Baseball Pitches Illustrated

You’re an infographic machine!

Cool stuff… but where’s the knuckleball?

Very clean looking graphics. Informative too. I’m not the biggest baseball fan but you’ve listed some pitches I’ve never heard of.

excellent illustration!

Where are the spitball and “gyroball”?

Hey, supernice illustrations! I liked your coffee-appraoch aswell. Now it’s just drinks illustrated left ^_^

Godspeed

I expect a chart illustrating the objective ratings of all cheap beers by morning.

nice.

and you can’t diagram a knuckler. don’t you know, ese? a knuckle ball is loco.

seriously, though, a good knuckle has no spin at all, so the air catches the seams in weird ways and the ball pretty much bounces around at random. pretty hard to hit. also, tears up your arm pretty good (i was a knuckler for 1 1/2 years in high school, then my arm died…).

I was just wondering–is the position of the laces the same (as you show it) between a two-seam and four-seam fastball? I always thought that a two-seam was as you show it, but a four-seam was “across” the laces, i.e. the laces were horizontal. Or am I completely wrong here?

where does it show how 2 hold the ball when throwing these pitches

I know nothing about baseball, but I love these illustrations, especially how you color-coded velocity. The site itself looks awesome by the way.

-onur

I would argue a “gyro” is actually a two seamer with a little pronation of the wrist. And yes, Dave, four seam is across the laces.

However, more importantly is the stadium in which you are watching the game (on TV). Each stadium has slightly different locations for the camera crews, each with a different angle between them and home plate and the pitcher’s mound and home plate. This distorts the direction and/or magnitude of the particular pitch. Teams scouting through a television have know these angles and can therefore better record pitches.

But great job with the illustrations.

I never thought someting beautiful could came out from baseball

-Aysen
http://studio208.a2o2.com/

Of course, these would be opposite coming from a left-handed pitcher.

Awesome. Huge Baseball fan as well. Uh…can we see the illustrations that show how the ball is gripped for each pitch as well :)

Seriously though, Great Work!

Thanks this is what I have been looking for

These are good, but I’m wondering if you forgot the knuckleball. Also, these would be different for left-handed pitchers, correct?

hey great site man and nice illustrations ….
liked the coffee illustrations too …
whats next in store ???

Excellent job!
I have had the hardest time tryng to find illustrations like yours on the internet.
Thanks!

thanks for helping me with this gudie

Great diagrams, half of what I was looking for. Now I just need to see how the ball would be gripped in each one. Thanks for your diligent effort.

Truly fantastic!

I would only add… that some fastballs — don’t know if there is a specific name — can break upwards.

A knuckleball would just be a big “?”

and @Eloy, a “rising” fastball is a trick of perception. Usually a pitch that appears to rise is just a harder fastball that arrives quicker — less time to drop — and spins faster — futher cutting down the air drag that would cause the ball to drop.

What about the gyro-ball?

While a sinker and a two-seam fastball are thrown with the same grip, they are not the same pitch. Most sinkerball pitchers throw with slight pronation (or finger pressure or off-center grip) so there is some additional sideways spin. The break is slightly different, but probably not enough different to warrant its own chart.

Interesting. Especially to discover that a “curveball” doesn’t really curve at all.

Peter - curveballs really do curve; it’s just that the break of a 12-6 curve is essentially straight down. What Lokesh calls slurves and screwballs are also curveballs with more horizontal break. Mike Mussina’s knuckle curve is also a curveball (not a knuckleball).

pretty basic stuff. good info for rookies.

Eloy,

It is IMPOSSIBLE for a ball to break upwards. Anyone who tells you otherwise is falt out WRONG! Ask any physics professor worth his salt.

That fastball’s going to get crushed! It’s coming right down the middle!

These are fabulous. Thanks for sharing with the world.

You can actually make the 2 seamer run in or out for a RHH if the seams are vertical and you aplly more pressure to one side. For a 2 seamer to have a slight drop just have the seams horizontal and throw.

thanks man!! great job!!

the ball will break in the direction of rotation and a four seam fast ball thrown straight overhand can hop slightly upward if the rotation is back toward the pitcher on the top of the ball. The reason is the reduction of atmospheric air pressure on top and the constant atmospheric pressure (unchanged on bottom) lifts the ball. It’s the same principle that makes an airplane lift.

Edward Tufte would be proud

Where is the Eephus pitch??

Few curveballs are truly 12-6. Most of them are 1-7 or 11-5. Correspondingly, the slurve shouldn’t be described as having that kind of break. It’s relatively equal in terms of horizontal and vertical displacement rather than being primarily vertical.

Comment by Kim: “the ball will break in the direction of rotation and a four seam fast ball thrown straight overhand can hop slightly upward if the rotation is back toward the pitcher on the top of the ball. The reason is the reduction of atmospheric air pressure on top and the constant atmospheric pressure (unchanged on bottom) lifts the ball. It’s the same principle that makes an airplane lift.

First off, to be “clearer”, the ball (an official baseball) pitched by an average human being would break in the direction of rotation, that is, the direction of the rotation from the perspective of the batter; further more, a ball pitched is only capable of breaking in the downwards direction, horizontal directions, or in a downwards-horizontal combination direction.

Now it is not an error that I left out that a baseball thrown by a normal human being (whether professional MLB player or not or) is capable of breaking upwards. The reason being is because it simply is NOT possible, not with a baseball at least — perhaps a machine capable of producing extreme spin could cause a ball to break upwards, but not a person/ any person known with that capablility as known to date.

Yeah, you explain about the reduction of atmospheric air pressure and whatnot. That’s basic fluid dynamics. A lot of people ARE aware of this, as I am sure the commentor who previously explained that fastballs cannot rise (break upwards basically) knows that as well. So if he and I know about this physical property, then why would we state that a baseball cannot break upwards? The answer is, you have to take into account that gravity is a variable in the entire picture. With the mass of the ball, no person up to date is able to produce enough backspin/downwards spin in order to force a baseball to rise. You need to be able to generate tremendous backspin in order to overcome the gravity in order to create a true upwards break.

You must have fooled into the “typical” fallacy that wicked fastballs will rise as it approaches the plate. Well that fallacy has been proven to be wrong by sports scientists (google this subject, you WILL find many articles on it).

It’s still okay to describe a fastball as being a rising one (provided that one knows the truth that in reality it doesn’t actually break upwards). It would be ok to describe a fastball with more “hangtime” as being a riser-fastball.

The thing about the backspin imparted on the baseball is that it DOES cause the ball to resist dipping more, as the air pressure from above the ball is less than the bottom. …but it simply is not enough to break the ball upwards. The backspin keeps the ball path “straighter” or keeps the ball afloat longer than any other type of spin/no-spin pitches.

…My 2 cents to prevent others from being misinformed.

Kim, I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but you are dead wrong. It doesn’t happen. What it is is actually an optical illusion. Of course, I don’t have the time to debate it, but it’s the truth, and whether or not you agree is irrelevant. (I sure like your moxie, though!)

Just read this post…Duh. I guess if you don’t pay attention to baseball or put on mute while you watch a game then you might get something out of that.

The best way to determine a pitch is yes by the speed and the way it breaks. How about the why the pitch does what it does? This is attributed to the spin. It all starts with the way the pitcher holds the ball and the way he breaks his wrist at the relase point. For example the curve you throw more or lease over the top and you pull the ball down creating a circular spin on the ball. The laces of the ball catch the air around it in such a matter that the ball dives. To the batter the ball apears to have a white spot in the middle due to this rotation. This is the best way to identify a pitch.

Posted by: LeftyPower

Kim, I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but you are dead wrong. It doesn’t happen. What it is is actually an optical illusion. Of course, I don’t have the time to debate it, but it’s the truth, and whether or not you agree is irrelevant. (I sure like your moxie, though!)
———————————————————————————

Yes, LeftyPower is correct in saying that it is an optical illusion. The reason why some players will say that a fastball seems to rise is that it stays more aloft than usual — that is, there reactive reflexes expected to see the ball drop down, but with a wicked fastball, the ball floats longer due to wicked fastball with tremendous backspin. Now the ball doesn’t actually rise/break upwards. It appeared or felt like it did to the batter, since the pitch caught their natural expectation off guard.

That is why some batters will say that the ball rises. It’s only an “illusion”.

Great graph~

clear explanation with illustrations!!
good job dude!!

Thanks, You helped me out alot w/ my baseball project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sinceraly, Johnny

Hey, Its John again (the kid from yesterday). Thanks again Im about print out your page.I hope you read these messages. My AIM screen-name is Jlapacik043. If you 1, maybe we could massage. BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yea what red coyote said at the beginning, awesome illustrations, very helpful for explaining to my mother and girlfriend but where’s the wakefield knuckelball?!?

You live in our wonderful city and no knuckleball!?

Wow! Thanks. I’ve tried for years to identify pitches, but am still frustrated by most of them. This helps a great deal.

First off I will start this by saying that I played 20 years, of baseball including 4 years at the college level. Also I for the most part was a starting pitcher all those years. I have played against plenty of pitchers who are now in the pro’s.

First off, the one guy who said that he threw knuckle balls in college and that knuckle balls hurt your arm. It wasn’t because you were throwing a knuckle ball. Of all the pitches knuckles do the least damage because the way you get the ball not to spin is by not snapping your wrist and elbow hard, which is what hurts your arm. You must have had another problem or you were throwing incorrectly.

Also you can’t chart a knuckleball, it moves different every time. Knuckleballs move so much that when a knuckleball pitcher comes in normally the catcher switches to a big mit and still has all kinds of problems catching the ball. If a catcher has a hard time catching it just imagine how hard it is to hit it. It is extremely hard to throw a knuckleball, that is why there is really only one knuckleballer in pro baseball today.

Second, everyone is right it is impossible for a fastball to rise. Trust me I have batted against a guy who throws 96 mph the ball doesn’t rise it just gets to your really fast. Also something else that no one else mentioned to make it even more impossible to make a ball rise is that you are throwing from a mound, downhill. If the ball wasn’t moving down the ball would be as high as the batters head every time.

Third, someone said something about a curveball having the “white dot”. If you see a white dot which is created by the spin of the ball you are actually seeing a slider, not a curveball. Any good curveball looks exactly like a 4 seam fast ball only it is spinning down instead of up. All you see is seams no white spot. This doesn’t change for someone who doesn’t throw a 12-6 curveball. If they are throwing a curveball the reason it isn’t 12-6 is because of their arm angle, they don’t throw straight over top, they are most like a 3/4 thrower, but still you would never see a white dot.

Also yes you can get a two seam fastball to move either direction depending on the way you put pressure on your fingers. There are two major factors in the movement of a baseball. First off is finger pressure. I actually threw a 4 finger change-up in college. With this pitch I could get the ball to basically move any direction I wanted (except up of course). So the first time a batter saw my change-up it moved one direction, then the next time it moved a different way. Kept them off balance which is the key to pitching. The second major factor is the angle of your wrist at release. For example when you throw a fastball, your fingers are straight over the top of the ball and your wrist is straight. When you throw a curve your hand is actually turned to the side and your hand is on the side of the ball.

Also for identifying pitches, speed is one the best ways. I can tell what a pitch is simply by the speed 90% of the time. If you know a guy throws a fastball, a curve, and a change-up (which are probably the 3 most common pitches), and lets say he throws is fastball 90mph. The fastball is easy to spot it is the 90mph one. Next comes the curve, a normal curve will be anywhere from 10-15mph slower than the fastball. Finally the change-up, the change-up is the slowest it should come in around 20mph slower if they have a good change-up. For other pitches, sliders are normally only about 5-10mph slower. Cutters and Splitters a lot of the time are only a speed decrease of a few mph, sometimes they are hard to spot unless you see the break.

Anyway if you have anymore questions for me let me know I would be happy to answer them.

knuckleball ???

good job! :)

one problem
you have to realise that at the point where the ball is relased, the relase point is ABOVE the strike zone. you have drawn this in the catchers view

Balls !! ;)

my girlfriend said weres the knukelbal

I like it.
I am doin a report for school and this is just what I needed.
12-6 CurveBall is a great pitch

I have to disagree with the post in the fastball section. A forkball thrown the right way is actually more of a knuckleball. Jose Contreras has a “forkball”, but really it’s more of a nasty splitter. I’ve thrown the forkball a bit, and it is definitely one of the harder pitches to control. Look around on the internet about the forkball, you’ll find that most people agree with me. The thing with the forkball is that your fingers are on either side of the baseball, and when you release the ball, your fingers slide off the ball, leaving it with little to no spin. It moves very much like a knuckleball, which is how it is also called “the poor man’s knuckleball”. And Jeff, throwing a knuckler is probably the healthiest pitch for your arm. Look at Tim Wakefield, he’s getting up there in age, but he could pitch the entire game. Knuckleballs are thrown with almost no arm action, so it doesn’t hurt to throw it over and over.

WHERE DOES IT SHOW WHAT TO DO WHEN THE BALL COMES BLASTING AT YOU ????

If some of you disagree on the looks of a Curveball look at one of the greats curveballs: Nolan Ryan or Barry Zito.

The Curveball is 12-6 or 1-7

thank you for helping me with my projeck

I love the visuals. Read quite of few pieces of pitch explanations without visuals. It’s kind of like having a blind seeing-eye dog… just doesn’t work. Nice job with this.

best blog post ever

awsome, but iwas wondering how do you grip a screwball

First grip a 2-seam fastball, with the seams, not across them. If you move both your index and middle finger to the right seam, that is how most people throw a slider. A lot of people who throw screwballs, which isn’t very many, do the opposite and move both fingers over to the left seam. But really the most important thing to any pitch is your wrist angle at release more than grip. Screwballs are hard to throw because it isn’t a very natural motion. On a slider you start with you two fingers on top and rotate them down to the right so your thumb is straight up and down. A screwball is the opposite, you are taking your two fingers that are on the top and rotating them down to the left so you palm is facing away from you body. However, I wouldn’t recommend throwing this pitch, it puts a lot of stress on your arm and not many people’s arms can handle this unnatural motion. I would recommend working on a two seam fastball and trying to get it to come in on the batter. Work with putting different amounts of pressure on your index finger and middle finger, you’ll be amazed by the different movements you can get just by doing that and not changing anything else. In college I actually used a four finger change up and could get it to move basically any direction I wanted by doing this.

Awesome illustrations and descriptions of different types of pitches!

This is great! I’m a Brit who has really got into watching baseball over the last year since going to an Angels game on holiday last August. For a beginner, the game happens so fast that it’s hard to work out the difference between different pitches so this is really helpful. I also bought the new MLB game for my PS3 and I’ve been gradually working out what the different pitches do, but I was unsure how fast I should be pitching them (except for the 4SFB of course!) so again this is awesome. Thanks so much!

I’m confused. I assume these are pitches coming from a right-handed pitcher. But every diagram shows the release point of a left-handed pitcher.

Hey,

Those were great illustrations, but if youshowed how to grip those pitches than this website would be alot better…. nice try though.

Thats alot of baseball tricks

Im cool

Rising fastball

Its an illusion. This illusion occurs because the brain is almost always seeing a baseball drastically affected by gravity. From the moment a ball thrown overhand is released gravity begins to pull it down towards earth

When the ball is thrown fast enough, with no movement, it is stopped by the catchers mit before gravity can pull it down too much. We expect the ball to drop further–and because what we expect doesnt happen, to our minds, it can appear to rise.

Also, some pitchers, like Roy Owswalt, drop down so far that they are almost throwing up–but that is trajectory–not upward curving

show how to throw them and the effect and know wonder you can’t display the knuckle ball because it goes a different way every time i have a sweet knuckle ball and it goes a different way every time nice job otherwise though

the two-seamer is not also known as a sinker. the two-seamer breaks in on a right-handed hitter, when thrown from a right-handed pitcher. so it breaks like this:

O=>O

and a lefty:
O

You should show how to do the pitches

i agree with ur gf bob. Wheres the knuckle ball?

wow~~~ great… impressive…
They might be better if with shape of grips.
I came here following coffee pictures~ from KOREA~~
good to see you…