Another reason why sometimes the batter swings at pitches miles away is that earlier in the at bat the pitcher set them up with a different pitch that looks similar to the pitch they end up throwing and there isn’t enough time to recognize it so they swing and miss. Pitching Ninja is a great channel that shows overlays of different pitches and how similar they look until the very end they change direction.
It's all about grip spin and velocity. The more spin the ball has the more movement it has at all velocities. but being able to ramp up adn dial down teh speed with a lot of spin is the key to being a great pitcher. This is why GREAT hitters in MLB only get a hit 30% of the time. The other 70% they're out.
The ball that had no spin on it is a Knuckleball. It is extremely hard to throw for anyone, let alone making it to the MLB because of it. It is the most wild pitch as it can move in any direction the wind takes it. Facing a good knuckleballer is hell
I never really care too much for baseball. But my son is really into it he's been playing since he's three years old. Now he's 7 and he's starting to want to pitch so I'm all into baseball now LOL
You have to check out Mariano Rivera, closer for the Yankees. He had one pitch, everyone knew what was coming they just couldn't hit it. It was a cut fastball. To this day the best closer in baseball IMO. The funky swing that was near the beginning is called an emergency swing, the last minute you realize it is going to be a strike and you just try to tip it away. These pitches also get easy to hit when they Hang. Essentially you didn't get enough spin and it just sits there, you can almost see it stop right by the batter as he lines it up. Edit: Having played both baseball and cricket, I believe baseball is the harder hit. In cricket the bat is flat, As the legendary hitter Ted Williams said the hardest thing to do in baseball is hit a round ball with a round bat. Enjoy your baseball journey
Man, Mariano Rivera was on another level. There have been and are incredible closers in the MLB but Rivera was just unreal. To the day he retired, even if he had to "massage" his fast ball a bit towards the final couple years of his career. Amazing pitcher, still doesn't get enough recognition imo.
The pitches are thrown with specific hand grips on the ball and specific twists of the hand and fingers upon releasing the ball. It takes lots of practice. And yes, the catcher already knows what kind of pitchwhere the pitch is going based on signal communication with the pitcher.
RU-vid has videos comparing cricket and baseball, videos explaining the physics of pitch movement, videos showing how to grip the ball for each type of pitch, videos showing pitchers throwing from a variety of arm angles and release points. Sometimes it takes YEARS for pitchers to master specific pitches before they throw it in a real game. The rabbit hole is DEEP (and enjoyable).
When the dad said “Cleveland” I was thinking Wild Thing from Major league…..hated Rocker. He had that look like he was criminally insane when he played the Mets. 😵💫😠😤
You guys should check out some of Jomboy’s videos in pitchers tipping their pitches. This is when they unknowingly let the opposing team know what pitch their going to throw. They could be looking a certain way before they throw a specific pitch, or they’re just doing something that gives it away. It’s really interesting to see how much is going on on both sides.
Hitting a baseball has been scientifically proven to be the hardest thing to do in sports, it’s why you can fail 7/10 times and still be considered really damn good
Try tapping a strike zone on a garage door, place yourself about 40-50 away with a tennis ball and have at it. You’ll be surprised at how much control you will develop. You might actually throw a few strikes. Then get Daz to try and hit it with a 30 inch hunk of broom stick. Welcome to summer, gents.
I remember the first time I faced a pitcher with a good slider in baseball, I realized it was time to focus on golf instead. I had hit against guys with curveballs, but a nasty slider might be the most difficult thing I've ever tried to hit and failed miserably.
@@btnhstillfire They folded like a cheap house of cards. I wasn't the only one so luckily I didn't look that stupid. He ended up playing for the Florida Gators he was that good and the rest of us were meh
The Dad talking about the weather effecting the ball movement reminded me of the 'spit ball' in the old days that was outlawed here in the U.S. The umpire was always stopping play and inspecting the ball to see if it was koshur, so to speak.
In the MLB the ball is thrown so hard you cant actually watch it all the way in.. your brain actually only takes in when it leaves the hand to where it crosses in front of you your brain fills in the rest so the two images make sense so basically they are very good at seeing a ball leave a hand drawing a mental picture of where the ball should end up and swing at that before it gets to them
love the baseball vids, btw the weather can and sometimes does have a slight affect on the movement and or velocity of the ball thrown by the pitchers, some more than others. But believe it or not it will affect the hitters hitting the ball probably more so because of the time the ball stays in the air off of the bat.
The ball comes in so fast that the batter has to anticipate but can't actually see it. You have to remember that the ball is coming right at them. An example is when ppl try to cross a rail when the signal/barriers are lit and in place. The peek down the line and see the train coming but it looks to be far enough away that they try to cross before it arrives. What humans can't do is tell how far away something is when it is traveling at speed. So, when the driver get halfway cross, the train is 'suddenly' on top of them. The same thing happens when someone walks or pulls out into traffic. BAM! This phenomenon is occurring between the batter and ball. The batter knows he can't 'watch the ball', he'll miss every time. He has to try and anticipate where it will cross the plate. The mind-game is when the pitcher knows this and will move his body a certain way to 'fool' the batter. The pitcher also knows the types of pitches the batter favors. The pitcher tries to make it look like he's throwing the 'batter's favorite pitch', but doesn't. Curve balls/sliders and knuckle balls all fool the best batters. Change up pitches (throwing slow pitches when the batter is expecting a faster pitch) can also fool a batter. (remember the batter can't tell how fast the ball is traveling). The batter will swing before the ball even gets to the plate.
I will forever assert that hitting a baseball from a pro pitcher is one of the hardest things anyone has to do in any sport. Think about it this way, you are an all-star multi-million dollar player if you successfully hit the ball 30% of the time you get a chance to hit. That's nuts. You fail at your job 70% of the time and you'd still be among the best hitters in the world.
Major League batters are literally looking to see how the pitcher is holding the ball when he releases it, and how it spins when it's mid-air. They have to do insanely fast calculations in their head, mixed with intuition and knowledge of what pitches that particular guy throws and how often he tends to throw each. It's a very complex dance they're doing. But the best hitters can literally see the grip the pitcher has on the ball right as he's letting go of the ball.
Absolutely right! The catcher knows what pitch is coming so he can anticipate where it's going to be when it reaches him. Sometimes a batter can see the rotation of the ball as it leaves the pitcher's hand (which is amazing) so he can anticipate which direction the ball is going move as it crosses the plate.
Some of these pitches aren't actual strikes. The catcher also plays a part in a ball being called a strike or being called a ball. Some catchers in baseball are masters of the craft of catching as they have learned to move their glove in a certain way to make it seem like the ball was in the strike zone when it actually wasn't. It makes the game really interesting because the pitcher is trying to set up the batter all game for a certain type of pitch, and sometimes the pitcher really fools the batter. Other times the pitcher is trying to throw a certain pitch, but it's not perfectly thrown like he would like it, so the catcher comes in and can make the pitch look better than it actually was by framing the plate.
For the batter it is incredibly difficult. That's why hitting a MLB Pitcher is considered one of the hardest things to do in sports. In order to figure out what kind of pitch it is and where to swing you have to pick up the seams when the pitcher throws it because the seams will look different based on the spin (different spin means different movement), calculate about how fast it's coming in because that'll narrow down what kind of pitch it is (fastball vs. offspeed), and look at it's trajectory (starting high means it may be a curveball meant to break into the zone) and that'll give you a guess at what kind of pitch it is and where it's going... Oh, but you have to do all of that, literally, quicker than you can blink because that's how much time you have to react. So if the pitch starts high, is moving slowly, and you pick up what looks like a "dot" on the baseball because the seams are spinning in a way that it looks like there is a dot in the middle of it that means it is a curveball and you need to wait a little longer (because it's a slower pitch) and swing way lower than it looks like the ball is going to go (because curveballs tend to break vertically, 12 to 6 on a clock) It's insane that anyone can hit a baseball, honestly.
This is where analytics comes into play big-time. Scouting reports will provide details on a pitcher and can tell a batter how likely a pitcher is to, say, throw a curve ball when there are already two strikes or some other pattern in their recent pitching history that the batter can then try and use to anticipate what is going to be coming at them.
In high school I faced a guy that would go on to be drafted by the Yankees and played in their minor league system. He never reached the majors but his stats are actually really really good. His name is Casey Erickson. Dude threw 90s w a high 80s slider. That slider was fn disgusting. Scariest pitch you will ever see. Looks like its coming right at your face and literally at the last 1/4 of a second it just snaps into the strike zone. Your knees are gone lol
I honestly felt proud that I even fouled one of those pitches off. I struck out but I felt good about just getting a foul tip lol. Thats how nasty this dude was.
These videos show why hitting a baseball is one of the hardest skills in all of sports. The most impressive thing for me is the speed at which the pitchers are moving the baseball ball. 100 MPH with a lot of break is almost unhittable.
My beerleague softball teammates hated it when i tried to throw out base runners. I had played baseball in high school and learned to pitch a breaking ball. So my throws would constantly drop. Sometimes it worked out, and the throw would set up the tag beautifully. Other times, it would bounce all the way to the outfield.
Should also be pointed out, because I've seen people mention the signals between pitcher and catcher, but sign-stealing is a thing in baseball too and has been since the beginnings of the game. Batters are not supposed to peek behind them, but some manage to (at the risk or possibly catching a fastball to the head if the pitcher and catcher realize what he is doing). Runners on base, particularly second base, will also indicate to batters what pitch is coming (if the team has figured out what the signs mean what). Pitchers and catchers will often change signs in mid-game or even mid at-bat because of this. Coaches and players in the dugout are often tasked with stealing signs (I think it is considered part of your job when you are a pitcher who pitched the day before and is not slated to pitch that day, then you are keeping an eye on things and trying to relay anything you notice to your manager/teammates). Team's have been known to outright cheat too, using cameras and others means to steal signs and then relay the information to the dugout/players. There was a huge scandal a few years back where the Astros were caught blatantly stealing signs and using the information in real time while up to bat (and they were assholes about it when accused of it, even though there is pretty damning evidence), so it tarnished their first franchise world series victory. There is a whole Jomboy video about it that went viral, and then Foolish Baseball's follow up to that helped break things wide open.
The main game of risk with the breaking pitches being thrown is what is called “hanging” a breaking pitch. In place of dropping under/away from the bat and being an enigma, it stays where the hitter recognized it to be and simply spins. Then it gets deposited into the bleachers.
It’s mostly grip on the laces of the ball and how you release it off your fingers that causes different spins resulting in movement. Sometimes gravity can play a part for additional drop on certain pitches.
4:27 Batters can tell pitch types depending on the spin of the ball sometimes you see a red circle from the seams indicating a curve, sometimes it’s off center for different pitches
Even if you had two weeks practicing pitching, you still wouldnt be able to. These guys you see playing baseball have been playing the game since elementary school. To do all those wicked pitches, they use different finger grips, throwing angles and spins to make this pitches look so unbelievable. The best baseball pitchers get paid hundreds of millions of dollars to play
One of the best hitters of all time Ted Williams said this about hitting a baseball. It's the only endeavor in sports were you can be successful only 3 out 10 times and still be considered to be good.
It's not just about movement, it's about being able to throw different pitches on the same plane with the same release. It's about changing speeds and it's about dropping down sometimes and releasing the ball from a lower spot the batter isn't looking at. For precision pitchers you look up Greg Maddux. He was a guy that came up throwing mid 90s but settled into throwing low 90s/high 80s constantly changing speeds and location. Maddux rarely threw a ball outside the strike zone. For deception you look up a guy like David Cone who would not only change speeds but would also throw at different angles including an almost submarine delivery.
There's a video on youtube that explains all the pitches. The order in which they get thrown against the batter also can matter a huge amount. Throwing 2 fastballs in a row, high or down the center and catching them looking; and then throwing a curve etc. that comes out the same way your fastball comes out but then breaks and goes a different way can really catch them off guard.
Daz, drawing a blank about the Indians reliever who'd sprint to the mound. Both never played for Cleveland but Jared Hughes and Todd Coffey used to do the same thing, sprint from the bullpen to the mound.
Yes the catcher is telling the pitcher what to pitch and location, the pitcher decides if that's the pitch he wants to throw, but they both know what type of pitch and approximate location
As someone who lived in Britain years ago, was surprised that the term "curve ball" meaning something that can fool you seems to become common parlance there now,
Should check out the MLB channels quick question video on the differences in pitch types to really gauge how difficult it is to throw and hit these pitches and the science that goes into it
if a pitch moves "arm side" so the same direction as a pitcher's throwing arm, it is typically a Changeup if its slower, or a 2-Seam/sinker if its fast. "Glove side" is the same thing except on the glove arm. Those are sliders if they are slower, and cutters if they are faster. Curveballs drop downwards, and 4 seam fastballs are the straightest pitches and can give the illusion of rising
There are some exceptions, like Dylan Cease's slider moves more downwards like a curveball 9:00, and Rich Hill's curveball moves more horizontal like a slider 9:30
As others have pointed out, most of these nasty pitches were set up by other pitches earlier in the at bat. The best pitches are very skilled at making it so their motion and the way they release the ball looks very similar, despite the type of pitch they are throwing. Some of them will start a batter off earlier in the at bat with 90+ mph heat, but then yank the string on a breaking ball like these pitches (and when they leave the pitcher's hand, they look like they are going to be another fastball). Since batters only have a fraction of a second to identify and decide if they are going to swing, there is a real "cat and mouse" guessing game that is going on during the at-bat, and these pitches are particularly nasty because most of these batters were probably looking fastball and the pitchers fooled them badly with some really nasty breaking stuff. Even better, some of the batters were probably expecting a break ball and still missed it badly. That is when you know the pitch is especially nasty.
I've always thought that one of the very hardest things to do in any sport is to hit a baseball in the Major League. Most of those pitchers are throwing their fastballs in the mid-90 mph range, so you have a split second to attempt to determine where the ball's gonna be, whether or not you should swing at it, and attempt to hit it with a cylindrical bat. A really good hitter in the pros only hits .300 or above, meaning they get a hit only 3 out of 10 at-bats on average. That's a crazy low percentage...
Thanks Daz!!! Welcome to an American sport. It has started to spread around the world. It is getting bigger in Japan. Some of the best Japanese players play in the majors here in the states.
The way you get a hit against these type of pitchers is you MUST get ahead in the count. 2 balls and no strikes, 3 balls and 1 strike. In those scenarios the pitcher is most likely gonna throw a strike and then you have to convert once you shrink the pitchers zone.
To answer your question Re: how the batter can hit a curveball… If it’s coming right down the middle and you recognize it’s a curve, you can lay off of it because it will drop out of the strike zone and be called a ball. If the pitcher misplaces a curveball too high, it will drop in to the strike zone (as opposed to out of the zone or in the dirt) and the batter can hit it hard if he waits on it. Sometimes they throw them and the ball doesn’t curve/drop that much (often from being tired). Do, the ball just stays straight/flat. This is another mistake batters look to capitalize on…
A MLB fastball takes about .5 seconds to get from the pitchers hand to home plate. So that means as a hitter you have basically .2 seconds to decide on whether you are going to swing or not and where to swing in the box
Yall should watch someone throwing curves and sliders from the catcher's perspective, really shows you how insane these pitches are (even though most videos are highschoolers or college players).i think there are some of these types of videos scattered through youtube.
At 5:40 (and 13:55) you have a slow-motion pitch of Boston's Tim Wakefield. He was the last of the "Knuckleball" pitchers. Please note the "lack of rotation" of the ball. There is no spin and the "seams" of the ball are quite visible...a classic Knukleball. At 7:52 you see a perfect example of a pitched ball traveling between sun and shadows. The pitcher is in a shadow and the batter is in a bright sun. It is very difficult for a batter to follow the path of a pitched ball when it comes in and out of shadows.
Plus catching a knuckle ball is difficult as well. Wakefield had Doug Mirabelli catching on his day in the rotation. The catchers also use a bigger glove like a first baseman’s glove or even a softball glove.
You are on the right track. A pitch cannot, by the laws of physics, rise. However, a four-seam fastball is sometimes called a riser, because it "appears" to rise. What actually is happening is that it doesn't fall as fast as you anticipate, hence it appears to be rising.
A lot of what makes these pitches nasty is what comes before it. Like you were talking about with deception, the perfect pitch is one that looks like a fastball for 1/2 of the way then moves. If all a guy throws is the best curveball over and over he will get crushed.
It is all about disguising the pitch in the first two tenths of a second. The pitcher may throw a 95mph fastball above the strike zone, then follow it up with an 85 mph curve. In the first two tenths of a second the pitches look identical to the batter. The slower speed and spin of the ball make the ball drop faster so it might end up low in the strike zone. The batter may have already decided it was going to be a ball and never swings or tries to rush the swing. It could be that he swings to early because he is thinking it is going to be coming in a 95mph. 100mph fast balls are very hard to hit but if you start throwing in curves and change ups it starts getting really hard.
I think the pitcher you were talking about was John Rocker. He was known more for playing with the Atlanta Braves from 98 to 01, then he joined the Indians.
@@silverg9540 Ha, I remember Twisted Sister was pissed because he used to run on to the field to "I Wanna Rock" and they didn't like it. They complained to Congress about censorship in the 80s and bitched about this in the 90s. Thought it was very rock and roll sellout-ish.
@@silverg9540 The guy was money I'll give him that. Good closer although at the time nobody was better than Mariano Rivera. That dude was like betting on a Mike Tyson fight back in his prime.
Baseball is a little slower (less this season with new pitch timer) than other sports, but is one of the most cerebral organized sports. Pitchers and catchers study lineups and analyze every single hitter's strengths and weaknesses like this guy hits really well low and inside or this guy struggles with identifying off-speed pitches. Batters do the same with the pitchers. When they're in the box, they only have like .02 of a second to determine where the pitch is going and swing. Hitting a Major League fastball is widely regarded as the most difficult thing to do in all of sports. First time I took a pitch in the 90+ mph range, felt like swinging in slow motion. Think the catcher had already thrown the ball back to the pitcher before my bat even came around.
As an American I don’t know much about cricket but I’d love for yall to react to it and give a little insight on the sport. Also if y’all have never looked into it you should react to the AFL in Australia. I wish we could start a an Australian football league in the US.
If you look closely at some of those pitches there were two that I saw that has no spin at all. Talk about nasty! Those pitches can movie in multiple directions on the way to the plate. As far as ball placement goes few could come close to Greg Maddux. He had pin point accuracy and, he could throw the ball with the same arm motion and same release point 5 times, and the ball would end up at 5 different locations with a different speed every time. He was a master.
Ball that hit umpire's foot was a knuckleball, no spin and floating around. You can see that catcher is using large outfielder's glove and not usual small thick padded catchers glove, because nobody knows where it's going.
What you miss in videos like this is that these are full at-bats and the pitchers have to get 3 pitches either across the plate in the zone for a called strike that the batters don't swing at, or 3 swings and misses, or a combination of those. So the final (strike 3) pitch is the culmination of "setting up" the batter. All the pitches that were thrown previously "set the batter up" which is why you see some of these wild swings at pitches they effectively stand no chance at hitting. In the pros, the release point of all these pitches is the same, so in the first few hundredths of seconds, every pitch looks effectively the same. It's on the batter to be able to both anticipate and identify the pitch being thrown, and then either choose to take or choose to swing, and then if choosing to swing, put the bat on precisely where they anticipate the pitch crossing the plate. It is a mental chess game that takes place both in the blink of an eye for each pitch, but also throughout the at-bat, throughout the game (in the case of starting pitchers), and throughout the entire season (via scouting reports and studying video). It is an insane interaction between pitcher/catcher and hitter, and it's the reason why getting a hit off a major league baseball pitcher is about the most difficult feat in all of sport.
When they say the ball is “rising” it’s not actually going higher in the air. The spin on the ball is so high that it makes it look like the ball is rising to the batter even though it’s not. It’s really just staying on the same plane or maybe an inch or two below where the pitcher threw it by time it gets to the batter
You should watch the Nolan Ryan Robin Ventura fight… they would play it before each home game for the rangers the crowd would roar everytime… Also Jose Bautista and Rougned Odor fight
I saw a video where a cricket player learned to hit a baseball and he learned fast so I think cricket skills could apply to hit a baseball at the batting cages.
Randy Johnson was six feet, ten inches tall. Randy had longish hair and a mustache, and was a lefty that threw with almost a sidearm motion. If you were a left handed hitter, he was releasing the ball behind the batter's head.
hilarious at-bat of Jon Kruk vs. Randy Johnson in an all-star game. Kruk, one of the better left hand batters in the league at the time, spent most of the at-bat jumping out of the way and looking absolutely terrified. I don't blame him. "The Big Unit" (Randy Johnson) was an absolute freak as a pitcher.
@@whimsofmim And I believe it was Larry Walker who the very next year, in the All-Star Game, when Johnson fired one over or behind him, he turned his helmet around and tried to bat righty.
Yes, the catcher does call the plays and he does move around behind the batter to fool him where the ball is going, so you can only hear where he is. Your'e not allowed to look behind you as the batter as well. Such a nuanced sport.
11:15 no Daz it takes more then two weeks or two months to learn how to throw accurately for most. If you go to any regular high school game you’re gonna see a good amount of wild throws and those are kids who have played most of their childhood.
Also anyone who is analytical gets sucked in. The manager can send in pitch types and based on the pitch type tell the position players where to stand because statistically that’s where the ball will be hit.
The ball moves differently with different spin because of the seams. Idk if anyone else mentioned that, but new fans of baseball might not be aware of it.
Wow! Some of those pitches were truly nasty. A lot of times the movement is so subtle you can't really see it from the camera's perspective. The pitch really only needs to move a couple inches to fool the batter.
