There are a variety of different baseball pitching grips that pitchers can
utilize to throw off hitters' timing.
The most common grip that all position players use and pitchers, commonly,
is the four seam fast ball grip.
This grip will throw the baseball in the straightest, fastest
fashion.
It's important with all of these grips that pitchers keep the same
arm speed and arm slot as they deliver the pitch so, as not to tip off the
batter as to what pitch is coming.
The second grip that can be used on the baseball is the two seam fast ball
grip as the two fingers are held across the two laces.
And this creates a downward, sinking motion.
Thrown from a left-handed pitcher's arm, the ball
will drop down and away from a right-handed batter and vice versa for a
right-handed pitcher.
Another pitch that can be thrown is known as the cut fast ball.
The cut fast ball is effective in that's it's a combination
of the fast ball and the slider and that it runs away from the
batter.
So a right-handed pitcher like Mariano Rivera, who mastered the cut
fast ball, throws pitches that run away from a right-handed batter and into
a left-handed batter as a right-handed pitcher.
The cutter, as it's known, has been Rivera's only
pitch his entire career as the greatest relief pitcher of all time.
Another effective pitch, which more young players should be focusing on, is
the change up.
The change up can be thrown with two different grips.
The three finger, or trophy change up, in which
three fingers are on top of the baseball and the thumb and the pinkie fingers
are attached below the baseball.
And the circle change up, where the player will make an okay
symbol with his pointer finger and thumb and drape the other three fingers
around the baseball.
As with all change ups, it's imperative that pitchers
not slow down their delivery when delivering a change up.
Otherwise, the batter will be tipped off.
Another pitch that's an effective pitch to use at higher levels is the
split finger fast ball.
The split finger fast ball, which was mastered by
Mike Scott in the late 1970s, early 1980s, has been used by many players
since, including Roger Clemens.
The split finger fast ball is held between the pointer finger and the middle finger,
and it is thrown just two to three miles an hour slower than a fast ball.
The batter perceives that it's a fast ball approaching, and then the ball
drops right out from under.
And he swings over it quite commonly.
The fork ball is a similar pitch to the split finger fast ball, except that
it's held deeper in the hand.
As a result, it goes slower than a split finger fast ball and it has a tumbling action.
The fork ball has been perfected by a couple of pitchers in history,
namely, Jack Morris, in the mid-1980s and early '90s and most recently,
Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants.
Another pitch that's become very popular is the knuckle ball.
R.A.
Dickey of the New York Mets has had a Cy Young-level
season by perfecting the knuckle ball.
He has the fastest knuckle ball in history.
The curve ball is a pitch thrown with the two fingers next to each other
along one of the seams on the baseball.
This ball will break from nose to toes or 12 to 6 as hands on a clock.
An effective curve ball is thrown with the fingers leading the way and the back of
the hand being thrown towards the catcher.
Dwight "Doc" Gooden was known to throw an excellent nose to
toes curve ball.
And in modern times, Stephen Strasburg of the Washington
Nationals has a very sharp, breaking curve ball.
The slider is another effective which pitchers can use to throw off
hitters' timing.
The slider is a combination fast ball and curve ball, and
it's thrown much more like a fast ball.
And the pitcher will put his fingers together against the seam and really
focus on that middle finger as he delivers the pitch.
C.C.
Sabathia is a modern-day pitcher who throws an
effective slider.
Decades ago, Bob Gibson was known for having a wicked
slider.
And perhaps most famously, David Cone, in July of 1999, threw a
perfect game by throwing a very sharp, nasty slider.