Debate: Pitching or Quarterbacking

[vi edit]

Sure, theres different pitches to throw, and all of that. But I think theres a lot more to being an excellent QB than an excellent pitcher. One of those things is the mental game. If a pitcher has excellent physical characteristics (ability to spot the ball wherever he wants... a good, reliable arm...etc), then the mental aspect more or less doesn't matter, when compared to the mental aspect of a QB.

I'm not a pitcher but I think you greatly underestimate how much mental preparation goes into their profession as well. You have to know the batters and what they like & don't like to hit. When you have the bases loaded and a batter at a full count what do you? While there isn't as much information to process like a QB has to do at a pre-snap read or scrambling when the pocket collapses the mental pressure of you being able to acurately fire a ball at 70-90+MPH from 60 feet into box the size of a large cookie sheet it doesn't take much of mental slip to screw up and throw a place you don't want to.

 

[schneiderguy]

I don't know about pitching vs. quarterbacking, but I know from personal experience that pitching is harder than catching.

 

[Chapbass]

I'm not a pitcher but I think you greatly underestimate how much mental preparation goes into their profession as well. You have to know the batters and what they like & don't like to hit. When you have the bases loaded and a batter at a full count what do you? While there isn't as much information to process like a QB has to do at a pre-snap read or scrambling when the pocket collapses the mental pressure of you being able to acurately fire a ball at 70-90+MPH from 60 feet into box the size of a large cookie sheet it doesn't take much of mental slip to screw up and throw a place you don't want to.

While I agree with your statement, I think that were talking about two different types of the mental aspect of things. You're referring more to mental toughness and stress from that level (which, I feel is pretty even among the two positions), whereas I'm referencing more the ability to process information at a speed required of a professional quarterback.

That snippet you quoted doesn't say that, but my post does. Maybe I was out of line saying that the mental aspect doesn't matter, because it sure does....just not in the way that a QB does.

Once again, apples to oranges

 

[theshad]

Brandon Weeden.

Drafted as a pitcher. Played in the minors and never made it to the majors.
Now a starting NFL quarterback.


It really is impossible to say which is more difficult. In Weeden's case, pitching was more difficult since he couldn't make to the majors.

He blew out his arm before he could have made it, not to say that he would have made it had his arm not blown up. The mechanism of throwing a football just happens to be different and less strain on points of an arm.

Pitching is a lot more demanding on the arm than football is, but I don't think a pitcher needs anywhere near the overall talent to make it compared to a QB.

 

[ZOOYUKA]

Pitching, you don't have the ability to blame other players for your short comings.

 

[Chapbass]

Pitching, you don't have the ability to blame other players for your short comings.

Yeah, but the same could be said about Tennis, or Billiards.

Or any individual sport...

 

[zinfamous]

Pitching is far more difficult than throwing a football.

Playing the QB position is far more difficult than playing the pitcher's position.

 

[Capt Caveman]

He blew out his arm before he could have made it, not to say that he would have made it had his arm not blown up. The mechanism of throwing a football just happens to be different and less strain on points of an arm.

Pitching is a lot more demanding on the arm than football is, but I don't think a pitcher needs anywhere near the overall talent to make it compared to a QB.

Correct. You don't see any QBs needing Tommy John surgery.

 

[pelov]

Pitcher or Quarterback?

Which is the one that takes it up the butt? Not that one. I'll pick the other one.

 

[gorcorps]

QB.

Nobody is trying to kill the pitcher. Everybody is trying to kill the QB.


If your question was "what's harder, throwing a baseball or throwing a football" that would lead to an entirely different argument.

Agreed. What you can do with a baseball requires a lot more control and finese compared to throwing a football. Not that either is easy, but I'd give the edge to baseball when considering what it takes to throw the ball well.

When you include the entire position though QB seems harder. Pitchers are focused on roughly a single target with no real time limit. QBs need to be aware of multiple targets, must be moving while being aware of said targets, and generally have to make up their mind and act quickly. QBs take a lot of physical abuse and usually play all game every week, where pitchers play a certain number of innings and generally not consecutive games. Yes... there's a lot more MLB games than NFL games so there's less delay between when they're pitching, but quarterbacks still have a harder time overall methinks.

 

[zinfamous]

Agreed. What you can do with a baseball requires a lot more control and finese compared to throwing a football. Not that either is easy, but I'd give the edge to baseball when considering what it takes to throw the ball well.

When you include the entire position though QB seems harder. Pitchers are focused on roughly a single target with no real time limit. QBs need to be aware of multiple targets, must be moving while being aware of said targets, and generally have to make up their mind and act quickly. QBs take a lot of physical abuse and usually play all game every week, where pitchers play a certain number of innings and generally not consecutive games. Yes... there's a lot more MLB games than NFL games so there's less delay between when they're pitching, but quarterbacks still have a harder time overall methinks.

well, and that's only half...or less than half the QB's job. Everything that goes on before the snap--calling plays on the field based on weekly scouting, game situation, reading the D and calling the proper audibles at the line of scrimmage. Everything before the snap makes the QB position more difficult, imo.

While the pitcher does have to scout and throw the proper pitches, in the right count, at the right location, designed for each batter, and dependent on each situation...this is largely the catcher's responsibility.

In fact, if you wanted to make a proper cross-sports analogy (I hate these), the catcher is the real QB in baseball.

 

[zinfamous]

I don't know about pitching vs. quarterbacking, but I know from personal experience that pitching is harder than catching.

OK, but which do you prefer?

 

[Miramonti]

ESPN did a piece on the most difficult sports a while back, weighing all different factors such as physical skills, mental focus, and toughness required:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills

They rank boxing as the #1 most difficult, followed by ice hockey, football, basketball, wrestling, martial arts, tennis, gymnastics, baseball, and soccer.

Yes, and this is the same network that give careers to Chris 'Boomer' Berman and Jeremy Schaap, among many other blotards.

just sayin.

 

[lyssword]

Hey guys, you know the reason there is 5 starters on each team? and like a dozen backup relievers? Because the pitching arm gets pretty sore and a starting pitcher will usually be almost useless/ineffective the next day because of soreness and exponential increase risk of injury to the arm

Oh, and football has 16 games, baseball has 162. That's also the reason there are more pitchers.

 

[torpid]

In a single game, pitching is probably more difficult. The cumulative effect of quarterbacking makes it clearly more difficult. The accumulation of damage to the body is a big deal here and to be able to do the job over time is really impressive.

 

[schneiderguy]

OK, but which do you prefer?

I like to catch only if BoomerD is pitching.

 

[MetalMat]

Quarterback. Though I think that corner backs have to be the most athletic on the team

 

[rasczak]

WHAT?!

Are you serious? WR is the easiest position on the field outside of special teams. Half the plays they can just jog and not evenmake contact.

Can you imagine how sore they get having to catch all those balls?

 

[Farang]

As a former pitcher, I am bias but... Pitching requires such strength, precision, mental toughness, skill, etc. (loneliest place in the world - The Mound)

A QB has the option of bailing out if the play doesn't feel right. A pitcher does not. When you are on the hill, you have all eyes on you. Both dugouts, the fans, the umps, the batter, the cameras, etc. Scrutinizing your every movement. That is a lot of pressure. At the big league level, its ^10.

Pitcher, hands down.

As someone who answered QB, good point. Pitching is also higher pressure/precision I think, like golf, and it takes a special person to do that well (and very good muscle memory). QB there is more to be said about general athleticism and intelligence.

I think the strongest case for pitcher is, like you said, there is no bailout. You are not the offensive leader but the defensive leader, so instead of the pressure to 'do' you have the pressure to 'not do,' or to not screwup. There is no clock to bail you out, no timeout, to keep you from completely screwing up. All you have is the manager to pull you after you've already lost the game. There is nobody else to blame, either.

And to refute my point point on answering QB because there are fewer of them, I think it's fair to say that's because the farm system produces less QBs. The high school is going to have 1 or 2, the college the same, whereas baseball teams will have 5-10 pitchers. So naturally more will be around.

 

[BladeVenom]

I'm not a pitcher but I think you greatly underestimate how much mental preparation goes into their profession as well. You have to know the batters and what they like & don't like to hit. When you have the bases loaded and a batter at a full count what do you?

The catcher usually makes the call on what to pitch, correct?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I think the strongest case for pitcher is, like you said, there is no bailout. You are not the offensive leader but the defensive leader, so instead of the pressure to 'do' you have the pressure to 'not do,' or to not screwup. There is no clock to bail you out, no timeout, to keep you from completely screwing up. All you have is the manager to pull you after you've already lost the game. There is nobody else to blame, either.

Yep. There's no one else on the field, just the pitcher and the batter. There's not a single other person behind the pitcher who could possibly be expected to help him out in the event of a hit. This is why every time a batter manages to make contact with a pitch, he scores.

 

[pelov]

When I see this guy, do you know what comes to mind? Supreme athlete.

 

[GobBluth]

The catcher usually makes the call on what to pitch, correct?

In my experience, it's a combined effort. If you, the pitcher, have done your scouting and research on the team you are facing. You know what pitches to throw where (which is why pitchers shake off catchers). The catchers responsibility is to manage a game and keep arrogant pitchers from making mistakes. He also notices intricacies in a pitcher's "Stuff" that particular day and will adjust the game plan on the fly.

The catcher will call pitches to contact to induce ground balls/double plays, or call certain strikeout pitches, pitch outs, etc. But as a pitcher, you already know where to attack each hitter. Again, if you have done your homework.

So to answer your question.

yes/no

 

[GobBluth]

When I see this guy, do you know what comes to mind? Supreme athlete.

As oppose to good ole Rape-lisberger being a supreme athlete?

troll...

 

[Fern]

Pitching at the major league level is a incredibly specialized art only a select few ever succeed at, but, with the speed of the game and the complexity of both offenses and defenses, nothing is more challenging than being an NFL QB.

Quite true!

There are many athletes who can run/throw that never make it at either college or pro level as a QB. The mental aspect of reading defenses, calling audibles etc and then going through the reads is very difficult. Also, on a lot of offenses these days the receiver has to read the DB when the ball is snapped and run the correct route. The QB has to make the same instant read. They better both be on the same page. And the QB has to know what every other player on the offense is supposed to be doing. That's not hard to memorize for a pitcher.

BTW: OP, while the 'spin' on the football is always the same, the throws are not. There are 'power' type throws and finesse type throws (lob over DB's head to your receiver etc.). You screw those up and you have at best a dropped ball or at worst an interception.

For the pitcher the target is stationary and at the same distance. Quite the opposite for the QB. Pitcher never has to run right and then throw left across his body either. Pitcher has it easier for many reasons, although it takes a lot of talent.

Fern