Tokai University Shizuoka Shoyo Former director of junior high school, Yoshio Yugiri “Understanding how to put effort”
A fastball with good spin is a great weapon. That is important not only for pitchers of youth baseball, but also for fielders. Director Yoshio Yugei, who led the junior high school baseball team to the national championship and is currently leading the women’s baseball club at Tokai University Shizuoka Shoyo High School, is practicing with ping-pong balls.
Many boys and girls will ideally have a fastball with a good spin, as represented by former Hanshin Tigers Kyuji Fujikawa. If you use a ping-pong ball, the feeling of your fingertips will be improved and you will be able to throw a ball with a straight rotation. All you have to do is hold and throw it like a baseball ball. Since it is smaller and lighter than a baseball ball, it is susceptible to air resistance and will stall if it is not sufficiently rotated. Also, if too much force is applied to either the index finger or the middle finger, it will bend significantly to the left and right. If you throw a ping-pong ball with a clean backspin, you can draw a straight floating trajectory.
You can check the release point by having the opponent sit down and throw a ping-pong ball like a pitching practice. If you release the ping-pong ball behind your head, it will go over the catcher’s head. In order to control the ball in the strike zone, it is necessary to transfer the weight to the foot that has stepped forward with the release point closer to the catcher.
“The point is to point in the direction you want to throw with your index finger, with the consciousness of applying force to the center of the ping-pong ball with your middle finger, so that you can throw it straight with a small ping-pong ball. If so, I think you will know how to put effort when throwing a baseball ball. ” The ping-pong ball, which is about 4 cm in diameter, is packed with hints to improve pitching.
(Jun Aida)
