It would be cool to hear some of BJ's stories about the great experiences he must have expreienced during these bursts of geerosity.
I sense you're are being sarcastic, which is in fact the very behavior you appear to be criticizing. That aside, fair enough, the donations have been done quietly, and there is no reason that most would know about it. But that they don't know about it is kind of the point, and speaks to one aspect of who BJ is. Perhaps we can agree that not all like his humor? Certainly legitimate, he's a quipster - not for everyone. But there IS more to him than that.
A final point (on BJ), responding to a post earlier in the thread - if BJ
DID take a "shot" at a 14 YO girl, I'd be willing to bet he had knowledge that it really wasn't a 14 YO girl, but rather one of the ubiquitous eTeamZ trolls posing as something they were not. A phenomenon all too common to eTeamZ, and one of the reasons some people are now exploring this board.
Sorry I don't agree BB & FP hitting are close at all, and am willing to have friendly disscution on mechanics of the two,,check out my post, BB hitting vs FP hitting and you'll see some of my points, you don't have to agree, but I have been a softball specialist for over 30 years, and I say I can explain it and give actual used and sucsessfull methods that definatly will show BB & FP hitting tecneaks are not shadow copies, Nobody seems to want and discusse this with me.
Because the world has changed dramatically in the past 5 years, and IMO, almost no one thinks there is much left to discuss. This being a rainy Saturday, with nothing much to do, I'll take the bait, though.
The sea-change was underway 5 years ago. Three years ago, when Candrea and Enquist made their pronouncement and heavily endorsed the RightView product, the momentum really gained. There are still islands out there, embracing the legacy FP swing. But increasingly few. And those who are there - you included - are not arguing with me. You are arguing with the National Team coach and several hundred NCAA coaches.
As for the ONE point (not
some points) you made in your prevous post - Fernandez K'ing MLB hitters - and you could expand this to include Finch's "This Week in Baseball" segments - I remain unpersuaded. First, the only pitch they throw effectively against male hitters is the riser - see below. Next, the typical MLB hitter has several hundred thousand swings under his belt.
All against pitching with a similar release point. Change the release point, and it throws off their eye. And would continue to do so, for a while. Give them a week where they were actually motivated to prepare for the experiment, and the female pitcher would be in danger for her life. Literally. The reaction time is comfortably within the familiar (around 0.4 seconds in either venue) for the MLB hitter. And
the dramatically slower closing speed of the softball (70 mph vs 98mph) makes the ball in the hitting zone for - in hitting terms - an astronomically longer time. The margin of error for the hitter is dramatically bigger. Any female pitcher who threw (from 43 feet) against MLB hitters who had a week in the cage / against live FP pitchers to prepare would be incredibly brave. She'd also be risking her life.
Even the best female riseballs are flat or dropping slightly through the hitting zone
IF THEY ARE STRIKES (anyone can throw a ball over the backstop - still rising as it crossed the plate, but who cares?). As PROFILE ANGLE video has proven repeatedly and conclusively. See the Sarah Pauly videos as an obvious example of this, but there are many other examples. And NO - NOT
ONE - profile-angle video example that has been posted anywhere of a ball rising
through the strike zone. Or hopping. It is just like a 100mph FB at the letters in BB. Flat, or a downward trajectory of maybe 1 degree. NO difference. The release point looks different (because it is), and would fool MLB batters for a while. But not for long. They would dial in pretty rapidly if they cared to bother. If it could fool them for long, the submarine specialists such as Chad Bradford would be much more successful than they are.
But even if you don't accept all of that - as I'm reasonably certain you won't - it changes little uunless you can suggest a reasonable alternative. Describe the alternative hitting mechanics that allow hitters to knock Finch's riser all over the park - that are demonstrably better than MLB mechanics - and I promise that I'll study them. Seriously. The POINT of MLB mechanics is that they can be consistently applied against ANY pitch, with any movement, in any location. Allowing the hitter a universal approach to hitting that optimizes the probabilities for success in all situations. Because 0.4 seconds is NOT ENOUGH time to recognize a pitch, then implement a differing mechanical approach based on what the pitch may be. There is only 1/4 of a second to recognize and launch, and that means the launch part of it HAS to be the same in all situations. If that weren't true, MLB hitters would not themselves have virtually identical swings - identical to each other, and identical in terms of basic mechanics against any pitch.
AT any rate, there is probably room for disagreement on this tiopic, though the window appears to be narrowing. Doesn't change that you characterized what I believe about FP hitting - and what Candrea and Enquist believe - as
"laughable" in your previous post. And as "not close at all" in your more recent post. Even allowing for the hyperble of which we are all guilty in our online personnas, I believe that is out there a bit.
Generally the ones that say BB & FP same swing are BB coaches I've never heard a pure softball coach say that
Do I need to hand-deliver the Candrea and Enquist video to your house? PLEASE check out the RightView Pro web site and see their comments.
http://www.rightviewpro.com/products/instruction-series (see "Mike ande Sue Intro" near the bottom of the page).
Hell, if you want, eMail me at
ssarginson@astound.net and I'll just eMail you back the video clip.
And by all means, present your evidence of dissimilarities between the FP and BB swings at the elite level. Let's talk. But I think you are going to have a difficult time finding video of elite FP hitters in the past 3-4 years whose mechanics are different than those common to MLB. Unless they are slappers. The women aren't as powerful, don't have the repetition under their belt that the older professional BB players do, and so the swings aren't as honed. Same mechanics, though.
If you don't have video of current elite FP hitters, see Siggy's site, or borrow someone's RVP.
http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/oly ... 71.zebra_sCautious regards,
Scott