What is the most deadly pitching combo?

General Pitching Topics
#1

I was wondering what is the best 3 or 4 pitch repertoire to have for me. I have a average speed fastball, and i usually throw high strike with a four seam. So for a start i was thinking on adding the 2 seam so it will move down in the strike zone. What other two pitches should I have so I can make a deadly combo?

Also, Yesterday before my game I was playing catch from a long distance, I noticed movement on my two seam (mostly horizontal) but when I pitch i dont notice as much, Is it just because the ball is traveling further or am I doing something wrong?

#2

Pitches tail when your arm is fully extended out in front of your body. Maybe when you play long toss you get out further than when you do during pitching.

#3

Oh thanks redwingpitcher, that makes sense…

#4

One of the most lethal pitch combinations I know of is the fastball-slider-changeup. A lot of major league pitchers used it: Spud Chandler, Vic Raschi to name two, and C.C. Sabathia uses it too. This is especially true of sidearm pitchers, who can and do add the crossfire move. With this, a curve ball, although nice to have, is not particularly necessary.
And if you have a two-seam fastball you can keep the ball down and get a lot of ground-ball outs that way. :slight_smile:

#5

Fastball in, changeup away and then 2 seamer in and a bit up, gets a weak grounder all the time.

#6

fb inside, chg, chg usually gets some swing and misses if u can place the chg in the 5 hole

#7

I like to use a high inside fastball, then folowing that an inside 12/6.

#8

It depends on your throwing style. Flamethrowers that have a good hard fastball usually use that pitch in tandem with a slider. The faster your fastball is the less time a hitter has to gear up for it, thus, if you can throw a slider and the hitter has to stay prepared for a hard fastball, by the time they realize it’s a slider and not a fastball, it’s too late. The best locations to throw a slider is the outside corner and let it move outside the strike zone for a swing and miss or run it ight below the hands into the inside corner, both are nearly unhittable if you set them up with hard fastballs.

#9

And if you don’t have a fastball?
I was one of those finesse pitchers who didn’t have a fastball to speak of, so I had to go to an extensive arsenal of breaking stuff, control and command, and deception and misdirection. My best pitch was a slider which I had nicknamed “Filthy McNasty” (after a character in an old W.C. Fields movie) because that was exactly what it was, and my second best pitch was a very good knuckle-curve—both featuring a sharp late break; I built my whole repertoire around those two pitches. I used to get the biggest kick out of watching those opposing batters as they stood there at the plate waiting…and waiting…and waiting…for a pitch they would never get because I didn’t have one…and I would set them up for that slider, especially when I would crossfire it (I was a natural sidearmer). Strike three, and they would return to their benches foaming at the mouth, with nothing but a futile AB to show for it.
My wise and wonderful pitching coach once told me that just about any pitch could be turned into a nice changeup, and he demonstrated a few of them for me. I promptly added them to my repertoire, and I used them wisely and well. And always there was that slider… :slight_smile: :baseballpitcher:

#10

I don’t throw hard Zita, Only 80ish. I rely on finesse and breaking pitches as well. I just know that harder throwers have an advantage naturally in the department of reaction time, but Greg Maddux was one of the best and he mastered command and location. Slider-Fastball…good combo. Randy Johnson threw a hard slider that really complemented his hard fastball.

Any combo is deadly if you master command.

#11

That was where I topped out—low 80s. Somewhere along the line I had picked up a pitch that I called a “whoops” pitch because I didn’t know what else to call it, and when my pitching coach timed it he told me I had a good little four-seamer, 81, 82 MPH, to go with my closetful of breaking pitches and offspeed stuff. I was surprised to find this out.
The funny thing was that when I would come in there with it after a couple of slower pitches the thing looked to the batters as if were coming in at 95! I guess that was where the “whoops” came in—the batter would swing and miss and go “Whoops, missed it again!” And on an 0-2 or 1-2 count—ole Filthy McNasty, and another strikeout. Caught looking or swing and miss, it didn’t matter, it was a strikeout. 8)

#12

[quote=“EricB814”]I was wondering what is the best 3 or 4 pitch repertoire to have for me. I have a average speed fastball, and i usually throw high strike with a four seam. So for a start i was thinking on adding the 2 seam so it will move down in the strike zone. What other two pitches should I have so I can make a deadly combo?
Also, Yesterday before my game I was playing catch from a long distance, I noticed movement on my two seam (mostly horizontal) but when I pitch i dont notice as much, Is it just because the ball is traveling further or am I doing something wrong?[/quote]

Definitely add a changeup and either a curveball or slider.
Changeups- splitter, fosh change, c-change, circle-change.
Play catch for a while using different change-up grips, find which one is most comfortable for you.
A fastball/change-up combo is one of the most dangerous for baseball hitters (I think).

When you were playing catch, were you releasing the ball differently,
holding it tighter, doing anything especially different?