How long before Pitchers at all levels (including MLB) wear helmets?

[jerichoholicninja]

Also, tell me Cobb wasn't in the proper fielding position:

 

He wasn't. Your glove shouldn't be hanging off to the side like his was. It should be at your chest or your arm pit.

[Baldkin]

Also, tell me Cobb wasn't in the proper fielding position:

 

He wasn't. Your glove shouldn't be hanging off to the side like his was. It should be at your chest or your arm pit.

 

So, you're not supposed to follow through with your non pitching hand? Come on. He was squared up, facing home plate, ready to field the ball. The same position every 1B is in after coming off the bag.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Also, tell me Cobb wasn't in the proper fielding position:

 

He wasn't. Your glove shouldn't be hanging off to the side like his was. It should be at your chest or your arm pit.

 

So, you're not supposed to follow through with your non pitching hand? Come on. He was squared up, facing home plate, ready to field the ball. The same position every 1B is in after coming off the bag.

 

I don't mean to sound mean, but you are wrong Baldkin. jerichoholicninja, is 100% correct. After your delivery practically every pitching coach will tell you to tuck your glove by your arm pit. It should never be dangling by your side.

 

To answer your other question,

 

When you throw the ball to home plate that is one step, so there is less time to react to a ball coming your way. However, when you throw the ball to home plate the pitcher has time to react, because the ball will have to change directions and come back the way it just came, which is a 2 step process. This is just common sense stuff and I don't really know why I had to just say that, but hopefully you understand now..

[chickinbrickin]

Not to mention when you are batting you are stepping into the pitch so you are already in motion, which makes it much harder to change direction and get out of the way.

 

Think of how many pitches are thrown over the course of the year, and how often a pitcher gets hit. It is all about being in the proper position.

[TooLiveBrew]

Also, tell me Cobb wasn't in the proper fielding position:

Man, the silence was unreal in that video.

[RobDeer 45]

If you throw over the top, it's a lot easier to be squared up. If you throw across your body you have momentum going to the side as well. Not every guy can throw over the top and obviously guys get different movement from different arm slots. I'm not saying it's smart to fall off the mound like Mitch Williams but being perfectly squared up seems a little old fashioned. Kind of like guys shouldn't fade away on a jump shot. Even if you are in perfect position you can still get hit. There is little time to react no matter how you look at it.

[Patrick425]

Everything today kids play is organized with better and better equipment.

 

This is inaccurate. Back when I played Little League we used wood bats. Today's aluminum bats are much more dangerous especially for the pitchers 12 and under throwing from 46 feet, the ball really jumps off of these modern bats

 

I'm 40 and have never played baseball with a wood bat at any level growing up. (not to mention a hard coach who like to drill grounders at me from the pitcher's mound while I played SS and also like to drill kids in BP so they would know what it felt like to get hit by a pitch and not be afraid) There were always the newest hottest bats each season from at least as far back as grade school when I remember actually talking about the bats. Technology has certainly improved but leagues can limit that easily enough by certifying the bats through testing. Plenty of adult softball leagues have banned bats and placed limits on the technology.

 

I'm 47 and the bats we used in little league were a mixture of wood bats and metal bats, but mostly wood bats until I think 6th or 7th grade, but the metal bats were not very good back then (they would actually dent and they were much heavier than today's bats) so a lot of the players would still choose the wood bats over the metal bats. Also, as I mentioned in a earlier post, in HS and College you can not use a metal bat unless it has BBCOR stamped on it. Youth levels are a little "trickier" because I don't think they make BBCOR bats yet for the youth players (who use bats with greater than -3 drops).

[Baldkin]

When you throw the ball to home plate that is one step, so there is less time to react to a ball coming your way. However, when you throw the ball to home plate the pitcher has time to react, because the ball will have to change directions and come back the way it just came, which is a 2 step process. This is just common sense stuff and I don't really know why I had to just say that, but hopefully you understand now..

 

So, the pitcher is supposed to react to where the ball is going before the batter hits it? Or is he just supposed to hold his glove in front of his face as soon as he's done throwing?

Again, .3 seconds.

Go here: http://steriley.com/index.php?/speed/

 

Try that test. That's just you reacting to a dot and moving your index finger.

Now do it again, this time with your hands on your keyboard, or desktop not moving them til you see the dot.

 

Yes, hitters get hit way more often in the head, there are also about 100x more pitches than batted balls up the middle.

 

If my kid ever became a pitcher, I'd want him, at the very least, wearing a soft helmet on the mound. A little extra sweat is worth reducing the risk of a brain injury by 1000%.

[PrinceFielderx1]

When you throw the ball to home plate that is one step, so there is less time to react to a ball coming your way. However, when you throw the ball to home plate the pitcher has time to react, because the ball will have to change directions and come back the way it just came, which is a 2 step process. This is just common sense stuff and I don't really know why I had to just say that, but hopefully you understand now..

 

So, the pitcher is supposed to react to where the ball is going before the batter hits it? Or is he just supposed to hold his glove in front of his face as soon as he's done throwing?

Again, .3 seconds.

Go here: http://steriley.com/index.php?/speed/

 

Try that test. That's just you reacting to a dot and moving your index finger.

Now do it again, this time with your hands on your keyboard, or desktop not moving them til you see the dot.

 

Yes, hitters get hit way more often in the head, there are also about 100x more pitches than batted balls up the middle.

 

If my kid ever became a pitcher, I'd want him, at the very least, wearing a soft helmet on the mound. A little extra sweat is worth reducing the risk of a brain injury by 1000%.

 

Wrong. The pitcher will have enough time to be in a position to react to a ball hit at him if he is pitching properly. More time than a batter would. The ball will have to travel back the way it came. 2 step process. Now the batter's momentum is actually heading toward the ball being thrown at him (1 step process), so it's way less probable to expect him to get out of the way. It's comparing apples to oranges. You really should just quit while your ahead. The pitcher obviously has more time than the batter to react that's been established. We wouldn't eve be having this discussion had the pitchers glove been where it was supposed to be after his delivery.

[RockCoCougars]

I really don't think that a 'textbook' follow through is going to make much of a difference here. Proper follow through is definitely helpful in fielding bunts, grounders and dribblers, but probably not the liner smoked right up the box. I really don't think that helmets are the answer either. I think that you have to look at the bats, especially at the amateur levels, bat technology has really advanced over the past 20 years or so.

[PrinceFielderx1]

A text book follow through will help 98-99% of the time. Even if you fail to catch it you can block it with your glove should you follow through the correct way. There's time for that. Just look at all of the balls over the years that were heading towards the pitchers heads or body's at high speeds and how many times the pitcher was able to block or catch it with their glove.

 

It's more of a freak accident than anything. Not enough to warrant the use of pitching helmets.

[Patrick425]

I won't argue that finishing in a good fielding position will help a pitcher in regards to "come-backers", but most pitching coaches don't preach that anymore and it's not a necessity in order to pitch effectively. Also, just because you don't finish in a good fielding position does not mean you are "throwing across your body"

[Baldkin]

Wrong. The pitcher will have enough time to be in a position to react to a ball hit at him if he is pitching properly. More time than a batter would. The ball will have to travel back the way it came. 2 step process. Now the batter's momentum is actually heading toward the ball being thrown at him (1 step process), so it's way less probable to expect him to get out of the way. It's comparing apples to oranges. You really should just quit while your ahead. The pitcher obviously has more time than the batter to react that's been established. We wouldn't eve be having this discussion had the pitchers glove been where it was supposed to be after his delivery.

 

I'm going to repeat this question to you, as for the second time you've said "two step process" and ignored my question. Yes, it is a two step process, but when the SECOND PART of the process requires the randomness of the first part to finish, the steps are independent of one another. You do not know where the batted ball is going until the ball is hit.

 

In your "two step process" explanation, is the pitcher is supposed to react to where the ball is going before the batter hits it?

[jerichoholicninja]

I won't argue that finishing in a good fielding position will help a pitcher in regards to "come-backers", but most pitching coaches don't preach that anymore and it's not a necessity in order to pitch effectively. Also, just because you don't finish in a good fielding position does not mean you are "throwing across your body"

 

Pitching coaches should be teaching it and not for safety reasons but because it is very important to the delivery. The glove weighs more than the baseball and to maintain balance throughout the delivery the glove needs to be tucked close to the body to counteract the additional weight on the glove hand.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Wrong. The pitcher will have enough time to be in a position to react to a ball hit at him if he is pitching properly. More time than a batter would. The ball will have to travel back the way it came. 2 step process. Now the batter's momentum is actually heading toward the ball being thrown at him (1 step process), so it's way less probable to expect him to get out of the way. It's comparing apples to oranges. You really should just quit while your ahead. The pitcher obviously has more time than the batter to react that's been established. We wouldn't eve be having this discussion had the pitchers glove been where it was supposed to be after his delivery.

 

I'm going to repeat this question to you, as for the second time you've said "two step process" and ignored my question. Yes, it is a two step process, but when the SECOND PART of the process requires the randomness of the first part to finish, the steps are independent of one another. You do not know where the batted ball is going until the ball is hit.

 

In your "two step process" explanation, is the pitcher is supposed to react to where the ball is going before the batter hits it?

 

It an irrelevant question and I see no point in answering it when the pitcher if pitching properly can block or catch a ball coming back at him like that.

[jerichoholicninja]

Chad Gaudin just got hit in the throwing elbow with a line drive. Pitchers should probably wear elbow pads too.

[Baldkin]

Wrong. The pitcher will have enough time to be in a position to react to a ball hit at him if he is pitching properly. More time than a batter would. The ball will have to travel back the way it came. 2 step process. Now the batter's momentum is actually heading toward the ball being thrown at him (1 step process), so it's way less probable to expect him to get out of the way. It's comparing apples to oranges. You really should just quit while your ahead. The pitcher obviously has more time than the batter to react that's been established. We wouldn't eve be having this discussion had the pitchers glove been where it was supposed to be after his delivery.

 

I'm going to repeat this question to you, as for the second time you've said "two step process" and ignored my question. Yes, it is a two step process, but when the SECOND PART of the process requires the randomness of the first part to finish, the steps are independent of one another. You do not know where the batted ball is going until the ball is hit.

 

In your "two step process" explanation, is the pitcher is supposed to react to where the ball is going before the batter hits it?

 

It an irrelevant question and I see no point in answering it when the pitcher if pitching properly can block or catch a ball coming back at him like that.

 

So, you've gone from telling me I'm wrong, because the pitcher has more time to react, to telling me the pitcher "if pitching properly" can block the pitch.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Baldkin,

 

The pitcher has more time to react and usually the pitcher who's pitching properly catches a ball hit right at him. If he fails to catch it he will be more than able to knock it down. I'm sure all of us has seen a pitcher catch or knock down a line drive hit at him way more times than we have seen a pitcher get hit in the head or chest. It's all because the pitcher has more time to react.

 

The whole point about all of this is that it's preventable and a helmet has nothing to do with it. There's nothing more to discuss here. I'm done discussing this and I've made my point.