Pitching in the Modern Era

  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...

  Spin Efficiency by: Adam Jeannette What is it?       -Spin rate is a common word used in modern-day baseball broadcasts. With devices around the world such as Rapsodo, Trackman, Pitch Logic, Diamond Kinectics and Hawkeye, data on different pitches is available to players and fans now more than ever before. "Spin rate" has become a buzzword of some sort, with announcers raving about it every chance they get. Often times, these announcers do not entirely understand the meaning behind spin rate and how it affects different pitches. This is where spin efficiency comes into the equation. Spin efficiency is the amount of spin inflicted on a pitch which is used. I know this may sound confusing, but I promise you it is not. For example, if Jacob DeGrom throws a fastball at 2500 RPMs with 50% spin efficiency, only 50% of that spin is useful for affecting movement characteristics of the pitch. The other 50% of spin that is not useful is cha...