And he's hitting some down-in-the-count breaking balls and some ahead-in-the-count breaking balls better than I anticipated.
|
|
He hits those mistake breaking balls, especially with two strikes.
|
|
" Kimbrel 80 Jansen 66 Breaking-balls: "Kimbrel's curveball is nasty.
|
|
Probably one of the better breaking balls we've seen all year.
|
|
But after that, we started throwing all kinds of breaking balls.
|
|
He was popping it pretty good, threw some good breaking balls.
|
|
" Said Hernandez: "I think they were just looking for breaking balls.
|
|
His fastball, his cutter, he didn't throw too many breaking balls.
|
|
The sinker was down, all of my breaking balls were good.
|
|
"After two breaking balls, I was ready for the fastball," Franco said.
|
|
Started flipping some breaking balls and getting after it a little bit.
|
|
If he was an everyday hitter, he'd get exposed by breaking-balls.
|
|
From that point on, I never threw [him] any breaking balls or anything.
|
|
We just hung a couple of breaking balls and we paid for it.
|
|
I was pitching off some good breaking balls to keep them off balanced.
|
|
We left some breaking balls up to him and he hit them hard.
|
|
It's one of the best breaking-balls of any pitcher, starter or reliever.
|
|
You see guys throwing 100, snapping breaking balls, throwing good changeups in hitters' counts.
|
|
I guess this situation just called for breaking balls, and that's what we were feeling.
|
|
Now you're getting into pitcher's counts where you're getting nasty breaking balls, things like that.
|
|
He's homered off aces and relievers, fastballs and breaking balls, mistakes and well-placed pitches.
|
|
I still need to work on the break of my breaking balls, and my timing.
|
|
Other than that, he dominated the Marlins with strong command and knee-buckling breaking balls.
|
|
" Said Ausmus: "I think he is swinging at pitches in the strike zone, especially breaking balls.
|
|
"The first couple of innings, I couldn't get any of my breaking balls down,"' Ramirez said.
|
|
They never got off our fastballs, and we couldn't quite — they laid off tough breaking balls.
|
|
"He hung two breaking balls to Pinder, and that was their runs," manager Terry Francona said.
|
|
Last year, he chased more pitches outside the strike zone and had problems with breaking balls.
|
|
"That was an example of breaking balls," Negan tells Carl, like some sort of demented mentor.
|
|
Really spun the ball with a couple different breaking balls, and that's when he's at his best.
|
|
"We were just flipping breaking balls in there; we were hitting corners away," catcher Roberto Perez said.
|
|
"I thought my breaking balls were good, my curveball was good, my slider was good," Gray said.
|
|
With the data-savvy Astros, he has thrown more breaking balls (especially his slider) and elevated fastballs.
|
|
Conforto and Cespedes each homered on 0-2 breaking balls from Velasquez in the first and third, respectively.
|
|
It was really good and after the second inning, I was able to throw all my breaking balls.
|
|
This year, under Callaway and the new pitching coach Dave Eiland, the Mets will throw more breaking balls.
|
|
Throwing breaking balls along with fastballs, Jackson was a mainstay for the Mets through their first four seasons.
|
|
Throwing breaking balls along with fastballs, Jackson was a mainstay for the Mets through their first four seasons.
|
|
Ortiz saw one fastball and a series of breaking balls off Betances in the ninth, singling home a run.
|
|
"I felt like he threw more breaking balls this time around than when he was in Japan," Ohtani said.
|
|
Harvey pumped 95-mile-per-hour fastballs, yet the better command and the breaking balls were what stood out.
|
|
They exercised discipline against his breaking balls and fouled off other offerings, and he kept just missing the strike zone.
|
|
I know our guys were having a hard time seeing spin, chasing a lot of breaking balls below the zone.
|
|
And every team we face has guys starting in the sixth inning throwing 255.2 miles an hour with breaking balls.
|
|
He struck out twice on low, outside breaking balls from Charlie Morton and Collin McHugh at which he swung wildly.
|
|
"Seven up, seven down," said Descalso, who pitched in high school and tried breaking balls in his most recent outing.
|
|
Chen has begun to incorporate breaking balls into his sessions and should be ready soon to participate in simulated games.
|
|
They all trudge out to the mound with set faces, and they all throw hard fastballs and bendy little breaking balls.
|
|
His second strikeout occurred with two on in the eighth inning when RHP Dellin Betances threw him three straight breaking balls.
|
|
Betances threw mostly breaking balls in this outing because, he said after the game, he was not happy with his fastball.
|
|
"The way this team handles down and in very well, it was necessary to throw more breaking balls than usual," Green said.
|
|
"Same guy got him for a couple homers on a couple mistake breaking balls, but otherwise he was really good," Price said.
|
|
Having faced the Rangers 50 previous times, Hernandez knew that the Texas hitters would be sitting on his changeup and breaking balls.
|
|
I bounced a couple of breaking balls and threw three sliders in a row, so I had to go back to (a fastball).
|
|
Two breaking balls to get to a 1-1 count with Moustakas and just missed his spot with a four-seam fastball away.
|
|
Though he can appear off-balance in the batter's box at times, McNeil patiently keeps his hands back to wait on breaking balls.
|
|
They have fanned 53 times in the first five games on a wide array of pitches, including low breaking balls and high fastballs.
|
|
Stanton pulverized two breaking balls for home runs, one to the second deck in left, another off the facing of a stadium restaurant.
|
|
"I see him laying off some breaking balls, that last year he would swing at, particularly the ones down," manager John Gibbons said.
|
|
One curious feature of Heyward's struggles this year is that, unlike most slumping hitters, he isn't flailing away at a steady diet of breaking balls.
|
|
Morton's stuff was even better on Saturday: his fastball comfortably sat at 22017-miles per hour, and he complimented it with filthy, pinpoint breaking balls.
|
|
We noticed some guys were hacking early, so we wanted to flip up some breaking balls early and throw off their timing a little bit.
|
|
" Said DeJong: "He was locating his fastball really well, hitting those corners and throwing breaking balls for strikes and off to kind of fool you.
|
|
Reyes, a switch-hitter, said he had noticed he had been stuck in between pitches — too late on fastballs and too early on breaking balls.
|
|
What impressed Allen, the Indians' closer, the most in that plate appearance was that Gomes had to be guarding against one of Betances's feared breaking balls.
|
|
Noah Syndergaard, the Mets' ace, threw six scoreless innings, walking none and striking out seven with a combination of high-90s sinkers and demonic breaking balls.
|
|
"I mean, that was (my) third at-bat against him (Monday), and he's pitched me the same sequence, he started with breaking balls early," Arcia said.
|
|
"I'm just trying to get my pitches back — fastballs in, fastballs away and raise (the ball) when I want to and throw some breaking balls," Gray said.
|
|
"I think they're looking for fastballs early, and then some breaking balls didn't work his way at all," manager Clint Hurdle said of the 214-year-old.
|
|
Teams use more pitchers per season than ever, and while fastball velocity has risen in recent years, pitchers are also throwing a greater percentage of breaking balls.
|
|
Pitchers feared Thames and rarely challenged him with fastballs, but he displayed discipline at the plate, laying off junk and waiting for breaking balls he could mash.
|
|
Jackson guided that team to 55 wins after Jordan did things his way and bolted from the franchise to flail at breaking balls in baseball's minor leagues.
|
|
"You can't just game plan against J.V. as if he's going to throw high fastballs and late-in-the-count breaking balls; he's unpredictable," Hinch said of Verlander.
|
|
Miller then got Willson Contreras to pop out to shallow center on a slider, and threw two more mercury breaking balls to Addison Russell and David Ross for strikeouts.
|
|
Hicks had struggled with breaking balls during the regular season, but he rocketed this mistake 314 feet down the right field line for his first homer since July 24.
|
|
His capacity for hitting thunderous home runs could not mask his difficulty with hitting breaking balls, and his rocket arm could not conceal his technical deficiencies behind the plate.
|
|
"Throws targeted for the inside and outside corners have been replaced by fastballs that rocket up above the zone or breaking balls that dive below it," notes NYT's Joe Lemire.
|
|
The Angels' DH relies on his pitch recognition and preternatural reflexes to wait, driving fastballs the opposite way while using the big part of the field to corral breaking balls.
|
|
For all their titles, perhaps the true appraisal of the Jordan-era Bulls came in the 33-94 season, when Jordan walked away to flail at minor league breaking balls.
|
|
The defense of Werth in left has been better of late, and he has hit for power at times but has also been out in front of breaking balls at times.
|
|
"I could have a different order of pitches, I could try fastballs first, breaking balls first, get ahead in the count, get behind in the count — it didn't matter," Mussina said.
|
|
In a 10-pitch at-bat, Gomes fouled off five nasty offerings, including a 98-miles-per-hour fastball around his shoulders that followed six consecutive breaking balls at his knees.
|
|
I hit a couple homers earlier, both on breaking balls, so I assumed he was going to try and attack me with a fastball and then try to get a ground ball.
|
|
You look at his ball-strike ration and he threw some pitches but he was deceptive with his change up and threw just enough cutters and breaking balls to keep us off-balance.
|
|
League officials have no way to regulate velocity or suppress the quality of breaking balls, but they could mandate that two infielders play on either side of second base, effectively killing the shift.
|
|
"Just spin him," Blue Jays reliever Ryan Tepera, referring to breaking balls, said of Judge, whom he has faced six times in the big leagues and also in the minor leagues last season.
|
|
Manager Jeff Banister said after the game he is getting the barrel of the bat on front of breaking balls and even made a loud out when he lined to right in the sixth.
|
|
"When he's at his best he's getting strikeouts, he's getting bad swings on his breaking balls, good command of his heater, throwing strikes, low pitch count, all of the above," A's manager Bob Melvin said.
|
|
Here he depicts middle weight champion "Sugar Ray Robinson", 1982, a powerhouse of muscle in his splendid orange boxer shorts, almost shackled by the bulk of his superhuman strength and the breaking balls of his gloves.
|
|
You look at the first seven days where he's taken balls and swinging at strikes, and I think they're still throwing him in, and he's offering at those pitches, and then breaking balls are down below the zone.
|
|
He got ahead in the count at 2-0, Robertson then evened the count but Smoak fouled off two breaking balls to stay alive before launching his second career grand slam and first hit in six career at-bats against Robertson.
|
|
Guys that are striking out 200 times, like Joey Gallo — in 1990 he would have hit 75 home runs every year because he's facing guys with an average velocity of 90 miles an hour, good command and O.K. breaking balls.
|
|
Judge, who lifted one home run into the right-field seats, was consistently late on fastballs and lunged early at breaking balls from Adonis Rosa, a 23-year-old right-hander who spent most of the season at Class A Tampa.
|
|
"His style of pitching begs for pitch execution to be at a premium when you're going to play cat-and-mouse — velocity, change rhythm, change tempo, the high fastball, the multiple breaking balls, that's his style of pitching," Manager A.J. Hinch said.
|
|
He figures that his hands are quick enough to react to inside fastballs, even at 100 miles an hour, but if he thinks about driving the ball to left-center, he will stay back on breaking balls and maintain a compact swing.
|
|
After giving up a first-inning single on a heater, Milwaukee starter Zach Davies spent the middle innings hanging breaking balls to Bryant, which the second-year third baseman obligingly thumped: high over the left-field wall in the third and hard into the left-field corner in the fourth.
|
|
But Hill made a deal with himself: If he was going to join an independent team, he would do so as a starter, throwing over the top, which would give him more of a downhill plane on his fastball, more depth on his breaking balls and more chances to use his changeup.
|
|
David Waldstein provided live updates and analysis throughout Game 5: Nasty, nasty nasty stuff from Zack Britton, who got a weak ground ball from Yuli Gurriel — he can't buy or borrow a hit in this series — and then struck out Carlos Correa and Yordan Alvarez on breaking balls that had them flailing.
|
|
Bailey leads with a four-seam fastball, and a two-seam fastball, in the 93–96 mph range. He throws three breaking balls; a slider, a curveball, and a splitter.
|
|
In , Lee was converted from right field to center field. However, he stole only 17 bases, and his batting average dipped to .280, showing a weakness against inside breaking balls from lefties.
|
|
As a right- handed batter, Gurriel is unusual in the sense that he has a better batting average against right handed pitchers than left-handers, and is better at batting against breaking balls away from the bat, esp. sliders.
|
|
Kasparek doesn’t throw with a lot of velocity, throwing in the upper 80s with two decent breaking balls (upper 70s slider, lower 70s curve) and a changeup. He’s got good command, but none of his pitches really stand out.
|
|
Listed at 183 centimetres, Yokoyama is a southpaw pitcher with an overhand delivery. His fastball was clocked at a maximum of 151 km/h, and he can also throw sliders and loose curves for breaking balls, and forkballs for changeup.
|
|
McDonald has a variety of pitches. His primary pitch is a four-seam fastball in the 91–94 mph range. He throws a two-seam fastball with similar velocity. He features two breaking balls: a slider (79–82) and a knuckle curve (75–77).
|
|
"This guy has trouble with fastballs in. This guy has trouble with breaking balls down. [Kinsler] doesn't have a hole like that." In the field, he led all major league second basemen with a 5.77 range factor and 123 double plays, but also in errors with 18.
|
|
Wiggins entered drug rehab in 1985 and was traded later in the season to the Baltimore Orioles, resulting in Gwynn seeing fewer fastballs and more breaking balls. Gwynn said it took him a month to realize the change in opponents' strategy, and a while to adjust.
|
|
Marshall is unusual in that he throws breaking balls more than any other type of pitch; in 2011, almost 75 percent of his pitches were either curveballs or sliders. Marshall also possesses two fastballs, a four-seamer and a two-seamer, that he throws in the low 90s. In contrast to most pitchers, who get ahead in the count with a fastball and try to fool batters later with off-speed pitches, Marshall uses his breaking balls early in the count and uses his fastball most frequently when the count is 0–2. His curveball has proven to be his best pitch at getting swings and misses, with a whiff rate of 40% in 2011.
|
|
In July 2018, Revolution Studios and Universal 1440 announced a direct-to-DVD sequel, titled Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls. The film was released on January 29, 2019, with Jon Lovitz reprising his role as Mel Carmichael. The rest of the cast consists of Chris Klein, Chelsey Reist, Lochlyn Munro, and Garfield Wilson.
|
|
Three primary pitches compose Siegrist's arsenal. He throws a fastball, circle changeup and a slider. According to Brooks Baseball, throws over with his fastball, generating a high number of swings and misses. All three of his pitches result in high numbers of fly balls and his breaking balls are deceptive to hitters.
|
|
With a three-quarter delivery, his pitches are clocked at an average 145 km/h, his fastest being a 152 km/h fastball. Breaking balls that are up his arsenal are sliders, slow curves and the occasional change-ups. Although he has the confidence to throw sharp inside pitches, he has yet to improve on his stability and control.
|
|
Currently listed at and , Kurihara is a burly right-handed pull hitter. While he does not have exceptional plate discipline (.352 career on-base percentage as of May 16, 2009), he strikes out less often than other power hitters. He is particularly adept at hitting breaking balls but has gradually improved on his ability to hit fastballs from year to year.
|
|
The low humidity also causes baseballs to dry out, making it harder for pitchers to grip them and further reducing their ability to throw breaking balls. Consequently, the Colorado Rockies have a very large home advantage, with a 30% better home than away record. This anomaly has been countered with Colorado's innovative use of humidors to keep the baseballs from drying out.
|
|
Na fell into a slump, showing a weakness against breaking balls, and was demoted to the second (reserve) team of the Tigers at the end of April. In June, he returned to the 26-man first team roster but played as a platoon or backup outfielder. Na finished his rookie season with a batting average of .295, 6 home runs and 30 RBI, playing in 73 games.
|
|
Millwood was a sinkerball pitcher. His sinker clocked at 89–92 mph and was complemented mostly by an 89–91 mph cutter and 83–86 mph slider. He also threw a curveball (71–74) and a changeup (82–84) that he used against left-handed hitters. He tended to use the cutter early in the count, with higher use of his breaking balls in 2-strike situations.
|
|
Yoo is known for his unconventional pitching style. Yoo has a fairly short stature for a pitcher, standing at 1.80 m, and is bulky, weighing 88 kg. Yoo is amongst the slowest hurlers in the league, as his fastball rarely tops 133 km/h (83 mph). Yoo, a left-handed pitcher, makes up for this slow delivery with excellent control, and a very efficient set of change-ups and breaking balls.
|
|
Dotel mainly threw a four-seam fastball from 90–93 mph. He had two breaking balls, mostly used in 2-strike counts: a sweeping slider in the low 80s and a curveball in the upper 70s. The slider was used against right-handed hitters, the curveball against left- handers. He was a strikeout pitcher throughout his career, finishing above 10 strikeouts per 9 innings in 10 full seasons.
|
|
"Kaline suggested my throwing sidearm to give me a little bit of funk and mystery against left- handed hitters. After what I did against Baltimore, I just kept going from there," Myers said.Boston Red Sox - Glad this sidearmer on their side - The Boston Globe He throws two different breaking balls with a deceptive movement that disconcerts opposing hitters, especially left-handed hitters. Myers is particularly durable as well.
|
|
Wood has an expansive pitch repertoire, throwing six pitches with regularity. He has three fastballs — a four-seamer at 89–92 mph, a two-seamer at 88–91, and a cutter at 87–90. He also throws two breaking balls — a slider (80–83) and a curveball (71–75) – and, finally, a changeup at 78–81. Wood's pitches to left-handed hitters are most often four-seamers, cutters, and sliders, with an occasional curveball.
|
|
To test what effect the enclosed air- conditioned environment might have on the delivery of breaking balls, Satchel Paige, in full Astros uniform, threw the first pitches at the Astrodome on February 7, 1965. He later concluded that it was a "pitcher's paradise", as the lack of wind allowed for sensitive pitches to maneuver more easily. Hofheinz had an opulent apartment in the Dome, which was removed when the facility was remodeled in 1988.
|
|
This allowed his teammate, pitcher Cummings, to throw curveballs. Hicks was badly injured often but he changed baseball fundamentally. This repositing of catcher by Hicks facilitated pictures throwing breaking balls, throwing over-hand instead of underhand, made the game faster paced, and necessitated the need for new inventions such as baseball gloves, catchers protective gear, and the facemask. In the 19th century, Hempstead became increasingly important as a trading center for Long Island. In 1853 it became the first self-governing incorporated village.
|
|
He was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers after 2005 season because of his various breaking balls. In his debut in 2006, Iwata allowed four runs in 3 innings of work and lost his only game in the season. In 2007, Iwata was 0-1 and a 5.40 ERA. In 2008, he was third in voting for the 2008 Central League Rookie of the Year Award, trailing Tetsuya Yamaguchi and Hayato Sakamoto after going 10-10 with a 3.28 ERA and 101 strikeouts.
|
|
He led the league in saves and was a league all- star in both seasons, winning the league title with the Kettleers in 1981. Innis was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2008. Innis, a dependable middle reliever with a submarine delivery, threw two different breaking balls with a deceptive movement that disconcerted opposite hitters. A workhorse out of the New York Mets bullpen, Innis led the team in games pitched from 1991–93, averaging 84 innings per season.
|
|
As a finesse pitcher, Lilly relied more on above-average control and movement rather than elite velocity. He also demonstrated the ability to throw a variety of pitches: a changeup, two fastballs—a four-seamer and a two-seamer in the 86-90 mph range, as well as two breaking balls, a slider and a curveball. His slider was more frequently used against left-handed batters and his other off-speed pitches more against right-handed batters. His pitching motion was a straight-over- the-top delivery.
|
|
Rojas' pitching repertoire consisted mainly of breaking balls, changeups, and a sinking fastball. "He's got three pitches", one opposing batter commented, "slow, slower, and 'come and get it'." Reading Eagle via Google News Archive Search Despite his lack of a high-velocity pitch, Rojas was effective during his short MLB career due to excellent command and pitch movement. He posted a 23–16 record with a 3.00 ERA and 43 saves in 157 appearances, allowing only 45 unintentional walks in 261 innings over parts of three seasons.
|
|
Another confrontation with Creative Control on April 5, 2008, at "MCW Breaking Balls & Besting Heads". A match between Adam Flash and Christian York, initially ending in a disqualification, turned into a 10-man brawl involving McDevitt and several others who came to help Flash, who has since left Creative Control, against his former stablemates. Sabu was also scheduled to headline the card, however, McDevitt claimed that the former ECW star was "having problems with his personal demons". McDevitt spent the rest of 2008 teaming with former enemy Adam Flash.
|
|
The mitt allowed Bench to tuck his throwing arm safely to the side when receiving the pitch. By the turn of the decade, the hinged mitt became standard catchers' equipment. Having huge hands (a famous photograph features him holding seven baseballs in his right hand), Bench also tended to block breaking balls in the dirt by scooping them with one hand instead of the more common and fundamentally proper way: dropping to both knees and blocking the ball using the chest protector to keep the ball in front.
|
|
However, one of the reasons for any substantial differences in home and road splits for Rockies batters is that they have to make adjustments in how they see pitches away from Coors Field – particularly breaking balls, such as sliders and curve balls – since those pitches act differently at Coors Field than on the road. Team veterans alerted Tulowitzki every time Braun, his chief rival for rookie of the year honors, hit a home run. Tulowitzki came in second in the race for National League Rookie of the Year.
|
|
After the eye injury, Schoendienst found it very difficult to read breaking balls while batting right-handed against right-handed pitchers. To solve the problem, he used the left-handed batting skills he acquired as a youth to become a switch hitter. In the spring of 1942, he participated in a St. Louis Cardinals open tryout with about 400 other hopefuls. Though he was not signed at the tryout, Joe Mathes, the Cardinals' chief scout, later changed his mind and drove to Germantown to sign him for $75 a month ($ in current dollar terms).
|
|
In baseball, an off-speed pitch is a pitch thrown at a slower speed than a fastball. Breaking balls and changeups are the two most common types of off- speed pitches. Very slow pitches which require the batter to provide most of the power on contact through bat speed are known as "junk" and include the knuckleball and the Eephus pitch, a sort of extreme changeup. The specific goals of off-speed pitches may vary, but in general they are used to disrupt the batter's timing, thereby lessening his chances of hitting the ball solidly or at all.
|
|
He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 5th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball draft and made his professional debut for the Ogden Raptors in mid- season, going 0-2, 3.69 ERA in 16 appearances, 6 of them as a starter. Primarily a starter in college, he was converted to a relief pitcher at Ogden. His maximum-effort delivery and his 92–94 mph fastball with a pair of strikeout breaking balls led to his consideration as a closer. In , he saw action with the Columbus Catfish, Vero Beach Dodgers and Jacksonville Suns.
|
|
Language: English. Kidd gained notoriety while playing on and against all-male baseball teams in Van Buren County and surrounding areas, being backed up by a pick-up team of male amateur baseball players from Choctaw, Bee Branch and Morganton, which had been put together by her father. She had a hard fastball and an assortment of breaking balls, including a deceptive curveball, which used to defeat the all-male Heber Springs’ All-Stars in a nine-inning complete game, a feat that became part of local legend. In 1949, when the Chicago Colleens and Springfield Sallies AAGPBL travelling teams stopped in Arkansas, Kidd attended a tryout and was taken.
|
|
Maloney nevertheless insisted on repeatedly "shaking off" his younger catcher by throwing fastballs instead of the breaking balls that Bench had called for. When an exasperated Bench bluntly told Maloney, "Your fastball's not popping," Maloney replied with an epithet. To prove to Maloney that his fastball was no longer effective, Bench called for a fastball, and after Maloney released the ball, Bench dropped his catcher's mitt and caught the fastball barehanded. Bench was the Reds' catcher on April 30, 1969, when Maloney pitched a no hitter against the In 1968, the 20-year-old Bench impressed many in his first he won the National League Rookie of the Year Award, batting .
|
|
A first baseman receives a pickoff throw, as the runner dives back to first base. The tactical decision that precedes almost every play in a baseball game involves pitch selection. By gripping and then releasing the baseball in a certain manner, and by throwing it at a certain speed, pitchers can cause the baseball to break to either side, or downward, as it approaches the batter; thus creating differing pitches that can be selected. Among the resulting wide variety of pitches that may be thrown, the four basic types are the fastball, the changeup (or off-speed pitch), and two breaking balls—the curveball and the slider.
|
|
ERA is also affected somewhat by the ballpark in which a pitcher's team plays half its games, as well as the tendency of hometown official scorers to assign errors instead of base hits in plays that could be either. As an extreme example, pitchers for the Colorado Rockies have historically faced many problems, all damaging to their ERAs. The combination of high altitude (5,280 ft or 1,610 m) and a semi-arid climate in Denver causes fly balls to travel up to 10% farther than at sea level. Denver's altitude and low humidity also reduce the ability of pitchers to throw effective breaking balls, due to both reduced air resistance and difficulty in gripping very dry baseballs.
|
|
He made his professional debut in April 2007 with the Greenville Drive. "He really understands the strike zone well, and he recognizes balls and strikes early," said Gabe Kapler, the former Sox outfielder who was Anderson's manager at Greenville. "[H]e was way ahead of the game because he was already recognizing balls and strikes and had a plan, an approach at the plate that was advanced. He had planned on not swinging at breaking balls until he had two strikes on him." In September 2008, Anderson was named the Minor League Offensive Player of the Year for the Red Sox, following a season of a combined 18 home runs and 80 runs batted in while hitting over .
|
|
Itoi was drafted into the Fighters in the fall of 2003, and was considered a power pitcher, being able to pitch 151 km/h (94 mph) fastball but has control problems and were unable to muster up decent breaking balls. He was also marred with injury and spent 2 years in the ni-gun (Japanese equivalent of the minor league). Although Itoi had problems developing as a good pitcher in the pros, his outstanding batting sense, running speed (50m in 5 seconds), and strong throwing arm prompted Fighters GM Shigeru Takada to convert him into an outfielder. Just 5 months after converting into an outfielder, Itoi won the Eastern League's Monthly MVP award, hitting .
|
|
When he was drafted, Arakaki was considered one of the best pure power pitchers in the league, with a fastball that could consistently sit in 90-93 mph, and went as high as 155 km/h (96 mph) with an excellent slider that had late downward break. However, control has always been Arakaki's Achilles' heel, as he set the NPB record for wild pitches in 2007, a record that had been previously held by Kazuhisa Ishii, who was also a power pitcher with great breaking balls, but was also well known for his control problems. Arakaki's later career has been plagued by recurrent shoulder and elbow problems. He had elbow surgery performed on him in the 2008 offseason, and had shoulder surgery in December 2009.
|
|
His fastball is graded at 70 on a standard 20-80 scale, with a volatile life that vaults itself on batters, making it difficult for them to square their bats, and thus, hit effectively. His small stature and long recoil somewhat limit the command, but that is mitigated with the natural explosiveness and movement of the pitch. The sinking version of his fastball can get up to 96 MPH, while averaging . The curveball Martínez throws is one of his breaking balls, grading at a 50 on the 20-80 scale, and 60 potential on a 20-80 scale as of October 2012. It features either an 11-to-5 or 12-to-6 break and it is very difficult to hit when in top form.
|
|
He pinch hit, again, in the second game of the season, this time hitting an 11th-inning home run (the Mets still lost, as the Houston Astros had scored four runs in the top of the inning). He homered again in his first at-bat on April 18, giving him two home runs in his first four Major League at-bats. Swoboda hit 15 home runs by the All-Star break, the most ever by a Mets rookie in the first half of a season until Pete Alonso broke his record with 25 home runs in 2019. He commented during a television interview that he loved hitting fastballs; then he began seeing a lot more breaking balls and hit only four more home runs in the season.
|
|
In 2008, the Rays decided to move him out of the starting rotation and into the bullpen, a change which led to an increase in velocity on his pitches and a better break on his breaking balls. He went 6-1 with a 2.22 ERA in 64 games, striking out 92 batters while earning three saves. He also pitched in the 2008 World Series, in which he took the loss in the deciding game five against the Philadelphia Phillies. Howell became the Rays closer in June 2009 after an injury to Troy Percival. He converted his first ten save opportunities and had a 1.64 ERA in 22 innings but after Ryan Langerhans of the Seattle Mariners hit a two-run homer off him on August 7 he blew three straight save opportunities.
|
|
A failed starter in MLB, Carrera became an effective long reliever. He had a 90–92 MPH fastball, along with a couple of breaking balls, a deceptive slow curve, and particularly his off-speed pitch; a hard one that was somewhere between a slider and cut fastball. He controlled the running game as well, with a good move to both first base and second, and a quick delivery to the plate. On August 15, 2001, Carrara combined with fellow Venezuelan pitchers Omar Daal, Kelvim Escobar, and Freddy García to win their respective starts: Carrara, of the Dodgers, facing Montreal, 13–1; Daal, in a Phillies victory over the Brewers, 8–6; Escobar, of the Blue Jays, over Oakland, 5–2, and García, of Seattle, against the Red Sox, 6–2.
|
|
Nolan Ryan, owner of the Express and Oswalt's idol, admired his calm demeanor and his aggressiveness so much that he successfully lobbied to keep Oswalt on the roster, where he would go 11–4 with a 1.94 ERA, and recording 141 strikeouts over 19 games (18 starts). It was here that he met pitching coach Mike Maddux, who counseled the young Oswalt to be economical in his pitch selection by throwing more breaking balls and inducing groundouts early in the count. As a result of his success at Round Rock, Oswalt was selected to play on the U.S. Olympic baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In Olympic baseball competition, Oswalt pitched in the semi-finals against South Korea, a game that the U.S. won with a walk-off home run by Doug Mientkiewicz en route to their gold medal finish.
|
|