EPTAny discussion is welcome as well and videos would be greatly helpful.
Baseball fans unite and help me out.
Softball or Baseball? Which is Harder?
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Sworn
Canada920 Posts
Any discussion is welcome as well and videos would be greatly helpful. Baseball fans unite and help me out. | ||
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allecto
328 Posts
"Harder" though is a weird discussion/wording. I mean playing defense in baseball is more difficult (and even this is debatable), but like I said, for a batter softball takes the cake in the higher levels for difficulty. | ||
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theonemephisto
United States409 Posts
But it's pretty impossible to make a general statement that either is objectively "harder". | ||
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darmousseh
United States3437 Posts
No sport is harder than another sport. Do you mean physically harder to hit a ball? or pitch? Softball is a much higher scoring game than baseball for 2 reasons. 1. The ball is huge. 2. The bases are only 60 ft apart. Hitting a baseball is a much more significant feat and one that espn declared "The hardest feat to accomplish". Fielding is a lot more difficult in baseball because of the speed that the ball travels and also the size. Pitching is a lot harder to do in softball because of the weird mechanics, but those can be learned. Running is the same. In general if you want to compare professional baseball players to professional softball players (which there are very few), baseball players are better athletes in general. If you want to compare sports, golf is probably the hardest sport, not physically, but hitting the ball accurately down a small lane is really really hard to do even compared to hitting a baseball. | ||
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Sworn
Canada920 Posts
On January 07 2011 08:07 allecto wrote: I'm sorry man, I played some pretty high level ball and the best softball pitcher I know is 10 times more dominant than the best baseball pitcher I faced. "Harder" though is a weird discussion/wording. I mean playing defense in baseball is more difficult (and even this is debatable), but like I said, for a batter softball takes the cake in the higher levels for difficulty. Thank you very much for this even though its against me argument. I've also played pretty high level baseball though never really faced a softball pitcher. What is it that makes softball harder to bat against? I thought it would've been easier due to the bats, bigger ball and slower pitching. | ||
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Sworn
Canada920 Posts
On January 07 2011 08:23 darmousseh wrote: What do you mean harder? No sport is harder than another sport. Do you mean physically harder to hit a ball? or pitch? Softball is a much higher scoring game than baseball for 2 reasons. 1. The ball is huge. 2. The bases are only 60 ft apart. Hitting a baseball is a much more significant feat and one that espn declared "The hardest feat to accomplish". Fielding is a lot more difficult in baseball because of the speed that the ball travels and also the size. Pitching is a lot harder to do in softball because of the weird mechanics, but those can be learned. Running is the same. In general if you want to compare professional baseball players to professional softball players (which there are very few), baseball players are better athletes in general. If you want to compare sports, golf is probably the hardest sport, not physically, but hitting the ball accurately down a small lane is really really hard to do even compared to hitting a baseball. Im really looking for scientific facts backing why it would be harder to play either sport more or less harder was just a general statement i chose to use. And thank you for the bases being 60ft apart i didnt know they were less than a baseball field. | ||
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allecto
328 Posts
On January 07 2011 08:24 Sworn wrote: Thank you very much for this even though its against me argument. I've also played pretty high level baseball though never really faced a softball pitcher. What is it that makes softball harder to bat against? I thought it would've been easier due to the bats, bigger ball and slower pitching. First of all, responding to someone else: softball is NOT a much higher scoring game ESPECIALLY at the higher levels. Top level pitchers will certainly have ERAs below 2. The pitcher I know (who is exceptional, I'll admit) had a 0.08 ERA in high school and in college it hovers around 1. Try to find a baseball pitcher who matches those numbers at either level, because you won't. Edit: When ESPN was talking about hitting a baseball being the "most difficult feat," it was speaking in the realm of major sports. I'm sure whoever made the comment, would put softball in the same category as it is the same presence (i.e. ridiculous reaction time mixed with the need to determine so many different factors (speed, pitch, location, etc.)) Responding to the OPs question, there are many things that make it more difficult to hit a softball pitcher (who is good). (1: My poor performance and that of any baseball player against a softball pitcher can first off be disregarded due to the complete difference in release point between the two sports and thus the lack of practice in picking up the ball) 2: The distance from the softball mound is measured at 46 feet compared to baseballs 60'6". This in itself means that a pitcher who throws 70 (who are the top pitchers in the game) are in fact throwing the equivalent of around 100 MPH if you convert it. However, it is even faster than this because when you watch a softball pitcher pitch, she in effect jumps out an extra 4-5 feet cutting down the distance even more. It is not really the "speed" of the ball that matters--it is the reaction time that the batter has (it gets more in-depth than that even, if you want me to explain). 3: There are more pitches in the arsenal of a softball pitcher. A good baseball pitcher will have 4 pitches (standard would be: 2-seam or sinker, 4-seam, changeup, and curveball). A good softball pitcher will have many more (off the top of my head: fastball, riseball, changeup, curve, screwball, dropball or dropcurve--so 6). More pitches means less predictability regardless. 4: At the top levels, speed of the pitch becomes easily conquered. Movement and change of speeds is what matters. As was mentioned above, a softball pitcher has more options, but additionally a softball's pitcher goto pitch is the riseball. The riseball is a pitch that (surprise) rises in the zone just as a sinker will sink in the zone. The difference is that a riseball is thrown with the same MPH as a fastball whereas the sinker can never reach a baseball pitcher's max velocity. 5: As more movement, a softball pitcher again has more options. As I stated above, softball pitchers have curveballs and screwballs. A baseball pitcher can make a pitch move both ways (curve ball away, circle change in); however not as effectively due to the lack of snap on the changeup in a baseball pitchers delivery. Also, huge in movement, is change of planes. The reason why curveballs and sinkers are so effective in baseball is not the speed change but the change in the eye level of a batter. A softball pitcher can change the plane in two common ways through the riseball and the dropball. 6: Lastly, and most likely the most disregarded is the durability of a softball pitcher. One softball pitcher can pitch almost every single inning of every single game in a season because of the natural motion of the delivery and thus the little toll its takes on the pitcher's body. Thus, if you have one dominant pitcher, you can thoroughly dominate. Contrarily, in baseball, one pitcher cannot always be used (imagine if you could've pitcher a Randy Johnson every single game). Hope that clears things up. I still personally would not say softball is "harder" than baseball. From a hitters perspective, yes. So, if you are going to argue it, don't do it from that aspect. | ||
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