Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Hough
A "splitter" is a split-finger fastball. That's the real name of the pitch, although it was known by some other informal names before it become more widely used in MLB. It is a fastball and definitely NOT an off-speed pitch. You can throw it with the same speed as a regular fastball, and many pitchers have thrown it that way. The whole point of the pitch is that it's a fastball where the bottom suddenly drops out as it reaches the plate.
You're seeing it prominently in the 1980s because that's when Roger Craig taught it to a lot of guys such as Jack Morris while Roger was a pitching coach. Many of the pitchers he coached went on to use the split-finger fastball as a primary fastball pitch, and it spread throughout both leagues.
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I copy this from MLB.com
Splitter (FS)
Definition
A pitcher throws a splitter by gripping the ball with his two fingers "split" on opposite sides of the ball. When thrown with the effort of a fastball, the splitter will drop sharply as it nears home plate.
Splitters are often referred to as "split-finger fastballs," but because of their break and lower velocity, they don't hold much in common with a typical fastball. They're generally thrown in the same situations that would see a pitcher throw his breaking and off-speed pitches. A splitter is generally only slightly faster than a changeup.
Splitters are a relatively uncommon offspeed pitch, but they are still used with some prevalence.
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So they think it's an uncommon off-speed pitch. I doubt a splitter gets up in high 90s, or would it ???
In my example with Tewksbury I can't see were the splitter came from. Neyer/James got a sinker, curve, slider. So that's what I reacted on. A sinker is definitly a fastball.
My edit will see if I change this splitter to a sinker and see how he performs, but guess it will be hard to know how much an edit will influence the game.
Mentioning Jack Morris I had a look. In 1986 he had a fastball,slider,change and forkball. That's in-game.
I think the pitches they get when inported in the year they start will stick, so if they developed a new pitch later on it will not pop-up. Hope I'm wrong.
But I have seen pitches on some pitcher in early 80s that in books telling this or that pitcher didn't develop until their last years some 10-12 years after.
I have always been thinking that types of pitches didn't play any role in-game, just how many types they have. At least 3 for a starter and that's it.