Sinkerballers tend to induce a lot of ground ball outs. Greg Maddux of the San Diego Padres, Derek Lowe of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Pedro Martínez of the New York Mets are known for their particularly effective two-seam fastballs.ĭepending on the grip and pressure applied with the fingers, sometimes the two-seam fastball features more sink than lateral movement. This ball will tend to move for the pitcher a little bit depending on velocity, arm slot angle and pressure points of the fingers. The thumb needs to rest on that seam from the side to the middle of its pad. The thumb should rest underneath the ball in the middle of those two fingers, finding the apex of the horseshoe part of the seam. Įach finger should be touching the seam from the pads or tips to almost the ball of each finger. Sinkers are also thrown slightly slower than two-seamers. A sinker is a similar pitch thrown with almost the same grip, but with thumb directly underneath the ball. Then, the baseball is rotated so that those seams are perpendicular to his body, with the index and middle fingers on each of those seams respectively. The pitcher grabs a baseball and finds the area on it where the seams are the closest together. Because of the deviation from the straight trajectory, it is sometimes called a moving fastball. The two-seam fastball is designed to have more movement than a four-seam fastball so that the batter cannot hit hard, but can be more difficult to master and control. Two-seam fastball Main article: Two-seam fastballĪ two-seam fastball, sometimes called a two-seamer, tailing fastball, or sinker is another variant of the straight fastball. With this grip, the thumb will generally have no seam to rest on. The thumb then rests underneath the ball about in the middle of the two fingers. Keeping those seams parallel to the body, the pitcher places his index and middle fingers perpendicular to them with the pads on the farthest seam from him.

The first and most traditional way is to find the horseshoe seam area, or the area where the seams are the farthest apart. There are two general ways to throw a four-seam fastball. It is most often the fastest pitch that a pitcher throws, with recorded top speeds in the 100+ mph range.

The type of fastball is intended to have minimal lateral movement, if any. The four-seam fastball is a pitch that is used often by the pitcher to get ahead in the count or when he needs to throw a strike. Pitches Four-seam fastball Main article: Four-seam fastballĪ four-seam fastball is a variant of the fastball. Gripping the ball with the fingers across the wide part of the seam (' four-seam fastball') so that both the index finger and middle finger are touching two seams perpendicularly produces a straight pitch, gripping it across the narrow part (' two-seam fastball') so that both the index finger and middle finger are along a seam produces a sinking fastball, holding a two-seam fastball off-center ('cut fastball') imparts lateral movement to the fastball, and splitting the fingers along the seams (' split-finger fastball') produces a sinking action with a lateral break. Colloquially, use of the fastball is called throwing heat or putting steam on it, among many other variants. A pitch on which this effect is most marked is often called a 'rising fastball', as the ball appears to rise to the batter. Fastballs are usually thrown with backspin, so that the Magnus effect creates an upward force on the ball, causing it to fall less rapidly than might be expected. The result is known as an 'exploding fastball': a pitch that seems to arrive at the plate quickly despite its low velocity. The appearance of a faster pitch to the batter can sometimes be achieved by minimizing the batter's vision of the ball before its release. Others throw more slowly but put movement on the ball or throw it on the outside of the plate where the batter cannot easily reach it.

Putz have thrown it 95-105 mph (150-160 km/h), and relied on this speed to prevent the ball from being hit. Some 'power pitchers,' like Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Troy Percival, Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Sam McDowell, Randy Johnson, Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya, and J.J. The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball.

Fastball the way