Pitching grips: How to throw eight baseball pitches

So you want to know how to throw a new pitch? Here's how former Red Sox pitching coach Dave Wallace teaches them....

Four seam fastball: You want your fingers a little bit apart. Preferably on the other side of the seams so when the ball comes out you have resistance to throw against. It's firm with the fingers but should be somewhat of a subtle wrist. You don't want to be stiff.

A little space in here [between the palm of the hand and the ball].

The thumb almost bisects [the index and middle finger].

The movement would be straight. Four seams rotating out of your hand. The guys who throw hard, it's going to seem like the ball takes off.

Sinker ball: Most of the time, your fingers are parallel with the seams. Sometimes, depending on finger pressure, it could be on one seam, it could be on the other seam.

A lot of guys throw a sinker off of the middle finger. The movement is down and late. It sinks, for a righthanded pitcher, into a righthander, and away from a lefthander.

For a lefthander, it's into a lefthander, away from a righthander.'

Curve ball: Usually, it's this middle finger, inside a seam. And what you want to do is throw it like a fastball to here [where the elbow and arm form an L, with your arm perpendicular to the ground], and turn your hand in.

You're pulling down the front of the ball, trying to increase the rate of rotation, which is usually 13 revolutions from the time it leaves your hand until it gets home.

Right here, like an L shape, I'm going to pull down on the ball and make it spin as much as I can. There's various ways to teach it and throw it.

Knuckleball: The whole idea is to make that ball come out of your hand taking the spin off of the ball. That's what a knuckleballer's intent is. Because the resistance of the air will handle the movement. Fingernails digging into the ball. I know Tom Candiotti used to get manicures all the time.

The thing I learned right away is it's more important to be in the right position. You have to be so precise.'' Which, Wallace said, underscores pitching as a whole.

''It's the constant struggle for perfection,'' he said, ''with the realization that you'll never achieve it.

Splitter: It's a fastball. I'm just splitting the seam. What you don't want to do is get under the ball and it doesn't break. It hangs. [Executed properly] it breaks down.

Slider: That's the one where at the end you really make an effort to get on top of the ball. You can call it a slider, a curve, a slurve. Sometimes a cutter is a slider. Usually you have finger pressure on your middle finger, across the seam or on the seam.

Circle change up: The circle change is the most common. Usually, with a fastball, you have 100 percent of your strength in these two fingers, the index and middle fingers. You take 50 percent of that strength away by removing the index finger. So you're holding the ball real lightly. ... Your wrist is real loose. The ball is real loose in your hand. And you just throw a fastball.

That's why you teach it at a young age, because it's just repetition. ... The whole idea is to make it look like a fastball coming out of your arm.

Cutter: Usually you hold it like a fastball. The grip is a little bit off of center. Throwing it is like a fastball, and right here [at about the release point, turn over your wrist].

The idea is, it's got fastball rotation, and at about 59 feet, it cuts into a righthander for a lefthanded pitcher. For a righthanded pitcher it cuts into a lefthander.

Why is Mariano Rivera's cutter so good? Because it's so late and so quick, and the rotation has such good fastball rotation. It looks fastball to a hitter because you can't see the rotation.

Comments

[Brandyn Braswell]

Hey I'm 14 and I throw 4 seam, 2 seam, slider, 12-6 curve and a circle change but soon also a cutter but with my 12-6 curve I hold it like my slider...why???

[Mike]

hey, i could through curve balls, change ups, fastballs. my friend is teaching me.

[nic]

i dont understand how to throw the sinkerball will u help me

[Andrew]

hey im 14 just becoming a sophmore and my fastball is 65-75 constantly and im just learning to throw a changeup which is going well but when i throw my curveball it gets the right break i want but i throw it too high. any suggestions??

[taylor n.]

hi im 12 and my to favorite pitches are the curvball and the sinker, but some times my sinker would werk and sometimes it wont, and comments?

[carter]

hey im 11 i play travel ball and i pitch 50 to 68 mph and my fav pitch is the 4 sim fast ball i just like to blow it by them

[jordan]

hi i am 11 almost 12 i have been pitching for 4 years now. but i have some trouble with the knuckle ball my hand are perfect size but i just kant get it down. any suggestoins?

[josh]

i am 17 and i throw a 88 to 93 mph fastball and i have a nasty curve and i have about one of the best sinkers u will ever see in ur life

[Will]

Im 11...I throw a 2-seam fastball, 4-seam fastball, knuckle(works well), curve, and circle change up. At my age curveballs kill my arm so i dont throw much, if you are under the age of 13 i reccommend you throw either a circle change or a knuckleball for your offspead...thanks for the pictures.

[2evagleh]

I'm 15 goin on 16, my 3rd year in baseball, i throw a good 86mph fstball but i cant throw a good curve to save my life i can also throw a good change and split finger but thats it i really want a good curve, any suggestions?

[Ben]

Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

[Jake]

I'm 15 and have a good 80 MPH fastball and a good moving curve and change up. I've been messing around with some off speeds pitches, but don't really know wich pitch to do. Any suggestions.

[Orlando carrillo]

hello I am 13 years old and I have been pitching for 3 years now. I throw a 2 and 4 seam fastball and a splitter.I want to learn a good breaking pitch and asking do you think a cutter or a slider is better to learn.thanks

[De'Andre Brown]

I am 14 about to be a sophmore 60-70 mph fast ball, 50 mph curve, 50 mph on splitter

[David]

So I'm 15 years old, I can throw a nasty curve, 2 seam, 4 seam, change up, and a sinker. I want to learn another pitch but I'm not sure what I want to throw. I've been thinking about a cutter...Any suggestions?

[Salio34]

Im 14 and going into my sophmore year and am going out for the team. My speed ranges from 70 on my fastball to a 55 on my curveball. I want to learn how to throw a sinker. so how can i?

[Ben]

I'm 14 I know how to throw a 2 and 4 seam I also have a wicked curve what should I learn next

[paul beirne]

I'm 12 years old. I just turned it a day ago. I throw a 4-seamer, 2-seamer, and how do you think I can learn a nasty changeup. I have speed. About 52 MPH-55 MPH. I'm 5-2, 109LBs. I am on a travel baseball team. I'm also on Williamport. Could be in LL World Series next year.If so any other pitches I can throw.

[DansMuayThaiMMA]

you should add the straight change to this list. also, i think on the circle change you place the ball deeper in your hand then you have displayed in the picture above.

[Ryan]

I really want to know how to throw a running fastball.

[69er]

well done you should look into throwin the gyroballl that would be cool

[Steven Ellis]

Nice comments, I agree with you.

Steven

[chris maloney]

hey i cant seem to be able to throw an effective pitch other than fastballs and a very average change up in a game but when i practice i seem fine do you have any suggestions

[Twoseam]

a great out pitch that i would recomend to every young pitcher is a good 12-6 curveball. A curveball that changes planes like a good 12-6 is almost impossible to get ahold of. If used correctly youll almost always get a K or an easy groundball out of it

[TJ]

I'm 12 I throw a 2 and 4 seamer, a good-moving slider, circle change and an eephus. Are there any other pitches I should learn to mow down batters?

[Ian]

im 14, i through 2 and 4 seam fastballs, with a mean slider and have great control on my pitches what would be the next best pitch for me to learn?

[Movement]

I am 13 and looking to expand my pitches. I now throw a fastball (2 and 4 seam) and a circle change. Both have good movement but not quite enough. I am learning a slider now. Do you have any suggestions on what I should try to learn?

[Donnie]

The slider isnt really shown good in its example. Im 12 and just started pitching. I need some good pitches for a kid to throw. Especially sense im on a travel team. What pitches fo you reccomend?

[Dan Gazaway]

Once again, another great article by Steven Ellis.
In another article Steven has written he talks about keeping the batter off balance by throwing different pitches, varying speeds and location etc.
I am a firm believer that a pitcher must have three great pitches that he can throw at any time at any location (painting strike zone of course. Not good pitches, but great ones. Many people have a good curveball, but hitters struggle hitting a great curveball. Get three "great" pitches and you will win many more games.
Of course, you should have great fastball mechanics before you learn to throw any other pitches.

[Steven Ellis]

Thanks for the question, Josh. The reason the knuckle ball is largely ignored at the youth level (12 years old and under) is because it generally requires large hands to throw effectively.

Steven

[josh]

is there any way to throw the knuckle ball for younger kids in the 12 year old range?

[matthew]

is there any other way to throw a knuckle, that might bee asier for a 12-14 year old

[m.atki]

Just keep throwin!

[j]

I was wondering, weather i can hold splitter with a little narrower grip and still get the effect, cause when I hold it that way my control really suffers

[Louis Mangone]

do u throw a knuckle ball just as hard of a fastball

[ivan k]

it was cool! thanks a lot.

[Amiri]

My fav pitch is the circle change & curve