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:
“People do not know the natural infirmity of their mind: it does nothing but ferret and quest, and keeps incessantly whirling around, building up and becoming entangled in its own work, like our silkworms, and is suffocated in it: a mouse in a pitch barrel.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)