Pitching and Pitchers Discussion No they don't!!

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Okay, I have to vent about this because it bugs the heck out of me every time it happens!

There is no such rule that states the pitcher must "present" the ball. NO SUCH RULE!! It never fails that, at least once per season, somebody gets it in there head that the pitcher has to show God and everybody, the ball before they pitch it. The pitching preliminaries state that the pitcher must approach the pitcher's plate with the ball in their hand or their glove, not both. Then the hands are brought together and they proceed to deliver the pitch. That's it. Nothing complicated. Nothing that says a pitcher has to "tip" the pitch by letting you see the ball, her hand, or her grip.

Let me illustrate. My DD approaches the rubber with the ball in her glove, her other hand at her side. She steps on the rubber and puts her hand in her glove. She moves the glove to her throwing side to adjust her grip in such a way as not to show it to the 3rd base coach. Then, she moves her glove, with the ball and her hand inside, to the front. The glove, with the ball and her hand inside, drop to her throwing side then push forward until she must separate in front of her during her arm circle.

Inevitably, someone gripes because she isn't "presenting" the ball.

Okay, rant over.

Please, before you scream that someone is doing something illegal, make sure you know the rule.

 

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Very timely thread! We had this SAME issue with dd yesterday at the Kent State Team Camp. Umpire told dd that she had to present the ball - I have never heard of this before!

 

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This usually follows the complaint to Blue by the manager who is getting his/her butt kicked by said pitcher...

 

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As long as her hands are apart when she steps on the rubber, she is good to go. Let me guess, the opposing team was having trouble hitting her pitches??? Like Louuuuu said, that is usually when you hear those kinds of complaints.

 

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It was after a 1-2-3 inning. I think it was actually a grandparent who called blue over and started raising a ruckus. Just one of those things that, as the parent of a pitcher, drives me batsh!t crazy...lol.

 

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What the heck is the umpire doing discussing the pitching rules with a grandparent during the game? They are not supposed to have rabbit ears and shouldn't even be listening to the fans.

 

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It was as the inning was turning over. I don't worry too much about it, since she has never been called and it's not a rule. It just annoys me, is all. BTW Klump, we play you guys this weekend. I'll have to introduce myself afterwards.

 

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Yes, definately introduce yourself!! I will try to refrain from talking to the ump about the pretend presentation rule.

 

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I believe, do not crucify me for saying this, 6 to 7years ago this was a rule in either NSA or ASA. Was called all the time when dd was a 10 u

 

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I believe, do not crucify me for saying this, 6 to 7years ago this was a rule in either NSA or ASA. Was called all the time when dd was a 10 u

Do believe you are correct. I can remember Kathy calling it quite often in the spano.

 

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I remember Kathy calling it all the time too but I believe that rule wasn't about actually "presenting" the ball, just having your hands apart when you step on the rubber.

 

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It is a slow pitch rule for ASA..... or was

 

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pitching rules are about as annoying as pitchers parents........ JUST KIDDIN" LOL MD

 

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It is a slow pitch rule for ASA

Maybe the Root Cause in this case is MPH...

When is the last time someone RadarGunned the pitcher in question

 

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She is not dominatingly fast. She is at the mid/upper end of average for 14u. She has never been gunned by anyone other than her father, or at tryouts, that I am aware of. So, I don't think it's a speed issue.

Ugh, nevermind. I missed what Louuuu was just trying to say.

 

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Pitchers parents are always pitching about something. haha jkjk

There is always one or two spectators who think they are either a coach or an umpire but they usually are clueless about both.

 

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one grip I will give pitchers, or maybe more of a complaint about the complainer's --- If a girl is illegal due to bad technique , or illegal every few pitches , or illegal for WHATEVER reason, it's not she is a CHEATER ... she didnt wake up this am and decide " in the 2 pm pool play game I'm really gonna stretch the rules " had what I thought was one of the nicer travel ball guys cry **** and moan an entire contest a couple years ago about our pitcher leaping. Honestly sometimes she did , most of the time she didnt . It got to the point where the fans ( following this angel's lead) were screaming " ILLEGAL" after every pitch and flat out accusing this 14u kid of being a cheat. sad display . MD

 

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And the next step in MD's scenario is the poor girl is thinking "Nobody said anything in the last game/ last week" etc. They're just trying to get a strike, or two.

 

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I have mixed feelings on that one, Dan. My DD and her PC work very hard and they make sure she is doing nothing illegal. There is another pitcher I know who used to leap really badly and kept getting called in 10u for it. She worked on fixing it, but she was a mess. Huge loss of speed and accuracy. Saw her a few times this summer and she still wasn't leaping (2nd year 12) and her speed was better, accuracy was better. Played against her this weekend, now 1st year 14u, she is back to leaping, which has amped up her MPH's. And it's not a "little" leap. It's a 6" of daylight leap on every pitch. We hit her, though not with any authority, so that's our cross to bear. However, it bugs me that my kid works hard to stay legal when others will continue doing something they know is wrong just to gain what little advantage they can.

To equate it to hitting, it would be like a super fast slapper who is out of the box on every hit, but never gets called. Frustrating for those that follow the rules.

 

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fair point . but it's up to blue to call it. my gripe was the guy was acting very innocent but I walked over the 1st base side where he was coaching and this teams fans were along the fence. it was pretty brutal over there .... my fav was " YOU WILL NEVER GET AWAY WITH THAT IN HIGH SCHOOL " If you ask for the call every pitch and you are not getting it after a couple innings you should concentrate on something else.