Putting in the Work
- Thread starter Steve83
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i surrender.
"Unable to hit" is a BROAD statement that most definitely is not true. Yes, you've seen a couple of videos of softball pitchers getting them by good hitters. Isn't much of a video if the big leaguer takes them yard.
Nobody clicking on that.
And as before, it has NOTHING to do with not seeing the ball.....
Being thrown underhanded the timing and look to a batter is completely different. AND you can make a softball break MUCH more than you can a baseball. So those hitters were seeing curve balls break more than they ever see baseballs break. That and the pitcher is only 45' away and seems right on top of you compared to 60'6".
I played 15 years of organized baseball, 2 of fast pitch softball and I really struggled to adjust to the difference in pitching. It's significant, but not because you can't see the ball.
It's just different enough that not 100% of what you are used to doing works as well.
And again, it's the FACT that big league hitters are facing 95+mph fastballs almost every day now.
Have you tried to hit fast pitching in a pitching machine? And those top out around 80mph for the old cheap ones. Even then, for a mere mortal is extremely hard to speed up your swing fast enough to catch up to the ball. IF you CAN do that and adjust to that speed and the reaction it takes to get the bat through the zone in time THEN you'll struggle to hit slower balls that don't require super human reactions.
Even though you see them.
Find evidence of a MLB player being able to hit a top women's softball pitcher. There have been many demonstrations of MLB players being unable to hit softball pitchers all the way back to Joan Joyce striking out Ted Williams.
Joan Joyce: the best Ted Williams ever faced
Fifty years ago, two competitors squared off: a 20-year-old regarded as softball's best pitcher versus baseball's best hitter. It was no contest.www.espn.com
"Unable to hit" is a BROAD statement that most definitely is not true. Yes, you've seen a couple of videos of softball pitchers getting them by good hitters. Isn't much of a video if the big leaguer takes them yard.
Nobody clicking on that.
And as before, it has NOTHING to do with not seeing the ball.....
Being thrown underhanded the timing and look to a batter is completely different. AND you can make a softball break MUCH more than you can a baseball. So those hitters were seeing curve balls break more than they ever see baseballs break. That and the pitcher is only 45' away and seems right on top of you compared to 60'6".
I played 15 years of organized baseball, 2 of fast pitch softball and I really struggled to adjust to the difference in pitching. It's significant, but not because you can't see the ball.
It's just different enough that not 100% of what you are used to doing works as well.
And again, it's the FACT that big league hitters are facing 95+mph fastballs almost every day now.
Have you tried to hit fast pitching in a pitching machine? And those top out around 80mph for the old cheap ones. Even then, for a mere mortal is extremely hard to speed up your swing fast enough to catch up to the ball. IF you CAN do that and adjust to that speed and the reaction it takes to get the bat through the zone in time THEN you'll struggle to hit slower balls that don't require super human reactions.
Even though you see them.
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The bolded part is what you're missing. As I've already said, the batter doesn't see the ball "all the way to the bat" but they most certainly see it part of the way to the plate. You act like they don't see it at all and have said so. That is false.I’ll give it another try.
A study by Alfred W. Hubbard and Charles N. Seng at the University of Illinois looked at 29 MLB players batting and determined they do not see the ball because their eyes were not even looking at the ball as they were swinging.
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
It might seem like it, but our vision system is not like a camera. Much of what we see is the result of processing our brain does on limited input.
At any instant of time what you think you are seeing is an accumulation of up to 15 seconds of signals from your eyes. Remember at any instant what you are seeing is equivalent to the area of your thumb held out at arm’s length and the movement of your eyes builds up the what you are experiencing in your head.
Everything we see is a mash-up of the brain’s last 15 seconds of visual information
The brain is basically a time machine that ensures what we see is stable and continuoustheconversation.com
Next time you go to an ophthalmologist, when they are shining a bright light from the side into your eye pay attention and you will suddenly see all the blood vessels in your eye. You never see them even though they are there, but you do when the side light casts their shadow in different places. Normally your brain blocks the image of your blood vessels and guesses what they are blocking so you get the impression of a complete picture. You are not “seeing” in your brain what is being cast on your retina, which includes your blood vessels. You are “seeing” something that is blocked by the blood vessels because your brain is creating the part that is blocked.
Experiment: See the Blood Vessels in Your Eye
Perform this experiment to see the your own retina.www.aao.org
Show me where I said they don't see it at all. I am just saying they are not seeing all they think they are seeing and that they don't keep their eye on the ball as they are hitting.
Here is an example of what you are seeing is not what is actually there.
Shadow Optical Illusion – BusinessBalls.com
This incredible optical illusion tricks the brain into seeing colours as the brain thinks they should be, rather than as they actually are.
www.businessballs.com
I am sure you think you are seeing different shades for squares A and B. They are the same shade, but your brain is telling you they are different shades. Even once you know they are the same shade you can't get your brain to see that they are the same shade.
Edit: I know this example does not involve motion. But the same thing happens with motion. From the limited input from your senses your brain builds a mental model that is never a 100% rendering of what is out there.
Second Edit: If I inaccurately stated my position I apologize. The batter has some limited visual input of the ball, but much of what the batter thinks they are seeing is a mental model of that input and experience of what the trajectory will be.
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i surrender.
"Unable to hit" is a BROAD statement that most definitely is not true. Yes, you've seen a couple of videos of softball pitchers getting them by good hitters. Isn't much of a video if the big leaguer takes them yard.
Nobody clicking on that.
And as before, it has NOTHING to do with not seeing the ball.....
Being thrown underhanded the timing and look to a batter is completely different. AND you can make a softball break MUCH more than you can a baseball. So those hitters were seeing curve balls break more than they ever see baseballs break. That and the pitcher is only 45' away and seems right on top of you compared to 60'6".
I played 15 years of organized baseball, 2 of fast pitch softball and I really struggled to adjust to the difference in pitching. It's significant, but not because you can't see the ball.
It's just different enough that not 100% of what you are used to doing works as well.
And again, it's the FACT that big league hitters are facing 95+mph fastballs almost every day now.
Have you tried to hit fast pitching in a pitching machine? And those top out around 80mph for the old cheap ones. Even then, for a mere mortal is extremely hard to speed up your swing fast enough to catch up to the ball. IF you CAN do that and adjust to that speed and the reaction it takes to get the bat through the zone in time THEN you'll struggle to hit slower balls that don't require super human reactions.
Even though you see them.
"Sauntering past a phalanx of the world’s best hitters, Jennie Finch strode toward the sun-drenched infield, her flaxen hair blazing in the clear desert light. For the previous twenty-four years, the Pepsi All-Star Softball Game had been an event contested by Major League Baseball players only. The crowd thrummed with excitement as the 6'1" Team USA softball ace reached the pitcher’s mound and curled her fingers around the ball.
No sooner did Finch arrive at the mound than the defensive players behind her sat down. Yankees infielder Aaron Boone took his glove off, lay down in the dirt, and used second base for a pillow. Texas Rangers All-Star Hank Blalock took the opportunity to get a drink of water," Epstein, David. The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance (p. 2). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (They knew the NL MLB All-Stars were not going to hit a pitched softball.)
"It’s because the only way to hit a ball traveling at high speed is to be able to see into the future, and when a baseball player faces a softball pitcher, he is stripped of his crystal ball," Epstein, David. The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance (p. 5). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
"the advice to “keep your eye on the ball” is literally impossible. Humans don’t have a visual system fast enough to track the ball all the way in. A batter could just as well close his eyes once the ball is halfway to home plate," Epstein, David. The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance (p. 5). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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