Does it exist?
Couple of kids (14 year olds mind you) I've seen tossing lots of curves during a game, I go up to them after the game and ask them why they're throwing so many curves?
Both kids offered up the same response..."my coach taught me a safe curve ball grip."
I don't buy this **** for a second. These kid's curves were both breaking with pretty good snap. One of them showed me this "grip". When I saw it (i didnt have to actually see it) I thought to myself that this coach was full of it...a grip alone isn't gonna cause that kind of break...the grip for a basic curve just gets your hand and fingers in a good postion to put some snap on the ball. Obviously, you don't just hold a ball a certain way and toss it..It's like showing a kid a knuckle ball grip and then telling him, "just throw it". Without the proper mechanics on release, it's zip.
These coaches were deceiving these kids in order to gain an advantage, taking advantage of their innocence. I heard through the grapevine that one of these kids (now freshman) is sitting on his frosh-soph squad because he's been having elbow problems.
I've taught my pitchers a pitch that has the appearance of a breaking ball. It just works as a good off speed pitch, like a change, with a bit of spin caused by dragging the index finger off the side of the ball on the seam as it is released, side spin. It's a slow pitch and appears to break as it loses speed.
These guys are being deceived by their coaches IMO because they are still imparting the necesary spin to cause a snapping break. Ticks me off to see this.
Am I missing something here? I've heard this stuff before..."it's a safe curve ball". I don't believe that it exists in the form of an actual breaking ball..bunch of balogna.
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