How To Throw a Splitfinger Fastball

Actually the pitch shown is a forkball. I didn't notice any movement on the video. Be sure to read the viewer comments below the video screen.

Splitters and forkballs shouldn't be in the HS arsenal. Too hard to control even by kids with huge hands. Even if you can throw the pitch well, they just aren't very hard to hit even when the pitch happens to arrive somewhere around the strike zone. A few HS/college players have luck with the pitch because they're really using it as a changeup. And there are better ways to throw changeups.

I liked the wise viewer's warning about "showing" the fork grip with the hand held down. If that ball slips to the ground, it's a balk.

There are also concerns about the health effects of that wide split grip on the arm.

Be careful with splitfinger fastball. I know a former MLB pitcher, was named relief pitcher of the year in the AL one season, that had to have two arm surgeries and then out of baseball. He blamed the surgies on the splitfinger fastball and the stress it put on his arm. Told my son not to throw it that there were better pitches to get batters out.

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Originally posted by Michael'sDad:
I know a former MLB pitcher, was named relief pitcher of the year in the AL one season, that had to have two arm surgeries and then out of baseball. He blamed the surgies on the splitfinger fastball and the stress it put on his arm.

This doesn't mean that the splitter was actually the cause of his problems, just that he thought it was.

It could be that he was simply wrong.

Bruce Sutter credits the splitter with saving his career. He picked it up after having series elbow problems.

The same thing goes for the screwball. Some guys think the screwball is the pitch of death. Others think it isn't and that it's being (unnecessarily) scapgoated.

I have seen some guys advise kids to stay away from the knuckleball until they are older due to potential injury risk, which is just ridiculous.

I'm fine with telling kids to stay away from the splitter and the knuckleball until they are older because they are hard to throw well at a young age (which IS true), but don't say that they will kill a guy's arm when that has not been proven (or even studied in a scientific manner).

There are two basic types of splitters. The one shown is of the type used by Jose Contreras. It more closely resembles the fork ball or what Mike Boddicker used to call his "fosh". It's thrown with the same arm motion as a fastball and thus is no more stressful than the fastball.

I will disagree with one post above. The thing moves NASTY and is tough to catch, much less hit. The biggest problem a HS pitcher will have is, if you don't have an A+ catcher the pitch can do you more harm than good.

The Sutter splitter is a different animal. It is released with a sideways spin from the inside of the middle finger moving laterally across the top of the ball. It is highly deceptive because the batter reads sidespin and thinks sideways movement, but it actually breaks mostly downward. This is caused by the same physics phenomenon that makes Greg Maddux's backspin 2-seamer move sideways depending on which side of the ball he emphasizes at release.

This pitch has near-screwball effect on the arm, and I would not recommend it to any young players.

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Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
The Sutter splitter is a different animal. It is released with a sideways spin from the inside of the middle finger moving laterally across the top of the ball. It is highly deceptive because the batter reads sidespin and thinks sideways movement, but it actually breaks mostly downward. This is caused by the same physics phenomenon that makes Greg Maddux's backspin 2-seamer move sideways depending on which side of the ball he emphasizes at release.

Do you have any documentation of this?

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The biggest problem a HS pitcher will have is, if you don't have an A+ catcher the pitch can do you more harm than good.

Agree, It does no good without a good backstop.

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NASTY

I didn't see any nasty movement on the [one] videoed pitch. You do need a good catcher because many will go in the dirt, or Lord knows where.

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Be careful with splitfinger fastball. I know a former MLB pitcher, was named relief pitcher of the year in the AL one season, that had to have two arm surgeries and then out of baseball. He blamed the surgies on the splitfinger fastball and the stress it put on his arm. Told my son not to throw it that there were better pitches to get batters out.

Jeff Russell? Rick Aguilera? just curious...

o be effective you need big hands and long fingers---most young kids don't have these features developed

Painguy:

Just memory of seeing a slo-mo replay of Sutter, I think on ESPN when he went into the HOF.

TRHIT

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sulltiger24

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