Can somebody list all the pitches that pitchers use in baseball?
Question:Fastball, curveball, etc. Just list as many as possible
Answers:
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All About PitchingThere are many, many types of pitches in baseball. Even within a type of pitch, there can be variations. For instance, a pitcher may throw a curveball with a 12-6 trajectory, or he may throw one with a 10-4. These will be explained later.
Pitchers often know many different types of pitches, but are only comfortable with throwing four or five different varieties during the course of an actual game. There are two basic approaches to successful pitching: you may try to have batters grounding out, flying out, and not being able to figure you out by varying speed and location of the pitches. Or you can attempt to strike out batters by over-powering them and putting batters in a reactive and defensive posture.
Basics
Velocity
Velocity is the speed of the pitch. There are optimal velocities for different types of pitches. For instance, you want your change-up to be thrown at a slower speed than your fastball. Pitchers' velocities often vary. Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox, for instance, has a slow fastball, clocking in the high 70s at most. A fireballer like Nolan Ryan would throw in the high 90s and possibly touch 100. Velocity itself is not as important, however, as is how fast your pitches appear when compared to the others. An 80 mph fastball complementing a 50 mph change-up would be much more effective than an 80 mph fastball backing up a 77 mph change-up.
Trajectory
Trajectory is the path the ball takes when compared with a clock. A curveball that drops straight down would drop from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock on an analog clock. A ball that "slides" from one side of the plate to another without any vertical movement would have a 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock trajectory. For lefties, the reverse would be true, a 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock slide. Different pitches have different trajectories.
As a footnote, a pitch's name is not determined by its trajectory and velocity but the method with which the pitch is thrown. Tim Wakefield's fastball is slower than most pitcher's change-ups but is still a fastball because it is thrown in the method a fastball would be.
Standard Pitches
Four Seam Fastball The four seam fastball is the standard pitch in baseball, and is almost always the fastest pitch in the arsenal of any pitcher who throws it. The four seam fastball has comparatively little movement, but exceptional four seamers may appear to have a rising or hopping motion. Physicists maintain that the rise on a four seam fastball is an illusion, but whether it's real or illusion it has the effect of making batters swing under the pitch, resulting in swinging strikes, popups, and fly outs. Pitchers who rely heavily on the four seamer may give up large numbers of home runs.
Curveball The curveball is often the first breaking pitch a budding pitcher learns. Contrary to what most non-baseball people believe, a "perfect" curveball breaks straight down with essentially no sideways movement, i.e. it has a 12-6 trajectory. Pitchers with outstanding 12-6 curveballs include Sandy Koufax and Barry Zito. It is often a slower pitch than most, hence it is sometimes referred to as an "off-speed breaking ball."
Slider The slider is a faster breaking ball than the curve. It is not as fast as a fastball but is faster than the rest of a pitcher's pitches. Power pitchers often throw one in the 90s. It typically breaks 10-4 or 9-3 with less pronouced movement than a curveball.
Change-Up The change-up is a slow pitch, used to throw off the hitter's timing. A perfect change-up is thrown with the same arm motion but with much less speed than the pitcher's fastball. An effective change-up can make a hitter swing before the ball crosses the plate. As well as being effective by itself, a good change-up will enhance the effectiveness of a pitcher's fastball by making it appear to be faster.
Niche Fastballs
There are many different types of fastball, each with a special quirk. Two seamers, splitters, and sinkers are used to induce groundouts, while cutters are used to jam hitters inside.
Two Seam Fastball A two-seam fastball is thrown the same way as a four seam fastball, but with the fingers held along the seams rather than across them. This gives the two seamer more movement than the four seamer, but makes it a bit slower. The two seamer appears to drop compared to the four seamer, which results in ground outs and [[double plays]. It is almost always thrown at the lower end of the strike zone.
Sinker The sinker is often thrown low and out of the strike zone, and is designed to appear as a strike before dropping out of the zone completely. It is used much like the two-seamer, to induce groundouts. A split fastball is basically the same as a sinker, except it is often thrown faster and more resembles a vertical slider than a fastball.
Splitter A Split-finger fastball is similar to a sinker but has more of a downward break to it. The Split-finger can be thrown at high speeds but is less effective. The trickiness about a splitfinger is that batters tend to over-swing or swing over the ball. This pitch looks like a fastball as it heads to the plate then dives south. Some Split-fingers move like a two-seam fastball and others move like a knuckle-ball depending on how you grip and release the ball. Roger Clemens is known for a dangerous splitter. The pitch was popularized by the pitching staffs of Roger Craig in the 1980s but led to many injuries and is less popular now.
Cut Fastball The cut fastball is thrown inside on batters of the opposite-handedness of the pitcher (righty vs. lefty). It comes inside closer than it appears to and jams the hitters. Pitchers who throw this pitch like seeing broken bats because it means that the pitch has done what it's supposed to. Lefties are more likely to throw this pitch than righties, for the simple fact that righty batters are more common in MLB.
Trick Pitches
Many trick pitches are banned nowadays, such as the spitter and doctoring the Baseball with pine tar, but there are those pitches that don't use outside substances.
Knuckleball The knuckleball was made famous by Hoyt Wilhelm and Phil Niekro, although it dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. It is tantalizingly slow but dances all over the place. It's been said that a knuckleball screws everybody up, as "the hitter can't hit it, the catcher can't catch it, and the umpire can't call it." Tim Wakefield is a prominent knuckleballer in today's game.
Eephus (also spelled "ephus") An eephus pitch, invented by Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1930s, is impossibly slow, usually with a very high arching trajectory. It is basically a lob to the catcher, and would not be pulled over for speeding on any residential street. Steve Hamilton, who called this pitch the "folly floater," was probably its most successful practitioner. Kazuhito Tadano of the Cleveland Indians caused A-Rod of the Yankees to ground out on an eephus pitch in one of the 2004 season's more memorable moments. It is rarely thrown anymore.
Slurve A slurve is a slider thrown at curveball velocity. It is designed to look like a slider out of the pitcher's hand, but then fool the hitter by taking longer to reach the plate than a typical slider would.
Forkball A forkball "tumbles" out of the strike zone (rather than breaks out of it) when thrown. The Forkball kind of looks like a fast dancing knuckle ball. If the wind is blowing in either direction, the forkball is a brain scrambler, meaning the ball is going to dance all over and sink.
Screwball A screwball is a "backwards curveball." When thrown by a righty, it breaks like a lefty curveball, and vice versa. This pitch was conjured up because hitters have an easier time hitting pitches that break in on them than those that fade away. Lefties would throw this against righties, and righties against lefties. Christy Mathewson and Carl Hubbell are among the most famous screwball pitchers in history, and in recent times Mike Marshall and Fernando Valenzuela have had great success with this pitch.
Circle change A Circle Change is a change-up variant with lateral motion similar to a screwball. The trickiness about the circle change is the movement and velocity. In the batter's eye the ball looks like a slow two-seam fastball being lobbed towards home plate, then at the last moment the ball breaks. Pedro Martinez is known for a dominating circle change. Greg Maddux also had an effective circle change, and Warren Spahn's "screwball" may have really been one as well.
I'm a big baseball fan. I watch it all the time. They use fastball, curve ball, sinker,knuckle ball, slider. That's all I remember but if I think of more i'll let you know.
most pitches are pretty similar. theyre basically fastballs and breaking balls. sliders are curveballs thrown side ways. changeups are fastballs thrown slower. knuckleball is basically a funny grip.
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I give you the major categories and the pitches that fall under them:Fastball:
2 seam (gripped with the seams)
4 seam (gripped across the seams)
Cut fastball (finger pressure causes predictable movement)
Change up (Slow-ball):
Circle change (thrown with an "OK" grip)
Palmball
Curve ball:
Knuckle Curve (ball is held with first finger knuckled to enhance spin)
Frisbee Curve (thrown with a "casting motion" sidearm)
Ephus (spelling may be off, but it is pronounces EEE-fus, a very slow high arching curve)
Yellow hammer - very tight braking curve, usually straight down (also called a 12-6)
Split Finger (slow rotation, thrown hard with "tumbling motion"):
Normal Split Finger - Ball is jammed between first and second finger
Forkball - Ball is jammed between the 2nd and 3rd finger.
Slider (similar to cut fastball, a little loss in velocity with a more violent break)
Slurve (Hybrid of curve an slider...hard like a slider, top/down break like a curve.
Knuckle-ball (no spin...ball will "wobble" or "dance"
Sinker/Screwball (both thrown with opposite spin of a curve and breaks the opposite direction of a curve, slider)
Hope this helps.
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rising fastballsinking fastball
breaking fastball
change up
slider
curve
fork
split finger
knuckle
screw ball
the "ephus"pitch
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2 seem fastball, 4 seem fastball, knuckle-ball, curve, slider, change up, circle change, screwball, fork-ball, Sluve (slider & Curve) Knucke curve, palm ball, split finger,How good will felix hernandez be in his career?
fastball, curveball, slider, knuckleball, changeup, four-seam fastball, knuckle curve, slurve, sinker, screwball, two-seam fastball, cutter, splitter / forkball, palmball, and circle change are most common. Other pitches less common, and primarily used by foreign players such as Daisuke Matsuzuka are a shuuto and gyroball. Other pitches that you might want to count are the junkball and the beanball, but that's not really thrown any differently, but rather how hard or in what location.More Questions & Answers...