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An animated diagram of a cutter. In baseball, a cut fastball or cutter is a type of fastball that breaks toward the pitcher's glove-hand side, as it reaches home plate. [1] This pitch is somewhere between a slider and a four-seam fastball, as it is usually thrown faster than a slider but with more movement than a typical fastball. [1]
Are there actually more pitches now? In 2011, Zack Wheeler watched a video of Mariano Rivera describing how he held his cutter and decided to start throwing the pitch in games at High-A San Jose ...
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]
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]
Among the others who have thrown it are John Gant, [2] former relievers Randy Tomlin [3] and Joe Nelson, [4] [5] and most notably former all-star closer Éric Gagné, for whom the vulcan changeup was considered one of his best pitches. [6] Roy Oswalt adopted this pitch during the 2010 offseason and preferred it over the circle changeup. [7]
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.
A circle change can also be used to provide movement like a two seam fastball but without the stress placed on the arm by a traditional screwball [citation needed].By placing the index and ring fingers slightly to the inside (that is, towards the thumb) of the ball and sharply pronating the forearm at release, a pitcher can make the ball move downward and inside.
By pronating the wrist upon release, the pitcher can make the pitch break in the same direction as a screwball. More or less break will result from the pitcher's arm slot. Pedro Martínez used this pitch throughout his career to great effect, and many considered it to be his best pitch. [10] The most common type is the straight changeup.