Hitting and Hitters Discussion Will the extra distance help hitters?

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I have seen on one of the other threads that pitchers, coaches and pitchers dads do not feel that the extra 3' will matter to the pitchers. I believe that is the case especially if they have been pitching and drilling from greater distances in their workouts. What I am interested in seeing is whether or not the increased distance will help the hitters? My daughter and I, when there is a machine have been backing it up a bit to simulate the distance and I feel it will be a benefit to some hitters. Its not so much how it affects a pitcher but does it give the hitter a split second more time to pick up the pitch and make her decisions? Will it matter early in the year? Will it matter when a pitcher is taxed a little more, either by mulitple games or heat? Just wondering what some of your opinions are.

 

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NJ went to 43' last year; my buddy thought that there were more hits to the outfield, game to game. The pitcher moving back 3' should make the slappers a more potent threat especially on the right side. I suspect that most High School batting averages will improve ever so slightly. There will be more walks because the batters will have more time to decide about the quality of the pitch and the pitcher will have to hit the zone slightly further away. The runners will get a half-step on a straight steal so that stat should increase slightly. The journeymen fastball pitchers will get shelled and the average breaking ball hurler will do much better. The studs will still be studs.

The effects will be slight, I don't see the 3' transforming the game but games are decided on less every year.

 

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Not only slappers , but bunters with speed will take advantage of the pitcher being back 3 feet. Already noticed this in fall ball.

 

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Yes it surely will, as seen by the last two summers at 43' in the showcases

 

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Countering slappers with breaking/movement pitches (which can really dance at 43 feet) should be a part of the pitcher's quiver.

 

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It should help the good pitchers.

The girls who have been working on the spin pitches are going to do better. The ones that rely on Fastball-Change are going to hate it.

I think at the 14U level there will be more hitting. Not enough fully developed pitchers to take advantage of the extra 3 feet of break.

 

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Assuming your question relates to high school ball primarily. Most 14-U thru 18-U travel players have run into it already in the summer. Common sense tells us that it's an advantage to hitters, for many of the reasons noted above ... more time to pick up a pitch being the most notable. As cgs and others state, a pitcher with good movement (and control I should add) can offset some of the advantage to the hitter, but I don't buy an argument that it actually net helps the movement pitchers. It just hurts the non-movement pitchers (should we even call them pitchers?!) more. And the really weak pitchers who have trouble with control to begin with, may become completely ineffective. I would expect the impact on JV and freshmen games to be much more than on varsity games.

 

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Assuming your question relates to high school ball primarily. Most 14-U thru 18-U travel players have run into it already in the summer. Common sense tells us that it's an advantage to hitters, for many of the reasons noted above ... more time to pick up a pitch being the most notable. As cgs and others state, a pitcher with good movement (and control I should add) can offset some of the advantage to the hitter, but I don't buy an argument that it actually net helps the movement pitchers. It just hurts the non-movement pitchers (should we even call them pitchers?!) more. And the really weak pitchers who have trouble with control to begin with, may become completely ineffective. I would expect the impact on JV and freshmen games to be much more than on varsity games.

Only thing I disagree with is that the really good movement pitchers are not "net" advantaged by the extra distance. Hard to prove one way or another, but I know catchers who have said it is difficult to catch great movement pitchers upon the move back to 43 feet . . . .

 

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I think it helped the batters once they got there timing down. I seen Teams move up in the box early in the summer but by the end of the summer able to sit back and knock the cover off the ball. Pitchers are what they are and their speeds were slower. The up pitch or rise ball didn't seem to be as effective.

 

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The stats from Florida high school being at 43 feet last year showed a small decrease in the number of strike outs by pitchers and a negligible increase in runs scored. I can't find the article where I saw this information and I don't remember what it said about the number of hits allowed.

 

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^^ It depends on what is considered negligible. If an average game at 40 feet had 6 runs scored and an average game at 43 feet has 7 runs, I'd say that's a pretty big difference. If it's maybe a .2 run difference per game, then it's negligible.

My experience coaching high school and travel at 40 and 43 feet tells me it makes a sizable difference. If some pitchers think that moving back to 43 helps them, I invite any future opponents to move back to 46 feet, or better yet, 49. We'll stay at 43, and will offer to move up to 40 if the other team thinks that would be preferable.

 

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Yeah, that's a pretty good way of looking at it, Joe ... don't think you'd have any takers on that!

Wow, just noticed that I am offically addicted (1000th post) ... I think I actually was a long time ago!

 

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Yeah, the addicted part has nothing to do with the number of posts. I knew I was addicted about a week after I first found this site. I did a lot of lurking before I started to post much too. It's a great site, with a LOT of great information available.

And to keep this on topic, the pitchers aren't throwing any slower from 43', but it does afford the hitters a little more reaction time.

 

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We have had it down here for a couple years now - advantage hitters......

 

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If what I witnessed the past few summers are any indication, Hitters have the advantage.

 

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yes i agree it helps the hitters . 2 years ago Georgia had 3- 300+ hitters last year they had 7- 300+ hitters.

 

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The stats from Florida high school being at 43 feet last year showed a small decrease in the number of strike outs by pitchers and a negligible increase in runs scored. I can't find the article where I saw this information and I don't remember what it said about the number of hits allowed.

The NFHS did track data from several schools that experimented with 43 feet before they made this rule change. I didn't have any luck finding it on-line either. I'm thinking that this might have been published in their Preseason Softball Guide last year. I have a copy of that around here...somewhere.

Here is a link to data from when the NCAA went to 43 feet back in 1987:

http://www.softballperformance.com/softball-pitching-43-change-high-school-softball/

 

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Here is the data from last year I think Bretman is referring to. Compiled by NFHS and taken from FL and OR (43ft) games in 2009 and 5 unnamed states (40ft) for comparison.

Seems significant to me.

Runs per game for winner
@ 40 6.42
@ 43 9.05

Runs per game loser
@ 40 1.42
@ 43 1.95

At bats per game
@ 40 45.57
@ 43 50.47

Hits per game
@ 40 12.89
@ 43 13.18

Singles
@ 40 10.44
@ 43 10.03

Doubles
@ 40 1.51
@ 43 2.08

Triples
@ 40 .52
@ 43 .50

HR
@ 40 .35
@ 43 .39

HBP
@ 40 .42
@ 43 .76

BB
@ 40 4.67
@ 43 5.87

SB
@ 40 2.56
@ 43 3.00

LOB
@ 40 8.71
@ 43 10.42

Errors
@ 40 3.47
@ 43 3.94

K's
@ 40 13.13
@ 43 8.95

Length of game
@ 40 1+ 28
@ 43 1+ 29

 

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That kinda sums it up>>>> HITTERS

Here is the data from last year I think Bretman is referring to. Compiled by NFHS and taken from FL and OR (43ft) games in 2009 and 5 unnamed states (40ft) for comparison.

Seems significant to me.

Runs per game for winner
@ 40 6.42
@ 43 9.05

Runs per game loser
@ 40 1.42
@ 43 1.95

At bats per game
@ 40 45.57
@ 43 50.47

Hits per game
@ 40 12.89
@ 43 13.18

Singles
@ 40 10.44
@ 43 10.03

Doubles
@ 40 1.51
@ 43 2.08

Triples
@ 40 .52
@ 43 .50

HR
@ 40 .35
@ 43 .39

HBP
@ 40 .42
@ 43 .76

BB
@ 40 4.67
@ 43 5.87

SB
@ 40 2.56
@ 43 3.00

LOB
@ 40 8.71
@ 43 10.42

Errors
@ 40 3.47
@ 43 3.94

K's
@ 40 13.13
@ 43 8.95

Length of game
@ 40 1+ 28
@ 43 1+ 29

 

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Thanks for the replies and sorry if I brought up something that had been discussed before. For whatever reason our fall ball decided not to make the move to 43' so mine has not played/hit from that distance yet. We'll see how it goes and I will post later once we find our for ourselves.