Identifying pitches without the help of TrackMan, Hawk-Eye or other ball-tracking devices is as much an art as it is science. Baseball America can help. In this piece we will define various pitch types and their individual traits via grips and movement styles.
Ambiguity exists within pitch movement profiles. For example, one pitcher’s slider could move similarly to another pitcher’s curveball. This is especially true of sliders, a pitch that has a range of movement profiles that covers the spectrum of curveballs to cutters and helps bridge the gap between multiple pitch types.
This is why ball-tracking devices are helpful. They clarify certain aspects of pitch movement that the human eye can’t fully process. It allows us to be more precise about the quality of a particular pitch and how it might translate to higher levels when evaluating amateur and minor league prospects.
Let’s walk through the different pitch types and subclassifications within each to gain a better understanding.
WHAT PITCH DID I JUST SEE?
FOUR-SEAM FASTBALL
This is the classic fastball shape. It’s thrown with a grip that places the index and
