ckb2001
scientist
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Not sure if you baseball guys already heard of this (sorry if it was posted already in some thread), but I hear about this from Japanese friends I have.
Anyway, apparently, there's a new pitch called a gyroball? And even though Matsuzaka doesn't use this pitch in games (according to him), it's been particularly effective when used (probably because batters don't know much about it).
Anyway, here's an article on it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/sports/baseball/22gyro.html
"Is the gyroball a myth, or is it real? And if it is real, what exactly is it?
Kazushi Tezuka says he has the answer, and he flew from Japan to the United States this week to reveal it. Tezuka, a Japanese trainer who is credited with creating the gyroball 12 years ago, walked to the mound at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday to show off his invention.
Tezuka used a standard fastball grip. He went into a basic motion. Only at the end of his delivery did he deviate. He turned the inside of his throwing arm away from his body and released the ball as if it were a football, making it spiral toward home plate."
"The pitch started on the same course as a changeup, but it barely dipped. It looked like a slider, but it did not break. The gyroball, despite its zany name, is supposed to stay perfectly straight.
“That’s it!†Tezuka said, laughing hysterically on the mound. “That’s the gyro!â€Â
"No one understood his pitch. It was compared to a screwball even though it is released off a different side of the hand. It was compared to a cutter even though it does not cut. Many American coaches claimed it was the stuff of fantasy."
"So Tezuka came to spring training in Arizona this week with two baseballs and a DVD. Standing in the San Francisco Giants’ clubhouse on Wednesday, Tezuka watched a portion of the DVD with one of the most unlikely viewers  outfielder Barry Bonds.
The DVD shows Japanese pitchers throwing gyroballs and hitters from around the world flailing at them. Usually, the hitters are either out in front of the gyroball or slightly underneath it, expecting the pitch to sink like a changeup.
One of the hitters on the video, undercutting the gyroball and hitting a meager pop fly to center field, is Bonds. In 2000, during a major league tour of Japan, Bonds swung violently at a gyroball from the sidearm pitcher Tetsuro Kawajiri.
Studying the video in the Giants’ clubhouse Wednesday, Bonds took a moment to try to identify the pitch. “It looks like a little slider,†he said. Asked if it could be a gyroball, Bonds shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what that is,†he said.
Tezuka came up with the gyroball in 1995, when he was given a toy known as the X-Zylo Ultra. The toy, a flying gyroscope, could travel as far as 600 feet when thrown with a spiral. Tezuka wondered why the motion could not work on a baseball."
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Anyway, apparently, there's a new pitch called a gyroball? And even though Matsuzaka doesn't use this pitch in games (according to him), it's been particularly effective when used (probably because batters don't know much about it).
Anyway, here's an article on it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/sports/baseball/22gyro.html
"Is the gyroball a myth, or is it real? And if it is real, what exactly is it?
Kazushi Tezuka says he has the answer, and he flew from Japan to the United States this week to reveal it. Tezuka, a Japanese trainer who is credited with creating the gyroball 12 years ago, walked to the mound at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday to show off his invention.
Tezuka used a standard fastball grip. He went into a basic motion. Only at the end of his delivery did he deviate. He turned the inside of his throwing arm away from his body and released the ball as if it were a football, making it spiral toward home plate."
"The pitch started on the same course as a changeup, but it barely dipped. It looked like a slider, but it did not break. The gyroball, despite its zany name, is supposed to stay perfectly straight.
“That’s it!†Tezuka said, laughing hysterically on the mound. “That’s the gyro!â€Â
"No one understood his pitch. It was compared to a screwball even though it is released off a different side of the hand. It was compared to a cutter even though it does not cut. Many American coaches claimed it was the stuff of fantasy."
"So Tezuka came to spring training in Arizona this week with two baseballs and a DVD. Standing in the San Francisco Giants’ clubhouse on Wednesday, Tezuka watched a portion of the DVD with one of the most unlikely viewers  outfielder Barry Bonds.
The DVD shows Japanese pitchers throwing gyroballs and hitters from around the world flailing at them. Usually, the hitters are either out in front of the gyroball or slightly underneath it, expecting the pitch to sink like a changeup.
One of the hitters on the video, undercutting the gyroball and hitting a meager pop fly to center field, is Bonds. In 2000, during a major league tour of Japan, Bonds swung violently at a gyroball from the sidearm pitcher Tetsuro Kawajiri.
Studying the video in the Giants’ clubhouse Wednesday, Bonds took a moment to try to identify the pitch. “It looks like a little slider,†he said. Asked if it could be a gyroball, Bonds shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what that is,†he said.
Tezuka came up with the gyroball in 1995, when he was given a toy known as the X-Zylo Ultra. The toy, a flying gyroscope, could travel as far as 600 feet when thrown with a spiral. Tezuka wondered why the motion could not work on a baseball."
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