Lesson #7 – The Curveball

     When a pitcher has become adept (proficient and consistent) with his fastball and change-up, it is then time to think about a third pitch.  Among those, which rank high for consideration, along with the sinker and slider, is of course, the curveball.  For me, the choice would either be the sinker or curveball as the slider has more negatives than either of those two.  Like the change-up, the curveball is a “feel good” pitch and must be developed (practiced) over a period of time before positive results become a consistent occurrence. 

     Unlike other pitches, the curveball breaks two planes when properly thrown, the vertical (downward) and the horizontal (lateral).  If your arm slot is overhand (12 to 6) your curve will have more downward break than lateral movement and in my opinion, this is the toughest curve to hit because it more or less appears as an optical illusion, that is, the hitter is looking down on the ball and can’t really tell where the ball began to break; therefore he cannot determine or calculate the rate of descent or where it will end up.  If, on the other hand, the curve is thrown by a pitcher with a three-quarter (2 to 8) arm motion, the ball will normally have much more lateral movement than a downward break.  Now the hitter can see and track the ball as it breaks across the horizontal plane and a good hitter can readily gauge or estimate where it will travel.  A laterally thrown curve may be reached with a thirty-four inch long bat but a sharply thrown downward curve must be hit with about one inch of bat!

     To be truly effective, the properly thrown curve will have movement in both directions, both downward and lateral, although, as I’ve said, it will have more movement in one of those directions depending on the pitcher’s arm slot (overhand or three-quarter).  Does the advantage go to the overhand curve? Not necessarily – “2 to 8” thrown curves can be thrown more for low strikes!

Curve – Grip 1	Curve – Grip 1 – Side	Curve – Grip 2 – Thumb In
Figure 39	Figure 40	Figure 41

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