Baseball Home|Baseball Basics|Baseball History |Major League Baseball|Baseball Clothing & Apparel
Baseball Memorabilia|Baseball Books |Baseball Movies|Baseball Equipment
Baseball Basics
Baseball Style Baseball Team Play Pitching & Batting Rules & Personnel Coaching Books

Baseball Pitching and Batting

Pitching

Simply put, pitching is "throwing" the ball towards the batter. Effective pitching is vitally important in baseball. A pitcher who starts games should be able to pitch for six or seven innings before being replaced by specialist relief pitchers, who finish the game off. For a starter to pitch all 9 innings (a "complete game"), a personal achievement is attained, although this was not always so. The average number of innings pitched has been declining slowly in the professional leagues almost since their inception, yet 9 innings was once the norm. Pitching is also physically demanding: a modern-day starting pitcher can usually throw 100-110 pitches with no ill effects, but throwing many more reduces effectiveness, and over time, may lead to serious and permanent arm injury. Typical coaches do not allow their starters to throw more pitches than this. In a major league season then, a club usually keeps a cadre of 5 starting pitchers (known as the "starting rotation") to start games, giving pitchers at least 3 or (preferably) 4 or 5 days rest between starts.

Five to seven additional pitchers are employed as relief pitchers or relievers, to pitch the innings not handled by the starting rotation. The variety of relievers is dictated by the situation. Hence, there are long relievers, setup men, specialists (pitchers used for a specific batter to maximize matchups), and closers. Today, every team typically has one pitcher designated as the closer. This relief pitcher is specifically designated to pitch the final inning (or possibly longer) of a game in which his team is leading, in order to preserve the win. To earn a save, the closer must finish the game, not be the winning pitcher, and a) pitch three or more innings or b) pitch at least one inning with a lead of 3 runs or less or c) come in to the game with the potential tying run on base, at bat, or on deck.

Types of Pitches

In order to prevent the batter from hitting the ball well, a good pitcher should be able throw a variety of different pitches, which will usually be a subset or blend of the following basic types.

  • Fastball: The fastball is the pitch that most pitchers throw most of the time. Some "power" pitchers can throw it 95-100 mi/h (150-160 km/h), and rely on this speed to prevent the ball from being hit. Others throw more slowly but put movement on the ball or throw it on the outside of the plate where the batter cannot easily reach it. This is a gross simplification of the art of pitching. Gripping the ball with the fingers across the wide part of the seam ("four-seam fastball") produces a straight pitch, gripping it across the narrow part ("two-seam fastball") produces a sinking fastball, and holding a two-seam fastball off-centre ("cut fastball") imparts lateral movement to the fastball.
  • Curve ball: The curve ball is thrown with a hand motion that induces extra rotation on the ball causing it to "break," to fly in a more exaggerated curve than would be expected. The pitch is slower than a fastball, and this difference in velocity also tends to disrupt the hitter's timing. Good curve balls often seem to drop sharply as they reach the plate, making the batter swing above it; but a curve ball which fails to break (a "hanging curve") will be easy meat for a good hitter. A Screwball is similar to a curveball, but thrown from the back of the hand in order to impart opposite rotation and opposite movement.
  • Slider: A slider is half-way between a curve ball and a fastball, with less break but more speed than the curve. It will tend to drop less and move toward or away from the batter more than a curve. The extra speed can fool the hitter into thinking it's a fastball, until it's too late. Some pitchers also use a cut fastball (or cutter) which is one step closer than the slider to the fastball on the spectrum between fastballs and curves. A pitch that has movement similar to both a slider and a curveball is often called a slurve.
  • Change Up: A change up is the traditional off-speed pitch (i.e. slower than the fastball), which otherwise resembles a fastball. It is thrown with the same arm action as a fastball; the speed difference is due to a different grip. This (hopefully) causes the hitter to be fooled and swing before the ball arrives. A change up also tends to break slightly in the same direction as a screwball due to the way it is commonly released, this makes it an effective pitch away from the plate.
  • Knuckleball: Thrown slowly and with a minimum of rotation, the knuckleball (actually thrown off the tips of the fingers or knuckles) relies on chaotic airflow over the stitched seams of the baseball to produce an erratic, unpredictable motion. This makes it hard to hit, hard to catch, and hard to aim, and it is consequently not a favorite with catchers and managers. Typically the knuckler doesn't travel much more than 65 mi/h (105 km/h), and some good knuckleball pitchers can actually keep the ball in the mid 50s. Knuckleballs are less taxing on the pitcher's arm than most other pitches.
  • Split-Fingered Fastball / Forkball: Held between the first two fingers, thrown hard and with a strong downward motion. This pitch tends to tumble downwards and can break in either direction, depending on the release. It can be thrown as hard as 90 mi/h (145 km/h), so it can look like a fastball until it breaks near the plate. It is most effective when thrown in the lower part of the strike zone.


    • The pitcher will try to make the batter miss the ball entirely ("go out on strikes") or hit it so that it can be handled by one of the fielders. This generally involves throwing the ball in a way, or to a location, that the batter is not expecting, causing him to hit it weakly or not at all. Good fielders may have some idea of where the pitcher is likely to throw the ball, and therefore where the hitter is likely to hit it (an "outside" pitch will generally be hit to the side of the field that the batter faces, for instance), and may be prepared to field the ball there if the batter hits it well. Good hitters are able to hit the ball wherever they wish, regardless of the location of the pitch.

    Batting

    The batter tries to hit the ball in such a way that it cannot be cleanly handled by a fielder; good hitters can place the ball where they want with surprising skill. In the early 1900's, place hitting was a high art, and the home run was considered a freakish spectacle. Place-hitting was exemplified by Willie Keeler's axiom, still shouted today: "Hit 'em where they ain't."

    In 1919, Babe Ruth broke the standing home run record, and changed fundamentally the way the game was played, becoming a popular sensation in the process. The introduction of regularly changed balls, the new cork-centered balls introduced in 1910 and the banning of tampering with the balls (with spit or by scuffing the surface) made the hitters task easier. The fresh white balls were easier to see and travelled further, making the home run more likely. It has also been suggested, although there is little evidence, that owners had the baseball "juiced", since this new offensive style was very popular and was helping to redeem the game after it was rocked by the Black Sox gambling scandal. Regardless, ever since, the mighty home run has become the surest way to rouse a crowd. Accordingly, the most common batting style employed today is the free-swinging style of Ruth rather than the place-hitting style of Keeler.

    Occasionally, players have been caught using illegally modified baseball bats, ie. corked bats, an action subject to ejection and possible suspension and fines.