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baseball. It all relies on where the pitcher places his hand on the ball when it is thrown. Fastballs are thrown to overpower batters so that they swing late and miss. They are thrown with the first two fingers of the hand resting on the seams. The less contact with the ball the fingers have, the more off-speed, or slower than expected, a pitch will be. Although all pitches are thrown with the same arm speed, less finger contact

The way the pitcher grips a baseball determines the type of pitch that is thrown.

means less velocity and torque . Velocity is the pitcher’s arm speed coupled with the force exerted, determined by turning the palm of the hand as the ball is released. Torque is how the pitcher “twists” the ball toward or away from the batter at the last second. The pitcher adding an intentional spin to the ball as it leaves the hand creates torque. These minute differences result in different pitches. Sinkers are off-speed pitches that—as the name says—sink as they near the target. Screwballs are another form of off-speed pitch that also does just as its name says, twisting like a corkscrew and causing it to break away from or toward the batter. Breaking pitches are those that—surprise, surprise—break either toward or away from the batter, like the corkscrew. They vary from the cutter (which breaks only slightly) to the curveball (which uses topspin to increase the severity of the break).

CHAPTER 1 : THROWING

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