Core Training

Why Learning and Perfecting Spins Are Crucial to a Softball Pitcher’s Success

Photo courtesy of Florida Athletics (Jim Burgess)

As softball pitchers learn, develop, and grow, they will begin to add additional pitches to their tool box after they have mastered the fastball and the change up. My advice to pitchers who are eager to explore additional pitches is to get professional help before doing so. A drop ball isn’t thrown by simply rolling the wrist over, a high fastball isn’t considered a rise ball, and slinging the arm across the body with a new grip isn’t a curve ball. Movement pitches need to be taught by an expert and they need to be learned by breaking them down.

Think back to when your pitcher learned a fastball. How many wrist flicks did it take to get that perfect line on the ball? Think about how many T’s, K’s, knee arm circles, and standing arm circles went into building the muscle memory for the fastball. I advise pitchers to seek help from an instructor when adding additional pitches because it is a judgment call by the instructor on whether or not the pitcher is physically ready to take on a new pitch.

Movement pitches require completely new body and wrist positioning to be a considered a “true” pitch. These new body and wrist positions should be broken down the exact same way a pitcher learned the muscle memory for a fastball. Spinners, hockey pucks, and weighted ball are great tools for pitchers to use when learning these new pitches and they also speed up the muscle memory process which allows pitchers to master the new pitch faster.

All movement pitches need to be broken down, learned, and practiced from the wrist flick position, the T, the K and a standing arm circle. I let my pitchers skip the kneeling arm circles on change ups and movement pitches. Once a pitcher has mastered the drills, that is when I will let them attempt the full pitch. Learning how to break down pitches and mastering them that way first will set pitchers up for success by the time they throw the full pitch. It may take weeks and even months to master the full pitch, but I can assure you, the pitcher will be well ahead of the game if she learns how to do it the right way from the beginning.

It is almost impossible for pitchers to truly feel the movements of their wrist and body positioning when they are going full speed. By practicing movement pitches in drill form, they will develop muscle memory, which will carry over to throwing the full pitch. If a pitcher struggles to master a specific spin drill, keep her on that drill until she nails it. It doesn’t help the pitcher to move on to a new drill if she hasn’t mastered the one before it.

My final piece of advice for pitcher’s eager to add movement pitches is to stick to learning one at a time. Pitching coaches and instructors should be able to analyze a pitcher’s fastball and body movement tendencies to determine which pitch should come next. It can be very challenging and confusing for pitchers to try to learn more than one movement pitch at a time. Stick to one, buy into the practice plan, do the spins, learn the pitch, and put in the work until you master a “true” movement pitch.

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