When I first started pitching in prep school I took lessons at a place in Massachusetts. While I was there I was taught to throw what I was told was a cutter. When I first started throwing it, it behaved just like a cutter is supposed to, breaking late into left handed batters ( I am right handed). After a few years of pitching my velocity has increased and I have noticed a change in the behavior of this pitch (without making any changes to my mechanics at all). It has begun to tail down and in to lefty batters. It seems to do this only when I throw harder. Even when I throw lightly while warming-up now it does not have the downward motion.
The grip I learned for it (sorry but no picture at the moment) was to hold it with the index and middle fingers angled across the section where the seams are closest together. the two fingers are held together from the right seam to the left at an angle ( the fingers are mor so between the seams than on them. They way the delivery was described to me was “Throw it like a football”. meaning with the thumb on the inside and the two griping fingers away from the body.
I searched around the internet trying to figure out what thos pitch really is. my catcher gets confused when I call it a cutter, he thinks its more slider like, and so I was hoping someone could tell me what I have really been throwing all this time.
Thanks