Video:Common Pitches in Baseball

Transcript:Common Pitches in Baseball

How are you doing? Kris Totten here from Akadema Sporting Goods, here for About.com. I'm going to go over the common pitches in baseball. A few common pitches in baseball today are the four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, curveball, and the changeup.

Four-seam Fastball

The four-seam fastball is the most commonly used pitch today. You've got your thumb directly underneath the baseball. You've got your middle finger and your index finger running across the seam. It's the fastest pitch, it's the straightest pitch. To get started, you are going to want to line yourself up, feet shoulder width apart, square your shoulders off to the catcher. Go through your motions. You are going to take a step back, pivot, get a good balance point. Stride toward your catcher, keeping your weight back, arm up and then explode.

Two-seam Fastball

For the two-seam fastball, you are going to want to get your fingers on the seams. Your middle finger and index finger will be sitting right on top of the seams. You are going to go through all of your motions the same, just like you are throwing a four-seam fastball, a curveball, a changeup. The motion stays the same, the only thing that's changing is your grip on the baseball. You are going to square your shoulders up to your target, get your balance, stride toward your target, arm up, extend out toward to the target.

Curveball

A curveball is another pitch used to deceive the pitcher. Instead of going straight like a fastball, the curveball is going to go north to south. To hold your curveball, you are going to place your index and middle finger on the half of the horseshoe of the baseball. To get started, make sure you have you proper grip on the curveball, your index and middle finger are on the seam. Squaring your shoulders up to your target, taking that step back, pivoting, maintaining a proper balance point, and exploding. Keeping that weight back, getting the elbow up, and exploding to the zone. Stay on top of that baseball.

Changeup

Another common pitch used today by pitchers is the changeup or the off-speed pitch, it's very effective in deceiving the hitter. This pitch you are going to want to hold in your hand very loose. You are going to hold it like you are holding a two-seam, but you are going to slide your fingers over to the side of the baseball. You are going to form a circle with your thumb and your pointer finger.

Your middle finger and your ring finger are going to sit very loosely on the laces, you are going to hold it out in your fingertips. You are going to get set up, you are going to square your shoulders up, feet shoulder width apart, hands up, you are going to take a step back, you are going to pivot, you are going to balance, you are going to keep your weight back while getting your arm up, as soon as that foot lands, you are going to extend out toward your target. Keep the the circle that you formed pointed down toward the ground. You are just going to let the ball ride out of your fingers and it is going to die as it gets to the plate.

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