05worldserieschamps wrote:If hitters knew Santana's changeup, among other great pitches, was coming, they could probably hit them about half the time.
That's like saying, if [insert pitcher's name]'s curve ball didn't curve, batters could probably hit it half the time. It's a change-up! The whole point of the pitch is deception. A pitcher's delivery, release point, and arm velocity look near identical to their fastball, but the ball travels 10-20 miles per hour slower on its way to the plate.
Santana's circle change is the best of his three, as in addition to the drastic change of speed, he gets some run inside towards right handed batters. The pitch has become so ingrained that when he carries around a ball during practice, he instinctively holds it in his circle change grip.
05worldserieschamps wrote:If hitters knew Santana's changeup, among other great pitches, was coming, they could probably hit them about half the time.
That's like saying, if [insert pitcher's name]'s curve ball didn't curve, batters could probably hit it half the time. It's a change-up! The whole point of the pitch is deception. A pitcher's delivery, release point, and arm velocity look near identical to their fastball, but the ball travels 10-20 miles per hour slower on its way to the plate.
Santana's circle change is the best of his three, as in addition to the drastic change of speed, he gets some run inside towards right handed batters. The pitch has become so ingrained that when he carries around a ball during practice, he instinctively holds it in his circle change grip.
He throws two varieties of the pitch also.
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." ~George Carlin
SNY.TV's Michael Salfino relays word from the Bill James Handbook that says only Roger Clemens was more successful (as measured by OPS against) last year with the ol' speedball.
Another Blown Save wrote:Casey Fossum probably has the best Eephus pitch
Yeah, the Fossum Flip. That thing has made some really good hitters look really foolish. I think I've seen it come in around 50mph a few times. If you know it's coming it's batting practice but when he slips it in there (maybe once or twice a game in the games I've watched) it completely takes hitters off-guard.
The beauty of the pitch is that hitters know that he throws it. It's in the back of their minds every time they walk to the plate. That's got to make his fastball look quite a bit faster just having that thought in your head, "is he gonna through the flip"?
Liriano has the most dominant slider ive seen. Its just flat out unhittable unless he hangs it. K-Rod has a great slider, but he tends to throw it too much and becomes predictable sometimes when I have watched him.
Another pitch I would like to nominate is the many fastballs of Carlos Zambrano. This guy throws one of the best 2-seamers in the game, a nasty cutter on the lefties, and can paint the edge with a 4-seamer at 96. Not to mention that frisbee slider that fools those righties who hit a whopping .174 against Big Z last season.
I was going to mention Bonderman and Zambrano as nominees for the best 2-seam fastball right now. Wang's is good too but he's just more hittable than those two.
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by looptid » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:22 pm 
