Pitching Grips: How To Throw A Running Fastball

A reader of this blog recently asked how to throw a running fastball. A running fastball is usually thrown as a two-seam fastball, yet it's the angle of your arm slot that usually determines exactly how much the pitch runs or moves.

For instance, if you throw a two-seam fastball from a very high-3/4 arm slot, it generally won't run as much as a two-seamer thrown from a low-3/4 arm slot. Red Sox pitcher Justin Masterson has a three-fifths arm angle with a slinging-type motion. Not surprisingly, his two-seam fastball gets a lot of run.

Some baseball pitchers also have success playing with pressure points on their two-seam grip. In other words, putting more pressure on one finger to manipulate the movement of the ball. Put more pressure on your middle finger, and your ball will dive. Put more pressure on your index finger, and your ball will run. Mixing it up between these two finger pressures is a great way to get hitters off balance and to get lots of ground outs and pop ups!