. This will vary from Pitcher to Pitcher; and can vary for each Pitcher from day-to-day, and mound-to-mound, depending on the condition of each.

Since he began doing this, he has enjoyed a great deal of consistency and success; and has been very efficient and effective. I have taught this approach to other teen pitchers and have consistently found that they spend more time in and on the edges of the strike zone, with all of their pitches.

A video clip on this approach can be found on the NPA home page at present:

http://www.nationalpitching.net/default.asp

I'm sure I do a poor job explaining it, but it has been amazing how machine like my son has been in his efficiency and effectiveness since he added this tweak to his set-up.

My LHP son likes to use the far left side of the rubber.. it gives better angles, like BOF says, but also hides his arm just a little better.

Just listened to to Bum, Jr.'s game on the internet.. they were saying he was working from the extreme RIGHT side of the rubber, just the opposite of what I said before. Maybe to get some more armside run on the outer half to righties?