Scientists have studied the phenomenon and many have mathematically described the effect. It’s all about deceiving the batter, but until now very few could measure it. Regardless of your age or point in the process, focus on improving your softball measurables and challenging yourself against the best competition available. Remember—your numbers depend largely on the level of competition around you. For example, it can be more impressive to hit .300 in a top-tier league than to hit .400 while facing lower-level competition. Experience has taught me that the more a spin is bullet oriented the more it spins .
Performance of a skill that involves acting on a goal object (e.g., a ball to be hit) can influence one’s judgment of the size and speed of that object. The present study examined how these action-specific effects are affected when the goal of the actor is varied and they are free to choose between alternative actions. In Experiment 1, expert baseball players were asked to perform three different directional hitting tasks in a batting simulation and make interleaved perceptual judgments about three ball parameters . Perceived best baseball swing trainer ball size was largest when the ball crossing location was optimal for the particular hitting task the batter was performing (e.g., an “outside” pitch for opposite-field hitting). The magnitude of processing dependency between variables (speed vs. location and size vs. location) was positively correlated with batting performance. In Experiment 2, the action-specific effects observed in Experiment 1 were mimicked by systematically changing the ball diameter in the simulation as a function of plate crossing location.
Learn how corner infielders can catch the attention of college coaches from Holly Bruder, former D1 softball coach for nearly 15 years. How can high school catchers best market themselves to D1 college coaches? Check out the video below for tips from former D1 head softball coach Holly Bruder. D2 coaches start their recruiting slightly later than D1 coaches.
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Displays speed and spin rate after each toss of a RevFire ball. While contact from coach to athlete is much more restricted by these new rules, athletes still can—and should—proactively contact college coaches at any time. Reach out early to make sure you’re on the coach’s list of recruits by September 1. In the past, college coaches contacted an athlete’s high school or club coach to set up a phone call at an agreed upon time. From there, the athlete could call the college coach to kick off the recruiting conversation. However, according to the NCAA’s changes to recruiting rules in 2018, D1 coaches are now prohibited from initiating contact until September 1 of an athlete’s junior year.
Keep college coaches updated as you get older and improve your softball measurables. Pitchers get instant feedback for more effective training. They latch on more quickly to techniques that produce the best breaking ball, sinker, or rise ball. Many pitchers can not readily see the effectiveness of their own breaking ball pitches, but do respond well to objective feedback. What skills do D1 college coaches prioritize when recruiting first basemen? Holly Bruder, former D1 softball coach, shares how corner infielders can catch the attention of college coaches in the video below.
This approach also predicts the launch angles necessary to put rise balls, drop balls and curve balls in the strike zone, as well as a value of the drag coefficient that agrees with experimental data. Finally, Adair’s analysis of a batter’s swing is used to compare pitches that look similar to a batter starting her swing, yet which diverge before reaching the home plate, to predict when she is likely to miss or foul the ball. Coaches can evaluate pitching ability and technique with hard numbers, gain new insight into training methods, identify pitchers whose spin fades as they tire, and see who’s breaking ball is ‘on’ in the bullpen. The RevFire also adds a powerful new dimension to pitching prospect evaluation. When watching potential recruits and reviewing their softball measurables, college coaches try to project how much success they’ll have at the college level.
It all depends on the build, arm whip, and wrist snap of the pitcher. It’s okay to be different and it’s okay that some movement pitches will work for you while others won’t. Division 1 softball coaches often evaluate athletes as young as 7th and 8th grade. If you’re looking to play D1 ball, you should initiate contact with coaches by the 8th or 9th grade to make sure you snag a roster spot before it’s gone.
The key is finding the right balance of speed, spin and axis. Softball Excellence was founded by world-renowned Coach, Instructor, Clinician and Author Cindy Bristow. Cindy formed Softball Excellence to provide coaches and parents the very best softball instruction available anywhere on every topic and skill in a manner that’s easy-to-understand and use.
