Splitter/Forkball?

General Pitching Topics
#1

Hey guys. I need some help here.

Can anyone define the actual difference between a splitter and a forkball?

I ask this because I don’t know myself the difference and I keep getting confused. I’d like to know so I can post my repertoire for the video analysis with the correctly named pitches.

I thought I was throwing a splitter but then I noticed some comments made on a forkball in these forums and now I’m not completely sure.
The grip is pretty easy. I hold the ball like I’d be throwing a 2-seam fastball and just move my fingers to a splitter grip… fingers apart and the ball deep between them.
When I release it I can get it down to no spin at all sometimes and it has a knuckleball action sometimes. But I do throw it with the same arm speed as my fastball so it just drops at the very end, like a splitter. So that’s why I’ve keep calling it a splitter, because to me it fulfills all the requirements and descriptions of a splitter.

Anyway, then I recently read in these boards that splitter has backspin, and if your pitch doesn’t then it’s a forkball.

So what the heck am I throwing? :wink:

#2

[quote=". a n t o n i o . ."]Hey guys. I need some help here.

Can anyone define the actual difference between a splitter and a forkball?

I ask this because I don’t know myself the difference and I keep getting confused. I’d like to know so I can post my repertoire for the video analysis with the correctly named pitches.

I thought I was throwing a splitter but then I noticed some comments made on a forkball in these forums and now I’m not completely sure.
The grip is pretty easy. I hold the ball like I’d be throwing a 2-seam fastball and just move my fingers to a splitter grip… fingers apart and the ball deep between them.
When I release it I can get it down to no spin at all sometimes and it has a knuckleball action sometimes. But I do throw it with the same arm speed as my fastball so it just drops at the very end, like a splitter. So that’s why I’ve keep calling it a splitter, because to me it fulfills all the requirements and descriptions of a splitter.

Anyway, then I recently read in these boards that splitter has backspin, and if your pitch doesn’t then it’s a forkball.

So what the heck am I throwing? :wink:[/quote]

a splitter is a type of fastball hence the name split finger fastball

and a forkball is an offspeed pitch in the knuckle category I think.

#3

About 10 MPH.

They are the same basic pitch but the splitter is thrown harder.

#4

So I guess that because my pitch is relatively fast compared to my fastball and I don’t slow it down upon delivery it’s just a splitter with knuckle action?

#5

Ok I had asked the same question a month or two back. Here is the link to the thread.
http://www.letstalkpitching.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=38489&highlight=#38489

In short, it sounds like you throw a forkball seeing as you have more of a knuckle ball action on it. A two seamer like Clemen’s or Schilling’s has more backspin and is probably why it is thrown harder.

#6

The important difference is the amount of injuries that the forkball bas caused to many many many pitchers shoulders and elbows.
And it sounds like your definetly throwing a forkball, not a splitter. A real splitter does not have a knuckling action. A splitter should at least look somewhat like a fastball, and really nothing like a knuckleball. If you want an example of a real (and fricking awesome) splitter, look up videos of Roger Clemens when he throws his.

FYI-----Both the Splitter and Forkball are great pitches when thrown correctly, but even then they can, and have been know to, cause many injuries. The forkball, when thrown correctly, or incorrectly, can cause alot of damage to the shoulder and elbow, but especially the shoulder. And when you throw these pitches, with the ball pushed back between your fingers, your putting ALOT of undue stress on the ligaments in your elbow and forearm, and this can lead to horrible cases of Tendinitis that will stick with you for a very long time, ligament and tendon tears, and much much more. The worst of which will be Tommy John, and I think everyone can agree, that is not something you ever want to have.

I do not want to tell you how to pitch, but you can do some serious damage to your arm, and your career, throwing these pitches. Do your self a favor and think about trying something new.

#7

pitchking whats a yellow hammer

#8

LOL. Everyone asks that. You guys need to keep up with the pitching lingo.

The “Yellow Hammer” is an old fashioned curveball. A REAL curve ball. One that you hardly, if ever see anymore in the big leagues. A good example of a yellow hammer…a Sandy Koufax curveball. A yellow hammer is a curveball the gets to about 2 feet or so in front of the plate, you hear a Whooosh, and it goes from your belt, to the dirt.

#9

The important difference is the amount of injuries that the forkball bas caused to many many many pitchers shoulders and elbows.
And it sounds like your definetly throwing a forkball, not a splitter. A real splitter does not have a knuckling action. A splitter should at least look somewhat like a fastball, and really nothing like a knuckleball. If you want an example of a real (and fricking awesome) splitter, look up videos of Roger Clemens when he throws his.

FYI-----Both the Splitter and Forkball are great pitches when thrown correctly, but even then they can, and have been know to, cause many injuries. The forkball, when thrown correctly, or incorrectly, can cause alot of damage to the shoulder and elbow, but especially the shoulder. And when you throw these pitches, with the ball pushed back between your fingers, your putting ALOT of undue stress on the ligaments in your elbow and forearm, and this can lead to horrible cases of Tendinitis that will stick with you for a very long time, ligament and tendon tears, and much much more. The worst of which will be Tommy John, and I think everyone can agree, that is not something you ever want to have.

I do not want to tell you how to pitch, but you can do some serious damage to your arm, and your career, throwing these pitches. Do your self a favor and think about trying something new.[/quote]

Wow. I must admit I had no idea about that. I will definetly keep that in mind.

What even made me start throwing the apparently forkball was just the fact it felt natural and really, I use the same exact motion as when throwing my fastball.
It all began when I was messing around a bit when playing catch trying different stuff. I wanted to just try the splitter grip I had seen around the net and videos. Despite having the ball deep between my fingers it really didn’t even feel uncomfortable due my relatively long fingers and big hands so without really telling my buddie about it, I just threw a fastball but with that modified grip. All I heard few seconds after was: “Dude! WTF was that?” :clap:
Apparently the ball looked that it was coming around belt high but few feet before reaching the glove it dipped under his legs.

I really have no idea how a proper splitter/forkball is supposed to be thrown. I discovered my pitch by accident and started throwing it with the same motion and arm speed as my fastball and supposedly it dips like a splitter, and after throwing it to several other teammates they added that it definetly looks and behaves like a fast knuckler. So I guess it’s a forkball then.

I can’t really describe more than by saying that when I throw that particular pitch I got the “feeling” of when to let go and I guess because of the very wide grip I am able to apply the force in a manner that it leaves my arm with high speed but no spin. I haven’t had the chance to experiment much on it facing batters, but I guess now that I know it can damage my arm in long terms I will not use it as a regular pitch anyway.

Now I’m thinking sorta just bring it in 5-10 times a game as a “nice to have” pitch to keep guys off balance and maybe actually not use it at all before they’re facing me the second or third time. Makes sense?
All in all I’ve got a cutter/gyro/weird thing, a slider and a slow curve to add to my fastball.

My problem is that I haven’t yet developed a slow pitch that I can disguise under my fastball arm speed and action. The one that I can is the cutter/gyro/american-football-spin-type of pitch but it goes roughly 2-3 mph’s slower than my fastball. I’d like something to keep batters off balance. A change-up would be awesome, but so far I don’t seem be able to get it slow enough and accurate either. Also it has a totally different spin, not like Edwar Ramirez’s change that really looks like a fastball. Mine’s just more like a crappy fastball at the moment…

Any ideas from you guys what I’ve maybe missed I could try?

#10

If you have big hands then you could try the circle-changeup. I throw the forkball as my offspeed pitch but I wouldn’t consider myself much of a pitcher. I’ll pitch in the summer and my senior year I’ll be a starter, small school. If I stay on JV I’ll pitch but with the varsity turnout I’m almost positive i"ll be on varsity. I’ve been working on the forkball and haven’t had any arm problems, but I havne’ been throwing it too much.

When I throw it the varsity coach always shakes his head and says uhhh that things nasty then says Bower, only if you had a hard fastball to go with that. :smiley: :roll: . He’s right thought if I want it to work I need a faster fastball.

I was throwing BP today, its open gym the week before tryouts. I’m a sophmore and I was throwing to a pretty inexperinced freshman. The kid behind me when I was throwing was like come on just throw the forkball just do it. I’m pretty serious during BP but I had to try it once. I throw it once in a while during BP but its hard to locate while throwing next a screen and at abnormal distnaces and not off a mound. On the mound I throw it pretty constinately for a strike. It’s a pretty hard pitch to control, if I’m even throwing it right. So I throw it to the freshman, and mind you it isn’t that much slower than the batting practice fastballs I was throwin, just lobbing um in. So I throw it and I think it hit just before the plate and he already commited too far and couldn’t check his swing. :smiley: :smiley: It’s nasty but if I run into arm problems with it I’ll stop, though I don’t pitch that much.

#11

Well here in Finland you don’t have to be worried about throwing too much since in the offseason you can’t really even play catch if it’s not the regular training indoors because of the snow and cold, which is once a week. We can also have up to a month or more in between games during the season :roll:

Anyway, sounds like you’ve got a good one there. Since you’re concerned about not having a fastball fast enough to complement your forkball, may I ask your fastball’s speed?
I personally think that you can still have success as long as your offspeed stuff has movement and is slower than your fast stuff.

#12

There’s no proof that this is true.

Many pitchers with arm problems pick up the splitter (e.g. Bruce Sutter), but people blame the splitter when those arm problems crop up again.

I think the splitter and forkball are actually relatively safe. Certainly safer than the slider and cutter.

#13

LOL. Everyone asks that. You guys need to keep up with the pitching lingo.

The “Yellow Hammer” is an old fashioned curveball. A REAL curve ball. One that you hardly, if ever see anymore in the big leagues. A good example of a yellow hammer…a Sandy Koufax curveball. A yellow hammer is a curveball the gets to about 2 feet or so in front of the plate, you hear a Whooosh, and it goes from your belt, to the dirt.[/quote]
do you actually hear a whoosh or is just for effect?

#14

There’s no proof that this is true.

Many pitchers with arm problems pick up the splitter (e.g. Bruce Sutter), but people blame the splitter when those arm problems crop up again.

I think the splitter and forkball are actually relatively safe. Certainly safer than the slider and cutter.[/quote]

Thanks Chris for bringing some new info on this one.

This makes sense since like I said, I use the exact same motion as if I’d be throwing my fastball. Like a change, I let the grip do the work. It’s kind of surprising to hear that by simply moving your fingers apart stresses your arm dangerously more than a regular fastball. But since you both guys agree that it does/has lead to arm problems I shall get a bit more careful with my pitch.

Thank you both very much.

#15

There’s no proof that this is true.

Many pitchers with arm problems pick up the splitter (e.g. Bruce Sutter), but people blame the splitter when those arm problems crop up again.

I think the splitter and forkball are actually relatively safe. Certainly safer than the slider and cutter.[/quote]

You need to do more research.

When you put the ball deep between the fingers you spread the tendons/ ligaments near/in the elbow, and when you apply the force and style needed to throw these pitches correctly, it often leads to injuries, most prominently in those who are not completely developed.

You need to do some research.

#16

There’s no proof that this is true.

Many pitchers with arm problems pick up the splitter (e.g. Bruce Sutter), but people blame the splitter when those arm problems crop up again.

I think the splitter and forkball are actually relatively safe. Certainly safer than the slider and cutter.[/quote]

You need to do more research.

When you put the ball deep between the fingers you spread the tendons/ ligaments near/in the elbow, and when you apply the force and style needed to throw these pitches correctly, it often leads to injuries, most prominently in those who are not completely developed.

You need to do some research.

Safer than the cutter? Are you freaking serious?!?! Now i am positive you dont have a clue.