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Online now: 3 members: Chase5981, Eazy, db; 12 anonymousDiscussion: Maybe try this before adding a pitcher screen????
| Posted | Discussion |
| Nov. 25 Tim Millette 615 posts | There seems to be talk about going to pitching screens. I would hope before doing this senior ball considers a few other options to try first. 1) gives Pitchers more ability to throw the batters off by making the mat four inches wider and six inches longer. 2) give the pitcher more ability to dictate pitchs that are more difficult for the batter to hit by making the rubber/pitching box 36 inches wide, thereby allowing him more angles. 3) start with a one and one count so there are less opportunities for the batter to wait on a "cookie". I know all these could be considered radical but, what do you call having a pitching screen in the middle of the playing field. Now...I understand very few players pitch and all senior players bat..but it's past time we put our offense self interests into ways to make pitchers more then glorified Pitching machines. |
| Nov. 26 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | every thing sounds good,but here would be my mods to the mat,21" wide,36" long.the mat is 34 x 19 now......also get rid of height restrictions,if the pitcher can hit the mat,make it a strike...... |
| Nov. 26 southernson 280 posts | Tim, Just some thoughts.... The 1 & 1 count helps some, many of us play with that all the time. Making the mat 6" longer and 4" wider might be a help and providing incrased opportunity for angles may be as well. But there is definitely one thing all batters at any level hate....height. And the reason for that is that a 12' pitch on the back of the mat is tougher to hit....for anyone. There are currently two problems with that: 1) It is extremely rare that umpires rarely give you 12' of height as the rules allow, the norm you see is about 10'...and that's like putting it on a tee for good hitters, which means more pitchers will get hit.... 2) There is no mark on the fence for the umpires to actually know what 12' is.... the standard chain link is 2 1/4" which means almost 3" (it's actually the square root of 2.25 * 2.25) from twist to twist. So count 48 of those next time you hit the field, and you'll have your 12' of arc that's supposed to be allowed. You'll be surprised.... It's an offensive game, and it's meant to be. But before adding a screen, try altering the height to 14'. Increasing the height provides better protection than the screen and it doesn't take away the double play balls which now hit it. |
| Nov. 26 southernson 280 posts | Mad Dog, You are right on target.... |
| Nov. 26 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | what about the lo pitch son......i think a 3'-15'arc allowed would be great.....i'm not a fan of screens either,since we have a ball that would greatly reduce injury factors.... |
| Nov. 26 southernson 280 posts | Well, the low pitch can be useful if you are trying to keep a guy in the park, and if it's thrown occasionally. But IMO that's more of a grab your nutz right after you throw the pitch, cause the low one is definitely coming back hard... MD IMO, 3'-15' would be great in terms of protecting pitchers. |
| Nov. 26 southernson 280 posts | Tim/Mad Dog, Truth is you are probably not going to get a lot of traction/feedback here on your suggestions. A change in arc is not something the hitters want to talk about, or more importantly want SSUSA to ever consider. What the hel*, just put them in armor and put a screen around them right? Just don't mess with our 10' arc.... |
| Nov. 26 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Tim, I can't wait for you to propose that this Sat... not that they are considering screen.... |
| Nov. 26 Tim Millette 615 posts | Taints, this indeed would be my suggestions on NCSSA pitching. If ssusa doesn't incorporate a large mat I'd recommend NCSSA uses a ssusa mat and allows the other pitching concepts to be enforced....IN THE "YOUNGER" AGE GROUPS THAT WERE SEPERATED FROM THE OLDER GUYS AT LAST YEARS MEETING. |
| Nov. 26 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | You might want to bring the mat size up if worried about hitting it cause NCSSA is 'supposed' to be following SSUSA on that. Only rules different are noted in their rules and that is not one of them. But then they don't follow their own rules far too often anyway. It your pitcher can't hit the original sized mat, let alone the larger one SSUSA has find someone that can. If you go to a larger mat, also go unlimited arc, That I'd like... Every year I've there, I have put the unlimited arc up for a vote. Not sure about this year though. |
| Nov. 26 dix47 15 posts | If you raise the height limit, guys will sit on that pitch and shoot it right back where it came from. Make a face mask and shin guards mandatory. |
| Nov. 26 southpaw Men's 70 1077 posts | I am sure that it has been asked before--why do we have the mat anyway? I personally do not like it. I throw pitches that cut across the strike zone, but do not always hit the mat. I would quit playing if we had to go to screens. I personally like 12 ft limit. |
| Nov. 26 GI Men's 60 228 posts | I would love to see 1-1 count - so tired of watching good hitters look at first strike than complain that we cannot get 7 innings in.If each batter looks at 1st pitch that is a min. of 42 extra pitches if only 3 bat per inning, That adds alot of time to game. I also would enjoy the 3-15 foot arch so we could have more options about flat or higher pitches. I used to play unlimiteds in Indiana in 70's -- tougher game. Throwing my 16-17 foot pitch against Webbie never seemed to hurt him much. HA Last one I pitched him was in sun and he still hit it opposite field for a Home run at Papago.GI |
| Nov. 26 Duke Men's 65 908 posts | Either leave the height limit as is, or go to unlimited height. 95% of the umpires do not call the height correctly. Not their fault, it's just an estimate, and it varies greatly with many umpires. With unlimited arc, you solve several issues. You eliminate the umpire's judgement on the height, you eliminate cookies thrown to hitters using a legal weapon(Ultra II, etc), and you increase the importance of the pitcher in this run crazy game and home run derby, and increase the importance of defense. I totally disagree with mandatory mask and shin guards for pitchers or anything else. I tried a mask, and could not react quickly enough to any ground balls, because the mask was in my way every time I looked down. Although more difficult to hit the unlimited arc, it might lead to a couple of new rules to be instituted. For instance, we might not need a 5 run limit per inning. With unlimited arc, I would be in agreement to combine Major Plus and Major divisions using the current Major rules for home runs, in order to have more teams to play in the smaller tournaments. I do not expect this to happen, and these are just my opinions. Andy Smith, 60 Major |
