Baseball: Cut Fastballs
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Cut fastballs are sometimes hard to differentiate from sliders. I have to be honest–when a baseball announcer says, A cutter, low and inside, I cannot always tell the difference. There are some subtle differences between baseball pitches. The main difference is in how they are thrown.
Maybe the confusion is that a lot of different types of pitches can fall under the term slider. Cut fastballs can seem to slide left or right and so they can be mistaken for a slider. Usually there is much more movement on a slider–it is more closely related to a curveball than a fastball. Many times sliders are unhittable.
Twenty years ago, the cutter wasnt so widely talked about. Today, pitchers like Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera have popularized the pitch. It is not recommended that younger pitchers practice a slider because it can be brutal on the tendons of the arm. Cut fastballs, on the other hand, are a good place to start.
The Grip on Cut Fastballs
The grip on cut fastballs is off center, which is what causes it to cut left or right. A slider is described as a hybrid of a curveball and a fastball. If a pitch is way off the plate but thrown hard, it is probably a slider–unless the pitcher has completely lost control of his fastball. Every pitcher doesnt use a cutter, but if they do its usually his out pitch.
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Posted on: Friday, June 20, 2008 at 1:56 pm 
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