In a baseball scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the four most common kinds of pitches, and the MLB players who utilize them the best.

More than any other player in the team, the pitcher is perhaps the most important. If the pitchers are smart and have exceptional skills, they have a lot of different pitches in their arsenal. It then does not matter how hard or how well the other team’s batters hit the ball because the pitchers would have the ability to outsmart them with a different kind of pitch every time. Below is a list of the most famous kinds of pitches that MLB pitchers use regularly and the pitchers who specialize in them:

1 – Fastball – the fastball is the most common of all pitches; all pitchers use it. As the name suggests, it is thrown very fast, the baseball scoreboards showing that it usually reaches speeds of up to 90-95 mph. The speed on the pitch is a direct result of how the ball is held and of course the strength of the throw of the pitcher. In this case, the fastball is held by placing the first two fingers on the seams of the ball and then released whilst the palm of the pitcher is practically facing the batter. There are many different types of fastballs, each with minor modifications to the original.

2 – Sinker – when a pitcher holds the ball across the seam with the first two fingers and releases it when the palm of his pitching hand facing away from the batter, it is known as a sinker. The way in which the pitcher holds the ball and releases it causes the ball to sink on the batter as it approaches him. As the ball sinks on the batter, the batter swings over it and misses it completely. Pitchers best known for their exceptional sinkers are Chien-Ming Wang (Yankees) and Derek Lowe (Atlanta Bears).

3 – Screwball – it is held by the pitcher with the first 3 fingers placed across the seams, and released with the palm facing back towards the pitcher i.e. the back of the hand is exposed to the batter. When thrown in this manner, the ball not only sinks on the batter but it also changes its direction when approaching the batter. Carl Hubbell and Christy Mathewson are considered to be the pitchers with the best screwball in MLB history.

4 – Cutter – the pitcher holds the ball by placing his first two fingers parallel or to the side of the seams and upon release rotates his palm inwards towards his own face (rotates the wrist). The spin on the ball brings it much closer to the batter’s body than he would anticipate. The bigger the rotation of the wrist, the greater the movement on the ball. The cutter is thrown to opposite handed batters, for maximum effect. Mariano Rivera throws the best cutter in the game.

For more information; go to:
en.wikipedia.org