Possibly the stupidest question you will ever hear about baseball

[Mr. Laser Beam]

You have been warned.

Okay, here goes (get ready to laugh):

Why do pitchers always lift a leg up when they pitch? I honestly don't know why they do that.

 

[Ashu]

I'm not a pitcher but I'd say its from the force/general motion of throwing a ball at that velocity. I know for shotput, even if you werent supposed to lift your feet as the ball was being thrown, itd be easier to put a bit more "oomph" into the throw with the movement.

Think of it this way: Have you ever tried throwing anything with any amount of force with only upper body strength?

Or something along those lines. I personally dont like baseball so there's probably a better answer to that.

 

[Chaos Descending]

"Torque" and "Counter-weight"

 

[Kirby]

I don't think it's a stupid question at all. Although I've never pitched, I did play quite a bit of baseball as a kid and it was always something the pitchers did.

Like Hasu says, it probably has something to do with velocity, but it's not necessarily important. It takes longer for the ball to get to the plate when you start with the full wind-up. When pitchers have runners on base, they'll throw from the stretch, which means that they don't do the full wind-up which gives the runners less of a chance to steal.

I think the more movement that a pitcher has, it can throw off the batter a little bit which give the pitcher a bit of an edge. Hideo Nomo had a bizarre wind-up where he would screw himself all the way around and he could almost see the second baseman. the batter has less of a chance to time the pitcher's release.

 

[roliver]

That's quite far from the stupidest baseball question someone could ask.

How about, "Why do they wear those big leather oven mitts?"

Now, *that* would be stupid.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Have you ever tried throwing anything with any amount of force with only upper body strength?

That's the way I've always done it, yep. (On the extremely rare occasion when I have to actually throw something with force.) Then again, I know precisely sod-all about the mechanics of baseball. If I tried to throw like a real pitcher would, I would probably fall over.

I do remember though that pitchers throw with only the upper body when they're throwing to a base. I never even thought to ask why they did that differently.

Thank you all, though, for not making me feel embarrassed for asking such a dumb question. (Remember, I've only recently gotten heavily into baseball.) I'd like to think that y'all still wouldn't laugh if I told you that 90% of the things that the announcers say during games, go way the hell over my head.

 

[BenRoethig]

When throwing a ball, most of your power actually comes from your legs.

 

[Tom Servo]

Most of the power from a pitchers delivery comes from the legs and torso. Having the body pushing forcefully towards the plate, along with with the arm action increases the velocity on the ball. The leg that the pitcher pushes off on is the most important, as it is used to drive the body towards the plate. When the pitcher lifts up his front leg, he recoils the energy in his body, and then as her throws the ball, he drops and drives the energy towards the plate.

An example of how important a pitchers legs are is the Curt Schilling bloody sock game in the 2004 ALCS. In Game One, with his messed up ankle, he was unable to push off the rubber of the pitching mound, and drive the ball towards the plate. In that game, his fastball only reached the mid eighties. In Game 6, when he had his ankle temporarily repaired, he was able to push off the rubber, and his fastball was back in its customary 92-95 range.

Granted, I have never been a pitcher. But I still throw with people, and we pitch with a little velocity once and a while, and I have been trying lately to refine a pitching delivery, so if I ever play again in some sort of recreational league, I will be ready.

 

[Pegaritaville]

I'm not a pitcher but I'd say its from the force/general motion of throwing a ball at that velocity. I know for shotput, even if you werent supposed to lift your feet as the ball was being thrown, itd be easier to put a bit more "oomph" into the throw with the movement.

Think of it this way: Have you ever tried throwing anything with any amount of force with only upper body strength?

Exactly. I pitch softball, so it's a little different, but your whole body is involved when pitching. In softball, I need to plant my left foot, but my right tends to kick up in order to keep me in balance. If I tried to keep it stationary, I'd be flailing on the ground (more than ususal).

For a major league pitcher to get any speed or movement on the ball, they have to use more than just their arms.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Wait a minute, I just thought of something even dumber than my last question was:

I don't know the difference between baseball and softball.



Seriously, I don't know the difference. Pathetic, innit?

 

[Pegaritaville]

Wait a minute, I just thought of something even dumber than my last question was:

I don't know the difference between baseball and softball.



Seriously, I don't know the difference. Pathetic, innit?

Not a stupid question at all-

First of all, the dimension of the ball is different. A softball is much larger and pliable than a baseball. Secondly, you pitch underhand in softball. That doesn't neccessarily mean a slower pitch: Some of the top softball pitchers can throw over 100mph.

The other big difference is the dimensions of the field. In softball, there's 60 feet between the bases (as opposed to 90 feet in baseball). The pitcher's mound is also closer in softball (I think it's 46', but I'm not sure about that).

But there's also two types of softball: Slow pitch and fast pitch. Fast pitch generally follows the same rules as baseball, but in slow pitch, there are a few differences. You are not allowed to steal in slow pitch, nor are you allowed to lead off more than a certain distance. Unless hit, the ball in slow pitch is generally dead: There is no such thing as a balk, hit by pitch or advancement by a pitching error. In slow pitch, you also have the option of walking a player without having to pitch out. I'm sure I've missed a few other differences, but I hope you get the gist.

I've played both slow and fast pitch, and while I kind of prefer fast, I enjoy playing slow pitch as well. And if I do say so myself, I'm a heckuva pitcher in both.