Starting Pitcher - Pitch Selection

Pitch Selection

Starting pitchers usually have a variety of pitches to choose from, broken into a number of categories.

Fastballs: A pitch thrown hard (anywhere from the upper 80s to over 100 mph) and which generally follows a mostly straight trajectory. There are a number of different types of fastballs. The 4-seam fastball is the hardest thrown pitch, but also has very little movement or break to it. The 2-seam fastball is slightly slower than the 4-seam (generally in the mid 80s to low 90s), but breaks slightly inward to the pitcher's throwing arm (i.e., a left-handed pitcher throwing a 2-seam fastball will have it tail slightly left-to-right). The cut fastball (cutter) is similar to the 2-seam in the direction of its break and velocity, but like a slider it breaks much later in its flight path, though not as sharply and travels faster than that breaking ball.

Hard breaking balls: The most prominent of the hard breaking balls is the slider. A slider is a pitch that breaks sharply in the direction of the pitchers arm travel (left to right for a left-handed pitcher). It travels slower than a fastball (usually in the upper 70s to mid 80s) but faster than the slower breaking balls. The other two hard breaking balls are variants of the fastball, the sinker and the split-finger fastball (splitter). Both of these pitches break downwards from the point of release, with the sinker generally tailing slightly to the pitchers arm travel and the splitter tailing opposite. Both pitches are usually thrown in the low to upper 80's, although some travel upwards of 90 mph. The major difference is in their grip and the timing of their break. Like the cut fastball to the 2-seamer, the splitter tends to break much later in its flight path than the sinker does.

Soft breaking balls: The most common soft breaking ball is the eponymous curveball. The curve breaks in the direction of the pitchers arm travel from the point of release on through the entire arc of its flight. Curveballs travel from the low 60s low 80s in speed. The other soft curveball is known as the screwball. The screwball is a fairly rare pitch in modern baseball, as its manner of throwing puts a lot of stress on the arm and today's maximum velocity/maximum effort pitchers can tear up their arms trying to use this pitch. The screwball is essentially a reverse curve ball, as it breaks in the opposite direction of the pitchers arm travel.

Other pitches: Two other major pitch styles are used by pitchers today, one far moreso than others. The changeup, or palmball, is a slow pitch that is thrown with the same arm motion and arm velocity of a fastball, but with a much different grip that keeps the ball from achieving the same speed, usually the changeup is 10-20 mph slower than the pitcher's fastballs. This visual distortion from a fast arm swing and a slower pitch is used to disrupt the hitter's timing. The other major pitch style is the knuckleball. The knuckleball is a very difficult pitch to master, for both the pitcher (due to its unique grip and delivery manner) and for his catcher (due to the pitch being thoroughly unpredictable in its travel).