Pitching

Pitching is an essential part of the game. Without good pitching a team will tend to struggle. Pitching has completely evolved over the years and is now extremely complex to the evolution of hitting. According to my book Splitters, Squeezes, and Steals, in the past, "The pitcher's elbows and wrists were kept stiff, and his main objective was to allow the batter to hit the ball" (Gentile 10). If the pitchers were to do this nowadays the final scores would be extremely high due to the fact that the hitters have gotten better.

Even though I haven't pitched a whole lot before I have been working on my pitching to add another element to my game. Uses my book I have gotten advice on how to throw certain pitches and when to throw these pitchers during  a game.

The first pitch that I've been working on is the fastball. Most people tend to think of the fastball as a pitch where you get the ball and throw it as hard as you can but it is much more than that. The fast ball is gripped by placing your index and middle finger on your throwing hands across the seams of the baseball. Your thumb is placed under the baseball. To throw a fastball you bring your arm straight to home plate to cause the ball to move straight. Fastballs tend to be thrown earlier in the count because it should be your most accurate pitch.

The second pitch I have been working on is the curveball. To get the ball to actually curve takes a lot of practice and experimentation. To throw a curveball you place your middle finger and index finger on the seam with your thumb underneath the baseball. To get the ball to curve you need to snap your wrist downwards at an angle before throwing the ball. The curveball is usually a pitcher's strikeout pitch and is used less often then a fastball because it tends to hurt your arm if you throw it repeatedly due to the awkward motion.

My last pitch I have been working on is the split-finger fastball (splitter). According to Roger Craig, who had a pretty good splitter during his career, said that the forkball, which is similar to the splitter, is pushed back as far as you can into your fingers while the splitter, "'is closer to your fingertips and you have your fingers higher on the ball. You can throw it a lot harder'" (Gentile 55). As shown in the picture you place the ball between your index and middle finger with your thumb on the bottom of the baseball. When you throw a splitter you snap your wrist downwards right before release to cause the ball to drop down. The splitter is also a strikeout pitch that deteriorates your arm if repeatedly used.

Q: Is there another pitch that you have heard of?
Citation: Gentile, Derek. Splitters, Squeezes, and Steals: The inside Story of Baseball's Greatest Techniques, Strategies, and Plays. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009. Print.