Powered by Max Banner Ads 

Are you an amateur baseball fan who enjoys watching the game but can’t tell the pitches apart other than the difference between a ball and a strike? What are a few of the simplest pitches and what do they look like in flight? Most pitches come under one of three groupings: fastballs, breaking balls, and change-ups. Read on to learn how to throw a sinker.

The fastball is the most prevalent of the pitching grips and is designed to fly directly over the plate with a bit of spin on the ball for a strike. (A straight pitch that has very little to no spin at all is not a fastball, instead it would be a knuckleball. Since it’s easy to hit a home run off a knuckleball, pitchers are disinclined to throw them.) A 4-seam fastball is a very straight pitch, while the 2-seam fastball a certain degree of movement. A fastball that can very often be a batter’s nightmare is the sinker. It flies quick, straight and narrow – but then drops away at the plate – making it extremely difficult to hit. A splitter falls away as it approaches the plate, then swings to the right or left. The cutter equivalent to a cross between a fastball and a slider.

The slider is an example of one of the pitching grips which turn into breaking balls. A breaking ball is simply a pitch that curves as it approaches the batter instead of continuing in a straight line. (A cutter, then, doesn’t fly as straight as a fastball, but doesn’t curve as much as a slider.) The slider curves sideways, as opposed to the curveball, which curves concurrently sideways and downward. A very interesting mode of breaking ball would be the screwball. With a successful screwball, a right-handed pitcher can deliver to a right-handed batter and make the ball physically curve inward.

Those pitching grips which are more about making the ball adjust speed in flight rather than spinning or curving are logically called change-ups. Some change-up grips include the circle change-up, palmball, and forkball. Because the change-up’s velocity does alter in flight, it can confuse the batter into swinging too soon or too late. This is best learned during baseball pitching workouts with a trained coaching staff.

Since, in general, the pitcher can’t just keep making the count 4-0 all the time and must throw as many strikes as they can, confusing the batter is one of his primary requirements. He has to deliver pitches that will look like balls, but turn out to be strikes. Since it’s hard to consistently deliver strikes to a batter with a good eye and better instincts, it’s no wonder that there are so many different pitches of varying direction and speed.


Filed under: Recreation and Sports

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!

Possibly related posts