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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 which require the batter to provide most of the power on contact through bat speed are known as "junk" and include the knuckleball and the Eephus pitch, a sort of extreme changeup. [1]
To blow a pitch ("by" a batter) is to throw one so fast the batter is unable to keep up (with it). To blow a save is to lose a lead or the game after coming into the game in a "save situation". This has a technical meaning in baseball statistics. A hit, typically a home run: "Ortiz's Blow Seals Win."
The selection of which pitch to use can depend on the type of hitter who is being faced; whether there are any base runners; how many outs have been made in the inning; and the existing score. Pitchers may bounce their pitches in the dirt before they reach the batter, but these pitches are ruled balls even if they pass through the strike zone. [2]
Thrusting the hand and forearm downward causes reduced backspin relative to a fastball, thus giving the appearance of "drop off the table" movement from the pitch. When thrown correctly, the split-finger's apparent last-second drop causes many batters to hit the top half of the baseball, thereby inducing a ground ball.
It is considered a basic skill to keep the pitching hand hidden in the glove as long as possible during a pitch. If the pitcher is failing to do this, he is said to be "tipping his pitches". [2] The split-finger fastball is one pitch that draws its success mainly by falsely telegraphing a straight fastball to the batter.
The most renowned shuuto pitcher in history was Masaji Hiramatsu, whose famous pitch was dubbed the razor shuuto because it seemed to "cut the air" when thrown. The pitch is mainly designed to break down and in on right-handed batters, to prevent them from making solid contact with the ball. It can be thrown to left-handers to keep them off ...
Melodic motion is the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise, skipwise or no movement, respectively. See also contrapuntal motion. In a conjunct melodic motion, the melodic phrase moves in a stepwise fashion; that is the ...
This necessary movement may reveal the next intended pitch to the batter; therefore an experienced catcher must fake or mask his intentions when preparing for the pitch.) If a breaking ball fails to break, it is called a "hanging" breaking ball, specifically, a "hanging" curve or even more specifically a "cement mixer" if it is a "hanging ...