Skip to content
Welcome back fellow Headbangers to another exciting write-up! In Today’s discussion, we will be diving into one of our brand ambassador’s YouTube videos, Big Chef Softball, on how he cuts a softball and what you can do to hit the ball further. If you’re not familiar with the term ‘cutting’ it’s when you hit the ball in such a way that it creates a strong spin on the ball as it takes off for the stratosphere. Essentially you are hitting the ball in such a way that it puts a strong backspin on the ball. This backspin causes the air around the ball to lift the ball upward giving you more distance to your hit.
Understanding The Magnus Effect - The WHY of Cutting a Softball
The specific term for why a spinning ball curves is called “The Magnus Effect”. In a nutshell, the Magnus Effect takes place when a round object, usually a ball, is moving through air and it has a spin on it. Because of the spin, the air is now moving with that rotation of the ball, and that causes a change in pressure from one side of the ball to the other side. That change in air pressure causes a force that moves the ball in the direction of the lesser air pressure. If there’s backspin, the ball moves upward. If there’s a forward spin, the ball moves downward.
The best examples of this are why a ball can curve while in motion whether it is a tennis ball, Soccer ball or a baseball, the logic and the effect are the same. Now that we covered the WHY of cutting a softball, Let’s go into Chef’s video breakdown of the HOW to cut a softball.
HOW to Cut a Softball
In the above video, Chef demonstrates a perfect breakdown in a step-by-step manner of how you can practice and develop a comfortable skill for cutting a softball. This technique is most beneficial in slowpitch softball as the ball is coming at you very slowly allowing you to time your swing and accurately make contact with the ball.
Step 1: Tee Work
Using a Tee is crucial for learning how to cut balls as it allows you to accurately practice the other steps with a stationary ball.
Step 2: Keep your Bat as level as you can
A lot of people think this is more of a downward swing in order to put that backspin on the ball, but since the ball is already dropping as it approaches you, you just want to have as level of a swing as possible which will put a strong enough backspin to cause that lift while still keeping the power you want from your swing. It will feel like you're swinging downward but you are trying to just come in at the ball on a level plane.
Step 3: Hands Forward and pointed towards the ball
If you look at this screenshot of Chef’s video, you can see where his body is just before making contact, more particularly his hands. They are ahead of the bat and POINTED towards the ball.
Step 4: Aim to make contact JUST below the middle of the ball
In this screenshot, you can clearly see Chef’s point of contact with the ball. It is JUST below the middle point of the softball. This is “The Cut” you are looking for and will generate the backspin causing lift from the Magnus Effect we talked about earlier.
Step 5: Clean follow through and watch the ball soar
As seen in the above image, Chef maintains the level swinging plane even in the follow-through. Maintain that level swing plane and you will see a noticeable difference.
Follow Chef’s steps for cutting a softball and you will see an increase in distance on your hits in no time! And as always, swing by Headbanger Sports for all your Diamond Sports needs!
