Slowpitch -vs- Baseball

[BretMan]

With all of the slow pitch teams I've coached and played for the past 25 years, I've had the chance to see some high school and travel baseball players make the transition to softball. Most had hard a time of it at first, then gradually became used to the slow, arcing pitches.

Besides the timing differences, one big problem they had was generating power. An 80 mph baseball struck with a bat creates an explosive collision. The distance the ball ball travels is as much a result of the pitched ball's speed as the force provided by the batter.

Slow pitch requires the batter to provide the collision forces and accomplishing this takes a different mechanic than hitting a baseball.

I've also seen some baseball players struggle defensively with the larger ball. I think that one reason is some of them are still using their 11" infielders gloves from their baseball days. Get that man a softball glove!

I, too, have no doubt that with enough work we can turn those baseball players into fine softball players yet!

In the last decade, I had the unique experience of playing both adult baseball and slow pitch softball at the same time for several seasons. It was tough developing two distinct swings and there were points where both swings were thoroughly messed up!