I don’t know if it’s due to the World Series or simply writer’s imaginations but the descriptions given to pitches seem to be getting more elaborate. For example, after game two in describing Yankee pitcher Rivera, it was stated that “… he has done this, amazingly, with one basic pitch — a bat-breaking cut fastball.”
I think we can all understand bat-breaking, but since when does the bat break because of a particular pitch? More often than not it breaks because of where the ball contacts the bat, not the type of pitch thrown.
In regard to the fastball, if it is a true fastball, it can only be thrown one way and have only one effect. But, it is common to see different effects given to the fastball. As I believe I brought out in a previous blog, I read about rising fastballs and sinking fastballs during the past season. It is impossible to have both. Which one is it?
The same applies to the cut fastball. How is it different from a fastball? More importantly, how can it be a true fastball but do something different — if this is what is meant by a cut fastball?
It’s one thing to chalk up comments like this to baseball jargon but this is not simple jargon. When I ask a baseball coach to explain this to me I get evasive answers such as “it depends on the pitcher, it has a slight deviation from a true fastball, it breaks more sharply, it has a slight fade”, and so on.
Just try asking this question of a sportswriter and you will get turned off very quickly if you even get a response. So let’s not hear that this is only jargon unique to baseball. Any jargon, in any sport, must still be able to be explained if it is legitimate. If not, it is simply a figment of one’s imagination.
For more about myths in baseball and other sports see Sports: Is It All BS? and Build a Better Athlete.