Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Pitching ???

Fastballs..
2,3,4 finger? Cross Seam?? With all the dads catching, do you ever see the speed go up or down with these pitches?? ( in your opinion)

Change ups..
Backhand, Punch or Horseshoe?? Easiest to throw?? ( in your opinion)

Drop
Most effective??? way to throw!!! ( in your opinion)

Rise
Most effective??? way to throw!!! ( in your opinion)

4 seam 2-3 finger fastball. I would bet that most girls throw a 3 finger unless they have bigger hands. Hillhouse throws a 2 finger if memory serves me correctly. Less skin on the ball usually means more speed.

I prefer the backhand flip change, trying to create lots of back spin.

Most girls throw the turnover drop, especially if they have a female pitching coach. If they have a male coach they will more than likely learn the peel drop first.

Most dig the index finger into a seam, with a grip similar to a circle change. I'm not a big fan of digging the finger in, so I have them grip it more like how a curveball is gripped in baseball.

4 seam, 3 finger fast ball is the easiest one to throw for a girl.

The palm change is one of the best change-ups to throw. It looks the most like a fastball is one of the hardest ones for the other team to pick up. Don't forget there is also a knuckle change.
The back hand is one of the easist to teach and learn. All change-ups depend on the pitcher.

As for the drop, Turn-over is the one that gets the best spin so it drops the most. Peal drop doesn't drop as much as the turn-over. There is also a combo peel/ drop.

As for rise, my daughters pitching coach has her use her curve ball grip and works on them getting their hands under the ball.

All of the above is what my daughter uses and her pitching coach has taught her, She has learned both ways to throw the drop and prefers the turn over, and she has learned 3 different change-ups.

Fastball: DD throws a 3 finger 4-seam, 3 finger 2-seam that has more movement less speed.

Change-up: works on types, palm, circle c and knuckle, uses 2 in games.

Curve, Rise and Screw all have the same grip and no she doesn't dig finger in.

Drops: learned both but throws a turn-over. Turn-over a little slower than her peel but the break is not even comparable.

Fastball, DD throws 4 seam 3 finger. She does not throw very many fastball on her travel team (probably 5 or less a game). She throws a lot more in High School as she can throw the ball by a lot more girls.

Changeup: Backhand flip. There is not a change up more effective then this one. The ball spins backwards. Fastballs spin forwards. Girls cannot tell the difference. IMO this is by far the hardest pitch to perfect but once you do you go from a good pitcher to a great pitcher. Just look at Taryn Mowet from Arizona a couple years ago. The palm is effective but I have seen girls crush this pitch as most pitchers have to slow there arm speed down a bit to throw it.

Curve and Rise same grip. Rise is a tough pitch to learn. Its not easy to get the ball to spin backwards.

Drop: She throws the rollover.

There are a lot of opinions out there about this and this is what works best for my daughter. With the change-up, I am a firm believer of the backhand flip change. At the level of travel my dd plays, it is the only effective one there is.

Get ahold of Dave Leffew. I think he is the man for all of your pitching questions.

As my dd was not over powering she learned to throw her pitches with a different grip
with her fast ball she threw a 4 seam with more felocity and a 2 seam that gave her more movement (very effective) on her change she tried a Knckle but her hand was to small so she threw both the back flip and the circle the circle being the most effective her peel was alot better then the turn down but I would have to say that her cirve was her moast effective pitch as it looked a lot like a drop curve. Her instructor nwas Ron M out of Westerville.

DD does knuckle and palm change.....Knuckle is hard to throw but is a beautiful pitch when it works. Also throws turnover drop but if you don't get your hip closed and the pitch hangs up there it's the most beautiful homerun ball you might ever see! No rise ball.