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Pitchers: What do you throw?


fundusglobus

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Well here's a story for all you people who like to fool around with knucles, cruves, sliders, splitters, and other off speed stuff.

There's this kid on my HS team that is only used once this whole season. This team was a dead fastball hitting team. This kid threw a knucle, knuckle curve, curve, cutter, splitter, and slider. They were all slow, and he pitched seven shutout innings against one of the best teams. They just couldnt hit the off speed.

He threw five fastballs the whole game, cutters, 2 seamer, and 4 seam included. he Threw 97 pitches.

He was done the rest of the season. He is now in a cast from his shoulder to his wrist. He is done for his career.

As for me, Im mostly playing 1st base, DHing and back up catcher. One day during warmups I asked one of our aces how to throw a slider. He showed me. Now I ca throw a slider that goes 12-6. It breaks really slow and you have to be about 70 feet away for it to break ( :-) ) but I can still throw one lol. I can finally throw something other than a fastball.

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Well here's a story for all you people who like to fool around with knucles, cruves, sliders, splitters, and other off speed stuff.

There's this kid on my HS team that is only used once this whole season. This team was a dead fastball hitting team. This kid threw a knucle, knuckle curve, curve, cutter, splitter, and slider. They were all slow, and he pitched seven shutout innings against one of the best teams. They just couldnt hit the off speed.

He threw five fastballs the whole game, cutters, 2 seamer, and 4 seam included. he Threw 97 pitches.

He was done the rest of the season. He is now in a cast from his shoulder to his wrist. He is done for his career.

As for me, Im mostly playing 1st base, DHing and back up catcher. One day during warmups I asked one of our aces how to throw a slider. He showed me. Now I ca throw a slider that goes 12-6. It breaks really slow and you have to be about 70 feet away for it to break ( :-) ) but I can still throw one lol. I can finally throw something other than a fastball.

If you're throwing it right you cannot possibly hurt your arm throwing a knuckleball.

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Yeah, something must've been wrong. You throw a knuckle just like a fastball but with a different grip.

Yeah, knuckleballs put less strain on your body than any other pitch. That's why guys like Wakefield can pitch tons of innings: he never tires out.

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Age 17 @ 190lbs/6'0"

4 Seam - topped out at 86 but generally around 83-84mph

2 Seam - around 78-80mph

Splitter - 78-79mph

Circle Change - 69-70mph

Knuckleball - 61-63mph

Knucklecurve - 65-66mph - Great movement but I only use it on batters that have burned me before :twisted:

Sinker - Learning how to throw it properly

My problem has always been control. I usually hit a batter every time I pitch and walk a few.

Ironically, I changed schools just to go to one with a baseball team, but I got kicked off the team because I got suspended. :( But I've been preparing for next year.

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Wow, to be honest I did not think that this thread would stay alive. Well heres my update over 1 year. Learned to throw a slider and switched to more of a sidearm delivery. I grew 3 inches and gained 25 pounds

Fastball- High 70s to low 80s. Ive been keeping it about knee high

Curveball- Dont really know how fast. Its been my out pitch and when its working its just plain nasty.

Circle Change- Not great but can get some outs when needed.

Slider- Experimental pitch still. It breaks a whole lot but i really do not know which way it is gonna break.

Side note- I ended up making my high school team and we were state champions

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I'm 15, 6'1 175

I throw:

4-Seam: 83-85 w/ some tail

2-Seam/Sinker: 79-82 w/11-5 movement

Circle Change: 71-75 drops through the zone

Curveball: 68-74 w/1-7 movement

Splitty: 77-80 w/ 12-6 movement

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  • 1 month later...

Update:

Lefty, 5'11", 175 lbs.

Four Seam Fastball - 75 mph, slight downward movement, good control.

Two Seam Fastball - 70 mph, great down and in movement, decent control.

Circle Changeup - 60 mph, great movement, almost perfected arm angle to look like fastball. I put it where I want it 9 times out of 10.

I dropped the breaking pitches, I don't need one right now. I would rather have a developed changeup than a developed curveball.

I'm like Al Leiter, I always nibble on the strike zone. I throw tons of pitches, but they're all close lol.

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  • 5 weeks later...

15 Years old, 5'11 130 lb

4 Seam

2 Seam a little 11-5 movement

Circle Change lacks accuracy, but a lot less velocity than the fastball

Slider 2-8 rarely use it

Knucklecurve 1-7 rarely use it

I don't know the speed, the last time it was clocked was at a St. Paul Saints game when I was about 10

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I was a pitcher in HS and in College. I actually had some draft considerations my senior year in college until I ran into the big career ending injury where I tore my UCL in my right elbow.

Towards my Junior/Senior Years in High School:

4-Seamer: 91-93

2-Seamer: 89-91 (Good arm side run)

Change: 78-81 (Didn't throw it much then)

Curve: 75-79 (Good hard sharp break)

Split: 83-85 (Straight downer)

My best friend (who was also the other pitcher on my HS team) has a father who pitched in the pros. David Palmer (No, not the guy from the Money Store commercials). He pitched for 10 years with the Braves, Expos, Tigers, and Phillies. Was I think the only guy or one of the few in MLB history to throw a rain-shortened perfect game. Anyway, he was my mentor in HS.

In college in my last 2 years, I went from being an over-the-top starter, to a side-arm closer. It just felt more natural to me.

2-seamer: 90-93

Change: 73-75 (Moved kind of like a 12-6 curve)

Curve: 76-80 (SHARP 3-9 break)

What ended up ending my career were bone spurs in my elbow that I had for quite sometime cutting into my UCL. April Fools day of 2004, I was in a game and during the pitch, it snapped, thus ending my pitching days.

Now I'm a pitching coach at Parkview High School (Where Jeff Francoeur came out of).

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1. 4 seamer lo 80's

2.Curve/slurve depending on situation

3.Circle change

33, 6'1" 240

6-4 4.10 era this season

Im over the hill, and I've had to change the way I pitch the past 2 years, losing 5mph or so on my fastball. Now I throw breaking stuff 70% of the time.

Remember kids, stash some pine tar somewhere on your uni/glove. It will help your curve a ton. Just a little bit though, not gobs of it. Just enough to get your middle finger sticky for that one pitch.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Remember kids, stash some pine tar somewhere on your uni/glove. It will help your curve a ton. Just a little bit though, not gobs of it. Just enough to get your middle finger sticky for that one pitch.

I LOVE IT haha :lol: anyways...

15 year old... 5'8 160

4-seam: 81-83, good control

2-seam: 80-82, good arm side run

slider: 76-79, 11-5 break... very good control.... out pitch

knuckle curve: 71-73, 11-5 break... it's like a change-up for my slider (they look exactly the same) strike out pitch

change-up: 69-71, slight 1-7 break... great control

slurve: 74-76, 10-4 break... groundball pitch

15-2 6 saves, 0.88 ERA<--- travel

2-0 2 saves, 1.50 ERA<--- school

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Remember kids, stash some pine tar somewhere on your uni/glove. It will help your curve a ton. Just a little bit though, not gobs of it. Just enough to get your middle finger sticky for that one pitch.

my pine tar is all over my glove anyways. i hate how the cap of my pine tar bottle pops off and pine tar goes everywhere.

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  • 1 month later...

18 yrs. old, 5"11, 280 lbs.

I don't pitch anymore, but I pitched in high school and played a little first base.

4-Seam Fastball: Upper 80's to Low 90's

Circle Change: upper 60's to Low 70's

Splitter: Around 80

Curveball: 1-7 movement, usually mid to upper 60's usually start it low and and it hits the dirt.

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  • 2 weeks later...

im 5'10 1/2 200 lbs. 16 years old. lefty.

4-seamer. a ton of tail. 75-80.

sinker. 70-75 1-7

curve. 60-65 11-5

straigh change. 60-65 good downward movement. 11-5.

update.

4-seamer. good tail. 80

2-seamer. 75 moves less than 4-seam.

curve. 60-70. 11-5. average movement.

pitchfork change. 68-73. 12-6. plain nasty.

slider. 65-70. 10-4. average movement.

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Update:

4 Seam FB; 70-ish with control, 70+ with more power. Moves like 2 seam if thrown 3/4 delivery or lower. Drops if wrist turned over.

Cutter-65-70; moves a lot like a slider.

Knuckleball- 50-55; Nice and slow, not much control anymore. Effective if accurate.

Spike Curve - 55-60; I dig my index finger into the ball with my middle finger riding along the seam. Moves like Zito's curve.

"Choke" Curveball- 55-65; I choke the ball, and roll my wrist and it drops.

Knucklecurve - ???; more of an experimental pitch, really slow, but nice break if the ball spins a bit. I have mastered the elbow/shoulder movements to get it to break.

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  • 5 months later...

I'm a 6'5 22 year old, here's my repertoire :

- 4 seamer: nothing special, ~ mid / low 80's

- 2 seamer: very similar speed as above, nice movement for a backdoor 3rd strike on a lefty.

- cutter: same as above, only wicked movement, my best pitch for facing a righty - comes at him, by the time he moves out of the way it's on the corner for strike 3.

- sinker: my personal favorite. low 80's, but the drops off the table - very hard, late movement.

all 4 of my fastball variations have the same look at the beginning; might be due to my huge hands, but who knows...

- curveball: my favorite pitch to throw. nice, tight, very late movement (11-5), but hangs a bit too often to be used in a pinch.

- knucklecurve: nearly 12-6 movement, but very big and loopy. large drop of speed (i believe high 60's / low 70's)

- palmball: delivery is too too obvious, again, mainly due to my hand size. moves a bit (11-5), but not useful in the least.

- change: 3-finger variety, not very accurate, but looks just like my fastballs - difference in speed is what'll kill ya. can't beat going from slow to slower :biglaff:

in order of best pitches (according to myself and my batterymate, who tried to convince me to pitch for my college team this year [my senior year]):

- sinker

- cutter

- curve

- 2-seamer

- palmball (if i could get the handling less obvious)

- the rest.

...so, long story short, i got my MiLB tryout form, once i graduate in 2 weeks, i fully intend on attending some open tryouts. even if i'm deemed "too slow to pitch," i can always go out for left field :-D

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