In baseball, an off-speed pitch is a pitch thrown at a slower speed than a fastball. Breaking balls and changeups are the two most common types of off-speed pitches. Very slow pitches, those which require the batter to provide most of the power through bat speed, are known as "junk" and include the knuckleball and the Eephus pitch, a sort of extreme changeup. The specific goals of off-speed pitches vary, but all are used to disrupt the timing of the batter, lessening his or her chances of hitting the ball solidly, or making contact with it at all. Virtually all pitchers have at least one off-speed pitch in their repertoire.
Famous quotes containing the word pitch:
“It is beyond a doubt that during the sixteenth century, and the years immediately preceding and following it, poisoning had been brought to a pitch of perfection which remains unknown to modern chemistry, but which is indisputably proved by history. Italy, the cradle of modern science, was at that time, the inventor and mistress of these secrets, many of which are lost.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)