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Malach's Slow Pitch Softball Pitching Primer
Malach is a very good slow pitch softball pitcher. Malach can make softball do things, a lot people cannot: curve, knuckle, bounce, etc. Malach was also a pretty good baseball pitcher and has used that experience to make himself a very good slow pitch pitcher. This is a little primer on pitching a slow pitch softball, and how to make yourself an effective slow pitch pitcher. I am a right handed pitcher, but this can be easily reversed for a lefty. I also assume you have a little experience pitching.
The Goal of Slow Pitch
When most people start off, they get easily rattled by some of the complexities of slow pitch softball. First and foremost, you goal is not to strike batters out, but to get them to hit into your defense. Whether that is by giving them a pitch to control where they hit (Location), or putting some junk* on the pitch so they don't make clean contact (Movement). Strikeouts do occur, but are extremely rare. Remember too, slow pitch softball is a high scoring game, don't get discouraged. If you can throw strikes consistently, you can be a slow pitch pitcher. If you can throw a meatball** for a strike pretty much on command this primer is for you. This will get you to the next level.
The Basics
The Strike: The basic rule of thumb for strikes (and this is something new pitchers have trouble with): if it lands in a certain area, it will be called a strike 99% of the time. Look at illustration at left. The white area is home plate (some leagues call strikes on plate hits, or the black rubber around the plate, cool). Anything in the yellow will generally be called a strike. Anything to the left or right of the plate, will also be called strikes if it passes across the plate. There are plenty of sporting good stores that sell vinyl mats that fit behind the plate. Get one and practice. For this primer the yellow area we will consider the strikezone. If you find you can hit that consistently, you are already a step ahead.
The Arc: First and foremost is your arc. As a general rule, the higher the better (make sure you are within your local arc rules). There is nothing more inviting to hitters than flat pitching. Why arc? I causes people to move their bodies and get out of their normal swing. It induces high pop flies, and dribblers. As a general rule, most leagues allow a max of 12' from when it leaves your hand. So that gives you 15'; take it all. Take more if the officials let you. Most officials will let you sky it if they see you can consistently hit strikes.
Once your comfortable hitting strikes with your arc, the next move is to land it infront and in back, left and right and that takes practice. One of my best pitches drops right in front of the plate out of the zone, and many times a batter will swing at it if I set them up correctly. Take your mat to a field and practice getting it up their high and as a strike. If you can ever get to the point where you can land it where you want too, your on your way to fame!
Movement: Once you can consistently hit the high arc strike, it is time to practice ball movement. By adjusting your self on the rubber, you can easily get left to right or right to left movement. By certain grips, spins, or weather conditions you can exentuate that. Standing to the extreme left or the rubber will send your ball right, to the right of the rubber sends the ball left naturally. Go ahead practice that I will wait. From there you want to be able to locate pitches, inside, outside, back, forward, and nibble at that strikezone. If you show you can consistently nibble those edges, you throw off batters, and get the benefit of the doubt from umpires.
The Grip: At left is the basic softball grip. Use this when you practice your basics. This is also my meatball grip. The grip is just basically your hand wrapped around the ball, cradling the ball from underneath. You will find many pitchers use this grip all the time, throw flat, and get lit up. I do use this pitch on occasion in games, like if really need a strike (down 3 - 0, late in a tight game). Good to practice with to get aim and feel, very cotrollable. Let the ball roll right off your fingers. And throw it straight down the middle of the plate. When I throw this I can consistently get it to land right on the connection between the plate and the yellow area, right at the tip of the plate.
The Pitches
I have been pitching for about 10 years, this has been a bit of experimentation, asking other pitchers, and watching other pitchers. Do the same.
The Basic Curve: The basic curve uses the meatball grip, but instead of throwing it right down the middle of the plate, you are going to start to the extreme right of the rubber (Left if your a lefty). From there you are going torque the ball toward you with your wrist slightly (1) and then quickly snap it back the other way completely turning your wrist over the top of the ball (hand will end up on top) (2). This will cause the ball to spin rapidly, drop quickly and break back toward the plate from the inside to a righty. This is very effective against power hitters and inducing pop flies and foul outs (they will be hit hard and deep, but they will be flies and a lot of time fouls). The illustration below shows the grip, throw, and arc.
The Change Up: The change up is similar to the basic curve. It curves a bit more, is a bit slower and has more drop. I don't use this pitch early in games. It is a "fool me" pitch I break out later. The basic grip is stolen from a baseball circle change up. It is thrown in one step. As you are throwing it flip your wrist over the top of the ball away from you body. The grip is shown below, but start with you hand completely under the ball. It has similar arc, but rarely falls for a strike so take care; has a ton of curve. Many times I use this in late innings, after batters have gotten used to my usual curve, again, they expect it to do something, and does something different, they swing and don't make good contact.
The Cutter: I call this the Cutter as it induces ground balls because of the spin, like a cutter fastball. I also use this pitch also to get a reverse curve. I start from the extreme left (extreme right if you are a lefty) of the rubber. I hold the ball exactly as shown in the image below. When throwing, I quickly turn it toward my body, then flip it out the opposite way. The ball spins flat as opposed to spinning/rolling. It causes it to slide left to right. This pitch has power too, and I can usually go back edge with this. It is a nice change for a righty, and can jam a lefty. Many times I will used this on righty hitters who like to hit opposite field, as it goes outside the zone which they are looking for, and then breaks inside, jams them up, and they don't get a good piece of the bat on it. This is also probably my lowest arc pitch, but I still can sky it if needed.
The Knuckle Ball: This pitch takes a lot of practice, A LOT OF PRACTICE. It has taken me about 5 years to develop. This pitch sometimes just doesn't work, but stick with it. Sometimes it is scary good. This is the only pitch I get consistent whiffs on and befuddled looks on batters faces. It is a pitch I will usually use only after I have one or more strikes. When hit, it induces very short pop flies, so make sure your fielders are ready. It is highly effective on power hitters. It is frightening in the wind and will dance all over the place. This is the only pitch I can pitch and only slow pitch I have ever seen dance left to right and back again. The image I show you of the grip below is from the side. Line up in the middle of the rubber. Dig your fingers, all of them, into one of the seams, and balance on your thumb. This is the only pitch I hold very tightly. Hold the ball like the meatball pitch (hand underneath). Throw it like the meatball pitch. At the end of your wind up release your fingers, and do not let the ball roll off them. If your doing it right the ball will immediately do one of two things. Tumble erractically or fly with NO SPIN WHATSOEVER. Both are good. Throw it high arc always. When it hits the top of the arc, that's when it will begin to dance. The arc shows what it basically does, it is kind of a toss up if it will land middle, left, or right, but the pitch works, and is usually surprisingly controllable. The secret is the arc, get it up there. If it's windy, I might use this pitch most of the game, it does really weird things. There is a downside of this pitch. It is sometimes very hard to throw, and if it is thrown incorrectly, can get shelled. I am extremely comfortable with it now, but when I was developing it, that would happen. The real secret to the pitch is how quickly it breaks, it might break in the middle of your swing, and you end up hitting it with the bat tip or handle. I have cracked wooden bats with this pitch.
The Knuckle Curve: This is your change up grip, except you are going to adjust your pointer finger, to dig into one of the seams like the knuckle ball. It is slightly tight grip. You are going to start to the extreme right (left if you are a lefty) of the rubber. Grab your ball (below's image in from the side, make sure your hand is below the ball) and you throw it like the circle curve, flip of the wrist over the ball so your hand ends up toward the top of the ball. This one curves quite a bit, and then absolutely dies, all the while getting a little bounce to it. The main difference between this and the knuckler is that the ball won't double back in the other direction. Again another pitch I use late in the games and late in counts as a swing inducing pitch; many times it drop right before strike zone and induces weak swings.
The Reverse: First and foremost, I never use this pitch, a lot of people do though. It is a ground ball inducer. I don't use it because I find the pitches I have more effective. If you want use it go right ahead. The basic grip is a reverse meatball grip. And you throw it with the hand on top, flicking the ball the to plate. It causes the spin of the ball to go back toward the pitcher. I have found it does not work well with a ton of arc (one of the reasons, I don't use). Try it out, you might like it.
Now What: The whole goal now is to figure out what works, what combinations, etc work on what batters. Make a early pattern, then after one time through the line up change the pattern around. If you find one pitch works pretty well on a particular batter, use it. The key I have found is to mix pitches up. I rarely pitch the same pitch more than twice to one batter. Also location is a huge key. It will throw off a lot of batters if you can hit strikes both outside and inside, back and front. Also throw in a pitch or two here or there that is low arc. Remember you are not trying to get people to miss, that is the key. You are trying to make people hit a ball they are either not comfortable hitting, or causing them to miss hitting the sweet spot of the bat.
If you have a power righty that loves to shoot the 3rd base line deep, there are two ways to approach it. Give him what he wants, that inside pitch; let him hit a long out. Or, mover the ball around, force him to swing differently. Know your batters.
Addendum: I wrote this article in 2005, it is now 2007. Our league has gone from metal to wood bats. First, I must say, I will never again play with metal bats. The wood bats have not only made it safer to be a pitcher, it has also turned our league from homerun derby to a game where defense and pitching mattered. The game is more like baseball. If you have any say in your league, get them to try a month with wood bats, they will never go back, it is so much more fun.
This article became very popular and I got and still get a lot of responses from it, thanks. Some more advice I can give. Many batters in the league I play in, have read this article, know how good I am, and used this article to figure me out. I made a few adjustments. Many teams know my junk, so they wait on a strike, those teams I know, so I throw them the meatball first pitch, getting ahead, and putting them a postion that they are forced to swing. I also know many of the batters I face and what they are looking to do when they get up to bat. So I know what to pitch based upon game situations and batter, I want to throw, to get these guys make bad choices and hit into my stellar defense. I have also developed a pattern. I stick with the pattern pretty much for the first time through the order and depending on how it worked, I adjust the pattern the second time through the order and so on. I might use the basic pattern Curve-Knuckle-Sinker, then switch it the next time in the order. By the late innings, I am replacing the Curve with the Changeup or the Knuckle Curve. I also have batters I pitch a certain way based on their hitting habits. I am also finding that knuckle ball pitch is a great 2 strike pitch. It consistenly illicits short pop flys and dribblers, and occasional strike outs.
I am convinced the keys are location (inside, outside, short and deep), arc, and movement in that order. I keep the batters off balance, and againI have a stellar defense behind me. The key for me is to also relax, sometimes I am so relaxed at the mound, I could be asleep. Not always good from screaming line drives, but I let instinct take that over.
Also, I filmed a 4 and half minute video based on this article after a number of requests. This I present to you below:
If you liked this article, have questions, or need clarification don't hesistate to contact me.
*Junk: A ball thrown to move, spin, and dance.
** Meatball: A pitch flat and right down the middle of the plate
Malach is the owner of RubberSuit Studios and Stool Sample Webhosting