Quote:
Originally Posted by BIG17EASY
That certainly could be true. But a cutter that doesn't cut is in effect a 4-seam fastball. And there are enough of them charted throughout his last seven seasons on Pitch Fx that I doubt their people are wrong nearly 30 percent of the time. If they are, they need people with better baseball IQ.
My point was that a 4-seam fastball is the most basic pitch in the game, so while it may not be a main pitch for some guys, they all know how to throw it. It's as simple as, put your fingers across the horseshoe and just throw it. No manipulation of wrist turn, finger pressure, etc. is needed. And a 2-seam is just a different grip placement and maybe a little bit of finger pressure to get some arm-side run while letting natural arm angle and release point do most of the work.
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A cutter is more akin to a 2-seamer than a 4-seamer.......and yes, anyone can throw a 4-seamer, but that is not the point...anyone can throw a knuckler, too (tell me that you never have)....but that doesn't mean the pitch is in your repertoire......an effective 4-seamer requires plus velocity; my 65 MPH 4-seamer is not a fearsome weapon in my arsenal.....
I would agree, however, that any pitcher hitting 100 MPH on the radar gun, is doing himself an injustice if he doesn't throw a high fastball every once in a while........