How to Throw a Curveball

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Article Title: How to Throw a Curveball
By Kyle Cross

Being a pitcher in baseball is one of the most stressful, important positions in sport. Everything the pitcher does is analyzed over and over, from the windup to the delivery to the control of the pitches to the fielding stance after the ball has been delivered. A pitcher needs to have repertoire of multiple pitches in order to surprise the opponent, the batter. An imperative pitch in the repertoire is the curveball. This pitch is one that when thrown properly will fool even the best of hitters. The "curve" is slower than the fastball and has a distinct path to the plate in which the ball "breaks" downward. Like all things in sport, the pitch needs to be practiced a great deal to become more and more effective, but learning the pitch can be broken down into seven steps.

1. Hold the ball in front of you so the seams of the ball look like an upside-down "U."

2. Grip the ball with your index and ring finger together on the outside of the ball, but on the inside of the seam.

3. Continue to grip the ball in this was throughout your routine windup.

4. As your arm comes forward, make sure your delivery is identical every time so the batter will not notice a change and expect the different pitch.

5. When you have reached the release point, quickly snap your wrist outwards, putting a good deal of rotation on the ball.

6. Follow through with your release, fully rotating your wrist outward.

7. Releasing the pitch, proceed to position yourself into a good fielding position as most curveballs, if hit at all, will be hit into the ground.

Young pitchers should refrain from throwing this pitch. The release puts a large amount of torque and strain on forearm muscles and elbow ligaments. The arm of a child is not fully developed and thus the strain of consistently throwing this pitch will result in severe injury. When your body is ready, this pitch can be devastating. All of the great pitchers in the history of professional baseball had a dominant breaking pitch or a solid curve to go with a power fastball. The best hitters in the world can hit a pitch going over 100 MPH if the ball is moving straight. The movement of the pitch is what makes it so difficult to make contact with, so repeating the motion is crucial to success.

Kyle Cross is a sophomore at Nichols College studying in the Sport Management program. He strives to work in professional baseball upon graduation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kyle_Cross

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How to Hit a Curveball

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By C Randolph

The curveball has been a universally feared pitch in baseball for more than a century, and with good reason. If you've never seen a good curveball from the batter's box, it can be difficult to appreciate its effects on the hitter, but be assured that it brings a whole new challenge to striking that small round ball approaching between 70 and 100 MPH, with a round bat ---- you literally have less than a second to decide to swing the bat.

The challenge is especially intimidating if you haven't yet had much experience with curveballs and other "junk" or "breaking" pitches. Watching even professional hitters, check that, watching even the very best professional hitters, buckle at the knees and turn into jelly at the mercy of a nasty curveball is really pretty astonishing.

With all that said, the curveball can be hit, and you can improve your ability to hit the curveball with some thought and some practice. Let's break it down.

Being Prepared

While not specific to curveballs, the first thing a hitter needs to do to be successful with the curve is to be prepared. What do I mean by that? Well, there are many factors to preparedness, but the basics are:

· Knowing the pitcher and what kind of "stuff" or pitches he has, and how he uses them (i.e. in what situations). This is why it's important to watch the pitcher closely from the dugout as he's pitching to other batters.

· Understanding which counts you're likely to see which pitches so that you can properly anticipate the curve or breaking ball. For example, you will rarely get a curveball on a 3 ball count unless the pitcher would prefer to walk you than throw you a fastball. Hitting strategies related to pitch count are a topic worthy of discussion by themselves, but suffice to say several factors go into this art, including the score, the inning, whether there are runners on base, the pitcher's command on that particular day, and so on.

Recognizing the Pitch
In order to hit the curveball you need to recognize that the pitch is a curveball, and you need to do that in milliseconds. Seems simple, right? It's not, but it's an absolute requirement if you want to consistently hit curveballs. There are a couple of key things to watch for:

· Pitcher's tell - every pitcher is different; however many give away clues while positioning their hand prior to the pitch, or they slow their arm speed during delivery, and/or their arm angle changes during delivery. This is yet another reason it's important to watch the pitcher from the dugout as he's pitching to other batters.

· Rotation - there are different types of curves and they all behave a bit differently; however they all require ball rotation that's pretty discernable, although again, you've less than a second to pick that up AND decide to swing.

Hitting Mechanics

The key with the curveball is to resist the urge to act too quickly. The pitch speed tends to be slower than most other pitches, certainly slower than a fastball, and most hitters have a difficulty "staying back". Once they've committed themselves they attempt to adjust themselves during swing execution which often results in a swing that's severely flawed mechanically. So even if you make contact with the curve you don't hit it well. If you feel yourself out of sorts, particularly if your weight is forward, its best not to swing unless you must (i.e. you're protecting the plate).
The curveball, when used effectively can be a wicked pitch to hit, but it is in fact hittable. Many hitters love the curve if they've anticipated it, or if it's hung in the strike-zone. Many a hanging breaking ball finds itself planted in the bleachers for a round-tripper.

When it comes to hitting curveballs, like most things, a thoughtful approach, practice and experience are the keys to success.
Pillows
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=C_Randolph

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Baseball Pitching Mind Games

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By Jack D. Elliott

Confidence in your Baseball Pitching can be a very fickle business. Some days you can feel like you are rolling along fine. Then, suddenly one bad thing happens. Then, another happens, and then another. Then, things really start to snowball. Other times you may feel that you can do no wrong. In this state, everything happens very easily for you and, you are able to do just about whatever you want. You are in what athletes call "the zone".

The challenge for every pitcher is to try to get most of his starts into this zone range. One reason pitchers have difficulty getting into or remaining in the zone is due to a lack of concentration. A pitcher can improve his concentration during a game by following this simple ritual:


Block out Background Noise: Before every batter, make a point to block out all the background noise and to focus your attention only on the catcher's mitt. You do not want to be thinking about the fans, the backstop, the umpire, the batter, or anything else. All your focus is on the catcher's mitt.
State, "Focus on the glove": You should let any thoughts that come into your head pass right through. Do not try to think about those thoughts, just let them pass. Your focus remains on the glove and it is a good idea to even state this mantra under your breath, "focus on glove" or some similar type expression.
If Difficulty Focusing, Re-Focus Again: If you are still having difficulty focusing, consider bringing down the bill of your baseball cap to make even more of a tunnel for your eyes to follow to the catcher's mitt. Also, feel free to restart this process again and again until you feel you have reached the desired state.
Begin Your Pitching: Once you feel you have blocked out the background news, you should begin your pitching.

If you would like to see an example of this exercise, go rent the movie, "For The Love Of The Game". In this movie, Kevin Costner's character goes through this type of ritual when he uses the phrase, "Clear the mechanism" before pitching to the batter. Ultimately, you would like to get to a point where you have this level of concentration.

A second challenge some pitchers have is confidence in their pitching when a mistake is made. A smart pitcher must recognize that mistakes will happen. He could throw a hanging curveball that gets hit for a double to the wall or maybe the second basemen boots an easy grounder. Regardless of how frustrating this might be, a good pitcher must have a short term memory for these errors. Much like a quarterback who just threw an interception, he must immediately forget that error and move onto the next pitch. This type of short-term amnesia ensures the error doesn't get you twice by dwelling on it with the next batter. Here is a basic thinking ritual that can be performed to help with these situations:


Breathe In and Exhale After the Error: Take one deep breath and then exhale deeply. This will help you address the situation constructively.
State, "Oh, well. Nobody's Perfect": After you exhale, state under your breath, "Oh, well. Nobody's perfect." This step will help you compartmentalize the error.
Perform Focusing Ritual: Finally, start going back into the focusing ritual mentioned above. This will allow you to shift your focus away from the error and direct it toward a ritual that you have practiced again and again.

This type of thinking ritual is good because it gives you a ready-made response for a stressful situation. It allows you to address the problem right away and compartmentalize it. Once you are able to do this, it is much easier to turn your attention to the next batter. As you advance in your baseball pitching career, you will begin to notice your success in baseball pitching tends to focus more on how you handle these situations more than any other aspect of your game.

Jack Elliott, is a former player and fan of the game. To read more tips and techniques like the ones in this article, please click here: http://www.baseballtrainingtechniques.com/Baseball-Pitching/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_D._Elliott

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Mastering The Curveball - Basic Tips And Techniques

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By Sumit Bhatnagar and Parul Aggarwal

It is indeed quite difficult to master the curveball. Managing to hit the great curveball consistently can take you to the hall of fame.

But, bear in mind that recognizing a curveball is not very easy. If you are willing to master the skill of hitting a curveball, you should get into a certain routine to practice it.

Following are some basic tips and techniques that will surely help you in planning a routine for yourself:

• During the practice sessions, when your team pitchers are throwing in the bullpen, stand in and find out how early you can recognize the ball out of their hand.

• Also, during your batting practice, ask the pitcher to mix in some curveballs. These pitches need not be only strikes. All you got to do is practice to recognize pitches.

• Moreover, during batting practice, whenever someone else is hitting, opt to stand behind the cage and try to recognize the pitcher’s release point.

• Try to see the ball out of the pitcher’s hand much before hitting in the on deck circle. You should recognize the ball before it is halfway to the home plate. After that it will be too late to recognize the ball.

In order to succeed against the curveball, here are some more tips to follow:

• It is very necessary to recognize the curveball as early as possible. It is really tough to recognize a good pitcher’s curveball.

• If the curveball is hard, the trajectory of the ball will pop up out of the hand to a lesser extent.

• The harder a curveball is thrown by a pitcher, the more difficult it is for him to control.

• Just after the release, you should look for the 12/6 rotation of the seams.

• Apart from this, hands and body should be kept at your back. Also, your weight should stay back to at least 70%.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sumit_Bhatnagar