YOUTH SPORTS: How to Throw a Curveball or Slider

The key to achieving success on the mound is learning how to mix up – and spot – your pitches. Adding a curveball to your bag of tricks will go a long way.
To achieve any level of success as a pitcher – or even to enjoy striking out your friends during a friendly game at your local park – the art of throwing different pitches can not be understated. While there's nothing wrong with having a blazing fastball – Nolan Ryan built a Hall of Fame career with one – it wasn’t' until Ryan added a wicked curveball to his repetoire that he made the leap from wild flamethrower to living legend.

Throwing different pitches is not as difficult as it may first appear. It comes down to two key facets – how you grip the ball and how you snap your wrist during the pitch. Here are some steps to help you develop a curveball, slider, screwball and even a sinker pitch to compliment your heater:

Tossing the curve

The curveball has a sideward spin that causes it to break inward. Hold the ball with your wrist bent at a 90-degree angle. Your palm should be facing in, toward your body. Your grip is simple: the second and middle fingers should lay across two seams of the ball. Spin is given by applying pressure with your middle finger as you flick your wrist downward. The pitch is thrown with an outward snap of your wrist that causes the back of your hand to face the batter.

Add the slider

The slider is nothing more than a fast curveball. It even looks like a fastball until it starts to break. Sliders are often thrown sidearm, and because of that, the grip is slightly different from that of a curve. Hold the ball with your wrist bent at a 45-degree angle, with your palm half facing in toward you.

Your index and middle fingers should be placed along the seam on the two-seam side of the ball. The middle finger should be cut across the center axis of the baseball, turned toward you.

This may sound like a contortionist act, but when you pick up a baseball you will discover it's not very difficult at all. And when you throw the pitch you'll find it breaks less than a conventional curveball and moves down and across on an even plane.

Baffling the batter with the screwball

Despite it's name, the screwball is not what you'd expect – a wacky pitch designed to utterly baffle the batter. In fact, a screwball is the exact opposite of a curveball. Instead of breaking inward, it spins out. So in order to throw a screwball you must hold the baseball with your palm turned outward.

The grip is also similar to that of a curve – wrist bent at 90 degrees and two fingers draped across two seams. The difference is in the direction the palm must face – either down or back (that is, toward the pitcher).

One quick word of caution: Be careful when throwing the screwball. The reverse wrist snap can cause extra pressure on your wrist muscles. If you do not throw it properly, you can injure your arm quite easily.

That sinking feeling

A sinker is similar to a slider, but the grip is slightly different and the ball's motion drops just as it reaches the plate. To a batter, the sinker looks just like a fastball… until it sinks at the last moment. It's thrown by holding the ball with your wrist bent at a 45-degree angle. Use the same grip as the slider, but your middle finger should be turned away from you. When you throw the sinker, make sure to snap your wrist downward as you deliver it.

While adding the above pitches won't guarantee success, as you learn them, you'll be excited and encouraged as you find yourself able to control movement on the ball. For more information about the art of pitching, visit these Web sites:

www.pitching.com

www.baseball-excellence.com

www.goodswing.com

By Dustin S. Klein
Published: 9/1/2000
 
Courtesy of buzzle.com