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Posted on Oct 31, 2009 under Baseball, Baseball jargon, Cut fastball, Fastball, baseball pitching |I don’t know if it’s due to the World Series or simply writer’s imaginations but the descriptions given to pitches seem to be getting more elaborate. For example, after game two in describing Yankee pitcher Rivera, it was stated that “… he has done this, amazingly, with one basic pitch — a bat-breaking cut fastball.”
I think we can all understand bat-breaking, but since when does the bat break because of a particular pitch? More often than not it breaks because of where the ball contacts the bat, not the type of pitch thrown.
In regard to the fastball, if it is a true fastball, it can only be thrown one way and have only one effect. But, it is common to see different effects given to the fastball. As I believe I brought out in a previous blog, I read about rising fastballs and sinking fastballs during the past season. It is impossible to have both. Which one is it?
The same applies to the cut fastball. How is it different from a fastball? More importantly, how can it be a true fastball but do something different — if this is what is meant by a cut fastball?
It’s one thing to chalk up comments like this to baseball jargon but this is not simple jargon. When I ask a baseball coach to explain this to me I get evasive answers such as “it depends on the pitcher, it has a slight deviation from a true fastball, it breaks more sharply, it has a slight fade”, and so on.
Just try asking this question of a sportswriter and you will get turned off very quickly if you even get a response. So let’s not hear that this is only jargon unique to baseball. Any jargon, in any sport, must still be able to be explained if it is legitimate. If not, it is simply a figment of one’s imagination.
For more about myths in baseball and other sports see Sports: Is It All BS? and Build a Better Athlete.
by Lich Doan, on November 10 2009 @ 12:48 pm
Cut fastballs get their movement and motion from the location of the grip the pitcher uses on the ball. Pitchers (more or less) use the same arm movement on all fastballs. Different grips lead to different varieties of fastballs like four-seam, two-seam, split finger, cutter, etc.
I think the more important question is: has the prevalence of all these exotic pitches and the weird arm movements required by them, lead to the epidemic of arm injuries in baseball? Prior to the 1970s, pitchers generally used a small repetoire of pitches and depended more on changing speeds and pitching inside. If today’s pitchers “got back to basics,” they may be able to save their arms from long-term injury.
by DrYessis, on November 11 2009 @ 5:11 pm
Thank you for the comments Lich. I believe you also raise a very good point in regard to the exotic pitches. Even though I do not have much faith in sports commentators making accurate comments, I noticed that they mentioned only three pitchs for most of the World Series; fastball, curveball and breaking ball. Makes you wonder if all these other pitches are actually different.
In regard to the cut fastball, in order for it to still be a fastball it should have the same hand and wrist action as well as point of release, regardless of grip. If not, it is technically a different pitch. The different grip, but with the same hand and wrist action, can only expose the ball to more or less seams resulting in more or less friction.
So I go back to my original question. How is the cut fastball different from the regular fastball in relation to the pathway that it takes on the way to the batter?