The Curveball and Slider Dilemma

 The Curve and Slider

By: Frank Fraschetti 

    What are a Curveball and Slider:

    - Some people will want to argue and say there is no difference between these two different pitches. The best way to understand this without a visual example, think of a clock. When you are thinking of the clock think about where the 12 is and the 6. This is the movement of how the Curveball should break, or move. This is why if you watch baseball or people talk about it, they will say things such as "that was a good 12 to 6 curve." It is very important to have this movement because if not it will look like your slider and it is hard to tell the difference. The slide is a 2 to 7 type of movement. This is more at an angle than straight up and down. This pitch goes away from a right-handed hitter and into a left-handed hitter when thrown by a right-handed pitcher. 

Which pitch is better?

    - I would not say one pith is better than the other because every pitcher is different. Some pitchers may not even throw both of these which is not a bad thing at all. To answer the question, knowing when to throw the pitch in certain counts and to certain hitters makes the pitch better at certain moments. I also always say that if the pitch works, no one cares what it was or where it was located. So there is no exact answer to this question, but I would say that it is very important to understand where and how to throw it correctly.  

What makes these pitches so special:

    -  The picture above, shows how the hitter is off balance. This is truly the goal of a curveball or slider. Obviously, if the hitter swings through it and misses, then that is the best-case scenario. The main objective of these off speed pitches is to get the hitter off balance. Like Adam talked about with spin rate, these are pitches that if the spin rate is high along with spin efficiency, the pitch will break more, resulting in a better pitch. All of these little details are what make the biggest difference to these pitches. 

Conclusion:

       - The deciding factor of which pitch is best all depends on the pitcher. There is no clear way to determine this other than watching the pitcher or using Rapsodo or other devices that measure the spin rate, efficiency and direction. There are many different grips for each pitch and it is all about finding one that is comfortable. All in all, these pitches are both useful and just like any other pitch, it is important to know when and where to throw it.