Category Archives for Pitching

11 Types of Baseball Pitches (and How to Throw Them)

Becoming a successful baseball pitcher isn’t just about stepping on the mound and throwing the ball as hard as you can.

As anyone who plays the sport knows, a pitcher needs to be able to throw both hard (in most cases) and accurate baseball pitches.

Depending on the situation of the game, a pitcher may want to throw a pitch inside, outside, high, or low. Being able to locate pitches where he wants is key to being a great pitcher.

How to Throw a Fastball (6-Step Guide)

The fastball is the first pitch that any pitcher learns to throw. It’s also the pitch that most pitchers will throw most often throughout a game. If you haven’t pitched before, you may think that learning how to throw a fastball is as simple as grabbing a ball and throwing it as hard as you can over […]

How to Throw a Splitter (8-Step Guide)

The splitter, or split-finger fastball as it’s also known, is one of the most devastating pitches in all of baseball. It is such an effective pitch because it’s thrown exactly like a fastball, and looks like a fastball out of the pitcher’s arm, but basically “drops off the table” once it reaches the plate. The sharp downward […]

How to Throw a Cutter (3 Simple Methods)

A cutter, or cut fastball as it’s sometimes called, is a slight variation on a two-seam or four-seam fastball. The pitch moves from right to left for right-handed pitchers and left to right for left-handed pitchers.

This may make you think it acts like a curveball, but the cutter doesn’t have such a severe break to it, plus the break happens much later than with a curveball.

In addition, the pitch is thrown with similar mechanics to that of a fastball than a curveball. For these reasons, a cutter is a really great pitch to teach to players, especially youth pitchers.

How to Throw a Slurve (6-Step Guide)

​The slurve, as it sounds, is a combination of two pitches–a slider and a curveball.

A pitcher can throw a slurve by throwing a curveball as if it were a slider.

In other words, the general grip of the pitch will be similar to that of a curveball, but it will be thrown with a velocity similar to that of a slider.

Let’s take a look at a step-by-step guide on how to throw a slurve.

How to Throw a Screwball (10-Step Guide)

The screwball is one of the most devastating pitches in all of baseball.

It’s especially confusing for batters as the pitch will take the complete opposite trajectory as most pitches.

Let’s take a look at a step-by-step guide on how to throw a screwball effectively.

How to Throw a Forkball (7-Step Guide)

Many people get a forkball confused with a split-finger fastball.

While the two pitches are similar in terms of the grip and how the ball moves out of the pitcher’s hand, the forkball is thrown slower and has a nastier downward spin to it.

Let’s take a step-by-step look at how to throw a forkball.

How to Throw a Sinker (11-Step Guide)

When thrown properly, the sinker can be one of the most effective and efficient pitches in baseball. “Why?” The late downward movement of the pitch confuses many batters. That’s why learning how to throw a sinker can be one of the smartest decisions you make as a developing pitcher. It’s difficult for a batter to detect out of the […]

How to Throw a Knuckleball (5-Step Guide)

The knuckleball is one of the hardest pitches for a batter to hit in baseball. Unfortunately, learning how to throw a knuckleball pitch is also one of the hardest things for a pitcher to master. That’s why despite it being so deceptive, there aren’t too many pitchers who throw it with regularity. The reason why a knuckleball is […]

How to Throw a Slider (10-Step Guide)

A slider is one of the most effective pitches in baseball. That’s because it’s a fast breaking ball that has much more speed than a curveball, but slightly less speed than a four-seam or two-seam fastball. Because of this, batters will often incorrectly read the ball out of a pitcher’s hand as a fastball, only to be […]