The specific rule according to the World Baseball Softball Confederation located on page 27 of their rulebook, to be specific states the following:. The delivery of a softball pitch must be an underhanded motion, with the hand below the hip and the wrist not farther from the body via the elbow.
Every other player on the softball diamond can throw the ball overhand if they wish, but the pitcher absolutely has to pitch the ball underhand when they are throwing to a batter. There are a couple of reasons aside from history and tradition that softball pitchers throw to the plate with this kind of motion, with the most common reasons highlighted in this quick section.
Right out of the gate, throwing underhand is a whole lot easier from a purely mechanical standpoint than throwing overhand. Learning how to throw overhand is a pretty involved process which is why people without a lot of practice doing so often look so funny when they try.
You have to get different parts of the body to move at just the right time and in just the right way to do so efficiently and effectively — whereas throwing underhand or pitching underhand is a pretty simple and straightforward alternative. We also show that there are significant increases in subjective measures of shoulder fatigue and pain coinciding with this decline in strength. Importantly, pitchers did not recover to their baseline many of the tested muscle groups by the day following pitching indicating that there was an inadequate period of rest.
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Ready to advance your career in health and fitness with a degree in Exercise Science? Contact one of our Admissions Advisors to learn more or download our program guide now. A New Understanding of Underhand Throwing. Softball was created as a way for ball players to play indoors in the winter, and was necessarily slower paced than baseball, with more fielders, a smaller field, and a bigger ball. In fast-pitch, of course, softball was more competitive, without restrictions on speed, arc, or wind-up well, sometimes; some leagues restrict certain wind-ups to this day , but the legal throwing motion was still limited to underhand.
There are some great fast-pitch softball pitchers out there, of course. The fact remains that softball pitchers are doing the best they can in a game whose rules are stacked against them. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.
The Straight Dope homepage. Filed under:. Posture is definitely a factor in baseball and softball. You have poor posture for the majority of the day, and then you try to go out and throw a ball when your shoulders have been hunched forward most of the day. That makes it hard for the muscles in the back to operate efficiently.
We need the muscles in the back and shoulder to brace the shoulder when a pitcher is throwing, so we often prescribe physical therapy and conditioning exercises to get the shoulder prepared to throw.
We also found that the majority of injuries among the pitchers we studied occurred during the first six weeks of the season. That suggests part of the problem may be that some pitchers go from doing a little bit of training — or maybe nothing at all — to throwing a great deal in a short period of time.
And many break down. Baseball pitchers get elbow injuries, such as ligament tears that require Tommy John surgery. What brings softball pitchers in to see you?
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