[BretMan]

This whole head movement thing "came to a head" for me recently, at my (baseball) associations annual field clinic last month. I mentioned this in the previous "Gerry Davis" thread here a few weeks ago.

Part of the clinic had us being videotaped in a batting cage, then our tapes were critiqued by senior members. Upon viewing my tape, on some pitches, most notably on those pitches well out of the strike zone, you could see a slight head movement right at the end.

To be clear, I am not moving my head to follow the entire pitch, from pitchers hand to catcher's mitt. I am well-set and still as the ball reaches the plate. But as a pitch tails away from the zone, it tends to go toward the outer edges of our peripheral vision.

In the other thread, I believe that it was Steve who described this as "pointing your nose at the ball". He also offered the analogy of Pete Rose making a similar head adjustment as a ball came across the plate. That seemed a good description of the ever-so-slight adjustment I was making- pointing my nose at the ball to keep it in my field of vision.

Of course, the instructor jumped all over this. I got the same "camera analogy" and this was treated as some kind of fatal flaw.

Since the clinic, I have watched twenty-or-so pro baseball games on television. Nowadays, when I watch a game I probably watch the umpires as much as I do the players! With this criticism still on my mind, I noted that almost every umpire I've observed on television makes this same small adjustment to some degree when pitches are out of the strike zone. For balls right over the plate, there is zero head movement. But if the ball is off the plate, you will almost always see some small head movement.

Mike makes a point about balls that are in the dirt or over the catcher's head. I see this tiny head movement as being most noticable on low, outside pitches. We are already set up in the slot, so inside pitches are generally right at us.

Think about the geometry involved. Imagine a straight line from the pitcher's hand at the release point that extends to the umpires nose. If a ball is 12" off this line near the pitcher, it is still well within our filed of vision. Indeed, we can likely see this ball at most any point along that line without moving our head.

Now, imagine the same line and a ball 12" off of it at your nose. This ball would be almost totally out of your peripheral vision. You would have to turn to see it.

The head turning I have observed is a small adjustment and it takes place in the last few feet of the pitch, after it has crossed the plate and in the short distance to the catcher's mitt. It is absent in pitches over the plate, or close to it, and most noticable on pitches well out of the strike zone.

For those that say they never move their head, if you are videotaped on a variety of pitches, I am willing to bet that there will be some pitches off the plate where you have some head movement. This seems to be an unconcious action as a ball goes to the outer edges of our field of vision.