Not enough time to process information and have a different swing. There is a much better option. Although it is difficult to do at times, the best softball hitters do their best to avoid swinging at rise balls.
The only exception to this rule is what we call the Low Rise. This pitch has late upward break, which makes it difficult to hit. There are millions of softball pitchers from 8 years old to 38 years old and I can count the number of pitchers who can throw a low rise with one hand.
Which has created a ton of hitters at all softball levels who have very restricted movement and not a lot of power or consistent contact. ESPN did a video a few years ago regarding the difference in reaction times between baseball and softball.
In this video, it showed that a 70mph softball pitcher Jennie Finch and a 90mph baseball pitcher. In this video it showed that the reaction time in baseball was.
Due to the height and trajectory of the pitch, hitters can easily lift this pitch. In fact, the goal of a pitcher like Barnhill is to get the hitter to swing and miss underneath the ball or pop it up. It is rare for ground balls to be hit on a true rise ball. So what do we tell our hitters to do on the rare occasion that they face an elite pitcher with a true rise ball like Kelly Barnhill? We stress the importance of pitch selection because most of their misses will come from swings out of the zone.
We also teach our hitters to flatten out their swing when swinging at a rise ball in the zone. This way, our hitters minimize their chances of missing under the pitch while maximizing their chances to drive the ball for an extra base hit. This concept is something that we only have to address with our players who truly play at an elite level since the chances of most hitters facing a true rise thrown as a strike is extremely low. Offspeed Pitches and Fastballs under 65 MPH There is no argument that slower fastballs and offspeed pitches travel down as they approach the batter due to gravity.
So even if you are stuck on the idea of hitting the rise ball, hitters have to account for these other types of pitches. The best and most logical strategy on all downward traveling pitches is to swing upward to match the plane of the pitch and produce force that is likely to lead to the softball being lifted over the infield and potentially over the outfield fence.
Below is an example of a softball pitch traveling down and being crushed by an upward swing. A softball measures between Baseball bats are generally longer than softball bats. While the former can be up to 42 inches long, the latter usually max out at 34 inches. Put simply, baseball pitchers throw overhand, while softballers pitch underhand. In softball, pitchers throw from a distance of just 43 feet and reach more than 60mph on the radar gun.
So although pitchers achieve greater speeds in baseball, the shorter distance in softball means that the velocity of the ball in both sports is quite comparable. Another difference is that baseball players pitch from an elevated, compact mound, whereas softball players pitch from a designated pitching circle. Regulation baseball games are nine innings, but can go into extra innings if a game is tied.
Softball games are played to seven innings, though they can end early if one team has a really large lead on the other, such as a run lead after three innings or a seven-run lead after five innings. Canada played in the last two official Olympic baseball tournaments, finishing fourth at Athens and sixth at Beijing The results are clear.
If you are a softball player looking to take your swing to the next level, check out our in-person or online hitting lessons page here. To all of our softball hitters and parents out there, don't be afraid to learn the high-level swings you see on TV!
Great article, Gabe! Hi Gabe, I enjoyed reading your article. I am a sports performance chiropractic physician, softball hitting and catching instructor and director and coach of a nationally ranked select softball organization. The facility that we train at All-Star Performance , have quite a few instructors who differ in opinion on this subject.
I certainly agree with you in that there are minor differences in the swing, but the differences that everything to do with the difference between the games in general. Softball is a game of consistency and we have a strike zone that is much higher than baseball. Baseball instructors continue to talk about how we think the swing is different just because of the rise ball. Like you said in your article, very few players will actually gave a pitcher with a true rise ball, but they still have to be able to hit a ball higher in the zone because of the strike zone.
In addition, there is no arguing that the approach has to be different based on where the ball in coming from.
I would love to discuss more! We are always looking for ways to look at things differently in order to make our players better. Feel free to shoot me an email! Again, great article! It does make sense that a pitcher would have to have extreme ball speed and spin to actually make the ball travel up.
Thanks for the info!! You must be logged in to post a comment. Return to Shop. The "Rise" Ball and Swing Plane. She replied saying: "Even our fastest pitchers use the rise ball as a show pitch" What she meant by this is that the rise ball does rise but crosses the plate out of the strike zone.
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