Not very in-depth and not entirely clear -- I think I need a visual of this, or a better explanation if someone can offer it. Still an interesting read. Never heard of a gyroball myself, I don't think, but it sounds pretty sexy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/sp...hp&oref=slogin
There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sboi0EWp8ao Apparently, this is what it's supposed to look like.
That pitch looks nothing like what the gyroball is supposed to be.
That is pretty nasty, but from the video it looks just like a splitter. Is there any difference?
A gyroball is supposed to be thrown with the rotation that a football has on it when spiralling (is that even a word?). It is supposed to be able to break upwards of a foot sideways.
Hmm, yeah I read that after I looked for video of it. I'll keep looking to see if I can't find something that matches the criteria better.
This from Jeff Passan's column at Yahoo
Tezuka conceded that if the gyroball is anything, it's closest to a slider – and that, he said, is what makes it so special.
If thrown correctly, Tezuka said, the two-seam gyroball should look to a batter like a slider and act like a fastball. That is why, as described in the title of the book he and Himeno wrote, it is a "miracle pitch."
"Everyone," Tezuka said meekly, "kind of misunderstood."
The theory behind the gyroball is this: When a baseball spins sideways, like a bullet, it should cut down on the amount of resistance on its path to the plate. Without the same amount of air resistance as a regular fastball, which rotates backward, the four-seam gyroball should not experience the same slowdown and look as if it's exploding toward the plate.
A perfect gyroball should be straighter than the crease on a pair of slacks.
"It doesn't move," Tezuka said. "It doesn't move at all."
Pedro Martinez thought he was throwing fastballs during his prime as well, Tezuka explained. He said slow-motion analysis shows Martinez with the correct motion, arm action, grip and spin for a four-seam gyroball.
"He probably didn't even know," Tezuka said.
And that would seem the essence of the gyroball: We don't know. We don't know if it's simply a theory that plays out in a computer and not in real life. We don't know if it's a new kind of grip, like the first time someone grabbed a baseball holding the OK sign and created the circle changeup. We don't know if it's an arm motion that has been used by another player and never given a label. We don't know if it's a fastball or a cutter or a changeup or a slider.
There is one thing I do know: It's something, all right.
Boy, I wonder how many hours we'll have to endure Tim McCarver explaining the gyroball this season.
We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective ~ Kurt Vonnegut
Or imagine how many times Fox will make us watch that CGI baseball Slider explain it to us.Originally Posted by RFS62
Wear gaudy colors, or avoid display. Lay a million eggs or give birth to one. The fittest shall survive, yet the unfit may live. Be like your ancestors or be different. We must repeat!
So it's just a fancy name for an exploding fastball like Pedro has been throwing for years?
"I prefer books and movies where the conflict isn't of the extreme cannibal apocalypse variety I guess." Redsfaithful
Scooter. Believe me, the first time I saw that thing was a Tim Wakefield start, and I actually remember feeling embarrassed for Wake, thinking that they'd made the stupid thing up just to explain his life's work in the most demeaning way imaginable.
BTW, Matsuzaka said he wants Wake to teach him how to throw a knuckleball and he wants to try to catch him, too. Every time anyone asks him about the gyroball, he laughs.
Last edited by blumj; 02-22-2007 at 05:26 PM.
"Reality tells us there are no guarantees. Except that some day Jon Lester will be on that list of 100-game winners." - Peter Gammons
I love Scooter. I think I'm the only person on earth who feels that way...I just find him hilarious. Haven't seen him gyroball it up yet, though.
There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.
Isnt this similar to the early days of fernando mania with his screwball?
Think screwball with splitter speed and it not tearing up the pitcher's shoulder.
Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.
I seem to recall that Mike Marshall was teaching a throwing motion in which the wrist is pronated on follow through. Maybe he threw the gyroball before it became known as such.
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