Andrew Baggarly: You gotta ball? >>Male Audience Member #7: Andrew Baggarly: It would be a little hard without a ball. But basically a four seam fastball is a straight fastball . It's what you throw with maximum velocity. It's one of the first pitch you learn to throw and you try to learn to control it and work bothsides of the plate. And you throw it across the horseshoe so basically your finger's in contact with four seams which is why it's called a 'four seamer'. A two seamer, you
football, which is its real name, but for those who don't know the sport, it's very simple. A fastball coming at the net is going to go in.
These are the two pitches you saw by Daniel Bard. The fastball was the one on the left to Derek Jeter by Daniel Bard, and the sinker was the one that curved so much left to right. Now, for Jon Lester, he's a left-handed pitcher.
And this is something that it's easy to relate, but it's not necessarily easy to explain. We'll fastball the mic at you.
He missed all of last season with some injury and showed up this winter with a couple of more miles an hour on his fastball . And I saw him use 92, 97. His last name's Duron.
It's at Yankee Stadium. And it's a fastball . And even though the physics-- we all know the physics say that the fastball can't rise above gravity.
And he's got five different pitches. The four seam fastball is the one that's going to rise the most. So that cloud of black circles is the one that's the highest velocity.
So now, this is Daniel Bard the good. This red cloud are his fastballs that rise. The one you saw on the left to Derek Jeter, that's the red cloud.
Come on, it's a nice shirt. Mike, you want the fastball ? OK, wait, go there.
And it's a fastball . And even though the physics-- we all know the physics say that the fastball can't rise above gravity. If you appreciate what's going on here, that fastball is defying gravity by having a back spin put on it by the pitcher going up.
There are some people who are just blessed. They're born six foot one and can throw a 100 mile an hour fastball . When you pair these people with someone who's an expert in biomechanics and can actually teach them about fast twitch muscle fibers and air resistance and things like that, it
at your best, when you have three spinners playing in a team. And then I've been picked because I'm more of a symbolic fastballer to be part of the side. Now, being a part of the team, I mean, you've got to contribute to some extent, you know?
And even though the physics-- we all know the physics say that the fastball can't rise above gravity. If you appreciate what's going on here, that fastball is defying gravity by having a back spin put on it by the pitcher going up. Now, it's hard to appreciate, but just look how straight the left-hand image is.
Because it's amazing that when you throw a softball 65 miles an hour-- she can or could-- it gets to the plate in about 4/10 of a second, which is the same time it takes a Major League Fastball , 95 miles an hour thrown from a longer distance, to get to the plate too.
have a big home run, a big home ball park but because a lot of guys are keeping the ball down and that's a big pitch for a lot of guys on the staff. Male Audience Member #8: Can you demonstrate the difference between a cutter and a slider and a four seam fastball and a two seam fastball and a slerve and all those other things? Andrew Baggarly: You gotta ball? >>Male Audience Member #7: Andrew Baggarly: It would be a little hard without a ball. But basically a four seam
So gunpowder, therefore, isn't the wrong answer to this question of what is it that makes a bullet fly, but it is a woefully incomplete answer. Woefully incomplete because any time an object takes flight, be it a bullet, an airplane, a pitcher's fastball , there are two opposing forces at play. There are forces that fuel the object forward, that give it thrust.
That's the fastest pitch. Now, you can see he's got balls that-- the sinker, this gray cloud here, that actually moves a little different than the fastball . These are the two pitches you saw by Daniel Bard.
Was it a slider or was it a cutter? And he referred to it as both. And I kind of – I don't think he wants anybody to know what he's doing but the pitch that he's throwing that's really sort of diving in on the hands of a lefty – that's sort of a two seam fastball . I think – and it's just got a lot of run to it. And that's pretty much what it is.
throw it with your fingers on the seams. Like almost like a fork ball – you throw them outside the seams. They're right on the seams for a two seamer. And because of the way the pressure, the finger pressure, it'll sink. As it gets drag, it'll sink in the strike zone. So basically a two-seam fastball is a sinker. And then a slider -- you have your two fingers together. You have them on one seam and you're basically pushing it off and extending and that allows it to sort of sweep. And then a curve ball you're throwing like