Could an American team made up of minor league baseballers become T20 world beaters?

[cnerd123]

TBH I think the easy part of baseball is the pitching, not the batting.

I've tried to learn how to pitch and I've tried to teach grownups (teenagers and older) how to bowl.

It is definitely easier to learn how to pitch a baseball legally (even if you are throwing garbage) than it is to learn how to bowl a cricket ball legally.

On top of that, I tried out softball for a bit and it's not a big adjustment to catching with a glove. But when I chucked the ball at them and told them to catch it bare handed they freaked out.

For those reasons I think it's probably easier to make the switch from Cricket to Baseball rather than the other way around.

Batting probably would work out both ways. Basic batting technique isn't too hard; as mentioned above, just have a few scoring zones, learn how to leave the ball, and you can score some runs. But at the same time, for a professional cricketer, baseball batting shouldn't be too hard to pick up. There may be a smaller response time and the hits need to be more precise, but you also don't need to have to worry too much about footwork and shot selection. I think batters on both side can manage it, albeit not well.

 

[Victor Ian]

Exactly, everyone in the team could pitch for a start, how long would it take for a baseball to not look like a ****** trying to bowl let alone generate some pace with accuracy? No chance for any spinners, well landing it on the spot at least.

Really. I'm with Top Cat and BFP. You can't just chuck a ball in baseball. A straight ball will be over the fence most times. I don't know my baseball but have seen enough to know that there is just as much skill involved at throwing a ball that doesn't bounce as bowling one that does. Modern day cricketers practice fielding a lot, yet how many times do you see them throw the ball directly over the stumps? (Answer is not much) Chances are, most pitching by a cricketer would result in walking the batsmen around the bases through being called outside the fair hitting zone.

 

[cnerd123]

Thing is cricketers could, given some time, learn how to pitch legally, even if he's just pitching straight 70 mph nothings. It would be extremely hard for a baseballer to learn how to bowl with a legal action, let alone landing it on the pitch with some sort of pace/movement.

And going from having a glove to not having one is probably harder than the other way around. Will definitely result in a few injured fingers at the least.

 

[BackFootPunch]

Thing is cricketers could, given some time, learn how to pitch legally, even if he's just pitching straight 70 mph nothings. It would be extremely hard for a baseballer to learn how to bowl with a legal action, let alone landing it on the pitch with some sort of pace/movement.

And going from having a glove to not having one is probably harder than the other way around. Will definitely result in a few injured fingers at the least.

Played some social cricket with an American dude a few years ago. He'd played a fair bit of baseball and you could really see the pitching motion in his bowling action. So he struggled to not chuck it but was surprisingly accurate/consistent, and actually pretty quick. He was an excellent fielder too, didn't seem to struggle without the glove at all. And boy could he throw it from the outfield. Got a heap of run outs.

 

[Riggins]

Ftr 'nicking' in baseball can get you out if the catcher takes it.

Nah it can't.


I think jordan being moderately successful in minor league baseball pretty quickly after switching from hoops shows that work ethic and natural athleticism can give you a chance. I think someone like davey warner would be pretty good at baseball and there'd be some crossover, but it'd take him at least a couple of years before he could do anything.

 

[Adders]

Seriously though, at the end of the day...............Who ****ing cares???

No one is chomping at the bit to bring baseball players into our game and I doubt very much that they are hankering over our weird cricketers. Most pointless debate ever.

 

[cnerd123]

Played some social cricket with an American dude a few years ago. He'd played a fair bit of baseball and you could really see the pitching motion in his bowling action. So he struggled to not chuck it but was surprisingly accurate/consistent, and actually pretty quick. He was an excellent fielder too, didn't seem to struggle without the glove at all. And boy could he throw it from the outfield. Got a heap of run outs.

This is interesting.

I tried to teach Korean uni students who played baseball and golf how to play cricket for a bit in Uni.

Their batting lacked - as expected they could hit really well if the ball was up in their swinging arc, but short stuff and wide stuff left them confused. And they just couldn't pick up the bowling action at all.

Didn't test their fielding but I remember they were a bit uncomfortable trying to catch bare handed - even tho we used a soft ball for them. Their reflex is to put the hand with the glove up. Slip catching was quite alien to them too, but since we did it slowly and with a soft ball and they had good reflexes they managed to catch a few.

 

[Hurricane]

When I was in Canada I was better at street pick up games of baseball than most of the neighbourhood kids because I had better hand eye coordination as a cricket batsman.
The kids pitching to me were 14 year olds and I was 18 which helped a great deal. One day when I was 22 my younger brother's 18 year old friend said he would pitch to me with a proper catcher. He was a real high school pitcher and I found out I couldn't hit at all. Facing a curve ball is nothing like facing an outswinger or an inswinger. You basically had to expect which pitch he was going to throw before he released it because you couldn't react once he had thrown it. Real baseball players can predict what is coming. Somehow they know through the pitch count and through years of experience. I more tend to agree with BFP, hitting in baseball against anyone half way decent at pitching is hard.

 

[Daemon]

Nah it can't.


I think jordan being moderately successful in minor league baseball pretty quickly after switching from hoops shows that work ethic and natural athleticism can give you a chance. I think someone like davey warner would be pretty good at baseball and there'd be some crossover, but it'd take him at least a couple of years before he could do anything.

Still counts as a strike though right?

I know there's something about foul balls not being counted when you're on 2 strikes but the caught behinds being counted. We don't use those rules though.

 

[GotSpin]

When I was in Canada I was better at street pick up games of baseball than most of the neighbourhood kids because I had better hand eye coordination as a cricket batsman.
The kids pitching to me were 14 year olds and I was 18 which helped a great deal. One day when I was 22 my younger brother's 18 year old friend said he would pitch to me with a proper catcher. He was a real high school pitcher and I found out I couldn't hit at all. Facing a curve ball is nothing like facing an outswinger or an inswinger. You basically had to expect which pitch he was going to throw before he released it because you couldn't react once he had thrown it. Real baseball players can predict what is coming. Somehow they know through the pitch count and through years of experience. I more tend to agree with BFP, hitting in baseball against anyone half way decent at pitching is hard.

So you were beating up on the younger kids until you got shown up..

All this Baseball talk is boring the **** out of me. Without Hollywood no one would really give a **** about it.

 

[Riggins]

Still counts as a strike though right?

I know there's something about foul balls not being counted when you're on 2 strikes but the caught behinds being counted. We don't use those rules though.

yeah it's a strike. it's got to go above head hight to actually be out tho.

 

[TheJediBrah]

lol at this thread making 5 pages

 

[cnerd123]

Its been a slow couple of weeks in CC.

 

[Cric123]

One aspect why hitting in baseball is more difficult than it seems is because baseball players try to hit the ball as hard as possible much of the time. They would have a far higher connection rate if they attempted to hit the ball with less power.

 

[Cric123]

Baseball is more a power game. Someone like Sachin Tendulkar would be awful at baseball whereas A-Rod could be good at cricket if he picked up the game. So while I think cricketers would pick up baseball easier, very few would make a mark on baseball but more baseball players could have an impact on cricket. Someone like Andrew Symonds could have made an excellent baseballer, being big, athletic, than Tendulkar, who is more a touch player.

 

[GGG]

Really. I'm with Top Cat and BFP. You can't just chuck a ball in baseball. A straight ball will be over the fence most times. I don't know my baseball but have seen enough to know that there is just as much skill involved at throwing a ball that doesn't bounce as bowling one that does. Modern day cricketers practice fielding a lot, yet how many times do you see them throw the ball directly over the stumps? (Answer is not much) Chances are, most pitching by a cricketer would result in walking the batsmen around the bases through being called outside the fair hitting zone.

"yet how many times do you see them throw the ball directly over the stumps" from 18 meters? Almost every time if they were standing still and had time.

 

[Stapel]

Baseball is more a power game. Someone like Sachin Tendulkar would be awful at baseball whereas A-Rod could be good at cricket if he picked up the game. So while I think cricketers would pick up baseball easier, very few would make a mark on baseball but more baseball players could have an impact on cricket. Someone like Andrew Symonds could have made an excellent baseballer, being big, athletic, than Tendulkar, who is more a touch player.

Sounds ok, but the statistics of Amit Sharma and Ravi Singh prove you wrong!