Baseball Pitches

This is an introduction to learning multiple pitches in Baseball. I've created this instruction set to broaden a baseball pitcher's toolbox. There are countless ways to throw/learn these pitches; however, this is a solid start to gain feel for these pitches.

1. Baseball
2. Open area
3. Net/throwing partner

This is the most basic/often thrown baseball pitch. The pitch is thrown the hardest with the straightest trajectory.

Steps:

1. Grip is shown above. The pointer and middle finger lay across 2 sets of seams. This is where the name comes from, as the batter sees all 4 seams spinning. Your thumb rests underneath the ball.
2. Preparing for the motion, keep your weight balanced and controlled while progressing through the entire motion.
3. The arm should be kept loose and kept in a circular motion.
4. Beginning with the leg lift, the lead leg lifts to your chest.
5. When striding to throw, drive with your back leg, brace with your front leg, and rotate your hips toward the plate.
6. After rotation, throw the ball, snapping your wrist straight down.

This pitch to deceive hitters from the fastball. The changeup appears out of the hand as a fastball; however, it is 5-10 mph slower, causing batters to be early.

Steps:

1. Grip is shown above. The middle and ring finger lay across the narrow, parallel part of the seams. Your thumb and pinky both rest underneath the ball. This pitch should be held loose, avoiding a "death-grip".
2. Preparing for the motion, keep your weight balanced and controlled while progressing through the entire motion.
3. The arm should be kept loose and kept in a circular motion.
4. Beginning with the leg lift, the lead leg lifts to your chest.
5. When striding to throw, drive with your back leg, brace with your front leg, and rotate your hips toward the plate.
6. After rotation, throw the ball, snapping your wrist in a downward, external pronating motion. This pronation will cause a spin that will move the ball arm-side (left for lefties, right for righties) during flight.

The ball should be thrown comparably to a fastball. The goal of this pitch to deceive hitters from a fastball. The loose grip will naturally cause the ball to be slower.

The 2-Seam Fastball is a variation of a fastball. The 2-Seam grip creates an unbalanced spin, causing the ball to move throwing-arm side (also known as "sink").

Steps:

1. Grip is shown above. The pointer and middle finger lay across the narrow, parallel part of the seams. Your thumb and ring finger both rest underneath the ball. The ball should be held with the same tight grip as a 4-Seam.
2. Preparing for the motion, keep your weight balanced and controlled while progressing through the entire motion.
3. The arm should be kept loose and kept in a circular motion.
4. Beginning with the leg lift, the lead leg lifts to your chest.
5. When striding to throw, drive with your back leg, brace with your front leg, and rotate your hips toward the plate.
6. After rotation, throw the ball, snapping your wrist in a downward, external pronating motion. This pronation will cause a spin that will move the ball arm-side (left for lefties, right for righties) during flight.

This pitch has the same "arm-side" movement as the changeup. The faster speed of this pitch will naturally cause the ball to spin more. This additional spin will cause the ball to sink more, creating more groundouts in game.

The curveball is the most common type of breaking ball. A "breaking ball" is a high-spin, low-speed pitch that creates lot of movement.

Steps:

1. Grip is shown above. The pointer and middle finger lay on the left side (right side for righties) of the up-wards facing horseshoe. Your thumb and ring finger both rest underneath the ball. The ball should be held with pressure on the pointer and middle finger.
2. Preparing for the motion, keep your weight balanced and controlled while progressing through the entire motion.
3. The arm should be kept loose and kept in a circular motion.
4. Beginning with the leg lift, the lead leg lifts to your chest.
5. When striding to throw, drive with your back leg, brace with your front leg, and rotate your hips toward the plate.
6. After rotation, throw the ball, snapping your wrist in forward motion. This pronation will cause a top-spin that will move the ball slightly up, then sharply downward during flight.

This pitch is very effective in creating swing-and-misses. This pitch is a very important of a pitcher's arsenal; however, it should not be overthrown as it has potential to create arm pain.

The slider is a common deception off the curveball. If you were to look at a clock, a curveball moves from 1 to 6 o'clock, the slider moves from 2 to 7 o'clock.

Steps:

1. Grip is shown above. The pointer and middle finger lay on the left side (right side for righties) of the up-wards facing horseshoe. Your thumb and ring finger both rest underneath the ball. The ball should be held with pressure on the pointer and middle finger.
2. Preparing for the motion, keep your weight balanced and controlled while progressing through the entire motion.
3. The arm should be kept loose and kept in a circular motion.
4. Beginning with the leg lift, the lead leg lifts to your chest.
5. When striding to throw, drive with your back leg, brace with your front leg, and rotate your hips toward the plate.
6. After rotation, throw the ball, snapping your wrist in a forward motion while pronating internally. This snap will cause a top-spin that will move the ball slightly up, then sharply downward during flight. The pronation will create extra horizontal movement.

This pitch is also very effective in creating swing-and-misses. The slider is typically faster than the curveball, and moves more horizontally. This pitch can be played with, as both a fast or slider can be effective. The snapping of the wrist is most important as the spin rate drives the effectiveness.