The first pitch a pitcher must master is his fastball. There are different ways to throw it, but the most frequently used ones are the two-seam and the four-seam. The two-seam is gripped by placing the pointer and the middle finger along the seams and the thumb underneath the ball. This pitch ha

s a tendency to have downward movement. The four-seam fastball is gripped with the same fingers as the two-seam, but is held across the seams. Four seams will rotate the same way. This pitch usually has a straighter movement and is a little faster than the two-seam. Fastballs enable the pitcher to set up his other pitches.

In conclusion, this shows how important the pitcher and his pitches are. If the pitcher does not have effective pitches, he will have a rough time getting outs. All these pitches are set up by the fastball which allows the other pitches to be effective. The pitcher just wants to keep the batter off balance, which is his main objective.

The slider is a lot like a curveball. It is held the same way as the curveball but the fingers are pointing away from the horseshoe. The main difference b

Some common words found in the essay are:
Baseball America's, batter balance, effective pitches, thumb underneath, placing pointer middle, placing pointer, thumb underneath ball, pointer middle, underneath ball, middle finger, four-seam fastball,
Approximate Word count = 559
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)