CURVE (Bender, Hook, Hammer, Uncle Charlie)- As bballman stated earlier, a traditional curve has a 12/6 break or an 11/5 for a righty and 1/7 lefty. Anything higher/lower on the imaginary clock it becomes a slider or slurve. A good curve has tight forward spin with sharp downward break, "it falls off the table". You sometimes hear the saying "he pulled the string on that one", I was taught to turn the light off or pull the string and bring it back through my belly button or belt buckle area with the same speed as my fastball. I varied the speed on my curve based on my grip, but sustained good arm speed. I taught my son the same way, and it's worked out so far. A curve is generally thrown in the 65 to 80 mph range. I did look this up, the average Major League curve is thrown at 77MPH. Nolan Ryan and Bert Blyleven had the best curveballs that I've seen...a little before my time, but Sandy Koufax had a nasty curve too.
SLIDER- A slider is supposed to look like a fastball coming out of the pitchers hand, and it's generally thrown with more velocity. The rotation (axis) of the ball spins a bit sideways which generates the "slide". If you catch or attempt to hit a pitcher throwing you sliders, you can usually pick up a Dot in the middle of the baseball. A good slider will usually break/tilt at the last second. The break or tilt will vary from pitcher to pitcher. I was taught to simulate opening a door knob. My follow through, arm speed, etc...was the same as my other pitches. I don't know what the average velocity of a slider is in the MLB, but I'm guessing 85-88? There are several guys currently throwing sliders in the low 90's, Chapman from the Reds comes to mind. Some of the MLB pitchers with the best sliders that I've seen...Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, and from the right side, Dave Stieb.
SLURVE- IMO...is a pitch that can not be identified as a curve or slider, but has a True Break so someone coined the phrase Slurve to give it a name....A sweeping breaking ball, if you will.
I'm definitely not a pitching guru, just a dad that knows a little about pitching, and this is the most simplistic way I can explain the pitches...but hey, I could be wrong?
