Top 10 Best Baseball Pitches
Baseball is as much a chess match as it is a game of raw athleticism, and at the heart of it all lies the art of pitching. Pitchers have an incredible arsenal of pitches to choose from, each with its own movement, speed, and purpose. This list takes a closer look at the top ten most effective pitches in baseball - the ones that pitchers rely on to send batters back to the dugout. We're talking about everything from blazing fastballs to breaking pitches that seem to defy the laws of physics.
A slider is a breaking pitch that combines speed with lateral and downward movement, typically thrown with a grip that imparts spin for a sharp break. It is often used to deceive batters with its sudden drop or sweep away from the hitter. An underrated pitch that every pitcher should have in their arsenal. When you get good movement and location, it's untouchable. Combine this with the two-seam fastball and you get the scissor effect.
Remarkable pitch. Great for messing with the batter, but you can't leave it right in the zone. If you pitch it right, it's deadly.
Third-fastest pitch in baseball after the two fastballs. I think Ted Williams called it the greatest pitch ever.
The two-seam fastball is a pitch that relies on the grip along the seams to create movement, often tailing inward to the batter. It is generally thrown slightly slower than a four-seam fastball with more emphasis on movement. Best pitch in the game. High velocity and high movement.
With the right placement, it's unhittable.
The four-seam fastball is a fast pitch that maximizes velocity by gripping the seams across four points, resulting in a straight trajectory. It is often considered the foundational pitch in a pitcher's arsenal. With control, it can be so many different pitches, and it's the easiest to control. Velocity isn't everything. It's location, previous pitches, etc. You use your fastball to set up all your other pitches. Therefore, it's the best.
It is the fastest pitch, and if you have no control over it, you cannot set up a change-up well. This is the most important pitch. You also need to be able to throw it because it is the easiest on the arm. Too many breaking balls will blow up a young pitcher's arm.
You'd better have good location or be really fast.
A curveball is a breaking pitch thrown with a downward wrist snap to create topspin, resulting in a looping drop. It is typically slower than a fastball and relies on deception through its arcing movement. Crazy cool - gets batters every time.
Virtually every pitcher at the college level and up has to have a curveball.
When used with a fastball, the changeup is the best pitch.
A changeup that acts like a curveball.
A cornerstone of a pitcher's repertoire, there's never a bad time for a changeup.
It perplexes me that this isn't number one. Mariano Rivera revolutionized it. Then, year by year, pitchers discovered the wonders of this pitch. You think it's a fastball, and then, bam, it breaks away.
His cutter is an epic pitch, and no one can hit it. I use it, and it dominates hitters like no other. The pitch itself can break from almost hitting a batter to hitting the outside corner.
Best pitch ever. All batters look like little leaguers when this pitch comes to town. You've got to love this crazy pitch. Watch some R.A. Dickey highlights.
Toughest pitch to learn, and it's just like throwing a wiffle ball. It will break 3-4 times before reaching the plate. It basically has a mind of its own.
A tricky pitch, although it's prone to being hit for homers if left up in the zone.
I'm 13, and my sinker is top 10 in the state. It's my best pitch and, in my opinion, the best ever.
Look up Brandon Webb, the best sinker pitcher in the game today.
In my opinion, this is the best pitch a pitcher could throw. Just think about it - the sharpest break of all pitches, right in front of home plate, no less! Plus, you can get about 96 MPH on this thing (the fastest splitter).
Splitters are great pitches. They don't mess up your arm like curves and sliders, and they break enough to get any batter out with proper location. Just look at a guy like Koji Uehara of the Red Sox. His splitter was nearly invisible.
If it starts at the knees each time, there won't be a single pop fly.
No one believes you when you say you throw one, but it's like a curveball on steroids. The index finger creates more spin than a regular curveball, providing a more dominant break and thus more strikeouts. Everyone should throw a knuckle curve.
It strikes my friend out almost every time if I get a good enough spin on it.
This pitch messes up a batter mentally. No one likes a knuckle-curve.
The Newcomers
It was a great pitch. I used it for my strikeout pitch, and it got batters guessing.
The batter thinks it's rising when it's actually dropping. It's awesome!
Not a magic pitch, but it gets in a batter's head.
This pitch really drops on the batter and looks like a clown pitch. It's best used on heavy hitters.
This pitch used water to alter the shape of the ball, making it oblong and virtually impossible to hit. It was so nasty that it was banned from the league. This pitch is just dirty.
Why would you learn this pitch? Have fun getting caught applying foreign substances to the ball. You're better off putting pine tar on your hand from your glove.
One of the toughest pitches to read. It looks like a two-seam fastball but has the movement of a sinker. Incredibly hard to throw and even harder to hit.
Why is this #24? This is an amazing pitch, a cross between a changeup and a sinker.
The best pitch around, all time.
This is the third-best pitch. It has the longest break of all pitches and is deadly when thrown properly. The disadvantage of this pitch is the velocity. However, if you throw a four-seam fastball right before this, the batter will be confused because of the 10-20 MPH difference.
Clayton Kershaw has the nastiest one in the league. It's great for getting hitters looking.
No doubt, it has the most movement of any pitch ever.
Great fastball. The pitcher uses a grip to make it tail laterally toward the glove side.
Great pitch. Very similar to a splitter but with some tail away from a right-handed batter. There are technically two ways to grip it, both resulting in the same movement but with different speeds. It's a downright nasty pitch, very underrated, and rarely seen.
I'm left-handed, and it definitely feels more natural to throw sidearm for a curveball than any other way. I kind of throw sidearm for any pitch. It has a sharp downward break.
This pitch acts like a curveball. You throw it with the same arm action as when throwing a football.
You grip it around the seams, and as you pitch, you twist your hand so it curves. This pitch is very rare and is one of the best changeups ever.