PHOENIX – Every pitcher has the same goal when they step on to a mound: get people out. It is the methods by which they try to achieve that goal that differ from pitcher to pitcher.
“You look at a lot of our dominant relievers, a lot of them only have two pitches and some are really good,” Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt said. “And then you look at some of the other guys that have six pitches, and that works too.”
As baseball has progressed, pitchers are turning away from simply relying on a fastball and a dominant off-speed pitch. In today’s game, pitchers may step onto the mound with up to seven pitches in their arsenal, being able to change speeds, locations and movements with each ball thrown.
Every pitch is curated to serve a certain purpose and move a certain way. Every sequence of pitches is given thought long before the game begins. But when does it get to be too much?
“Sometimes I feel like when you have too many options, it’s hard to focus on which one’s probably just the best one at that moment,” Diamondbacks pitcher Paul Sewald said. There’s hit and miss whether it’s important to have a multiple and whether having two really good ones is important.”
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, all types of pitches existed that have since been largely forgotten like the knuckleball, screwball and spitball that would pair with a fastball that was flat and down the middle. As hitters improved at the turn of the century, more pitch movement came into play.
For the longest time, there were just three pitches that almost every pitcher knew: the fastball, curveball and changeup, with the fastball being the building block for all the rest. But as time has passed, more and more iterations of these three have emerged and taken over the game.
“You gotta build an arsenal around you, fastball, around one solid breaking ball and hopefully a good changeup,” Athletics pitching coach Scott Emerson said. “Then you can add to the arsenal after that, whether it’s a cut fastball or a second breaking ball.”
It all starts with the fastball, which has, in its original form, become a near-obsolete pitch. Nearly every pitcher in today’s game, instead of throwing a simple four-seam fastball, throws a variation of it, like a cutter or sinker.
After a fastball, a pitcher will usually have at least one off-speed pitch, something that changes direction and/or speed on its way to the plate, like a changeup or curveball. Pitchers have also started to find new ways to grip the ball, creating more pitches and confusing more hitters.
Once pitches like the slider and splitter started popping up in the arsenals of different pitchers, some hitters got confused and some adjusted well. A reason for that was the progression the pitcher actually made on the pitch thanks to the newly designed balls and laces that were introduced to the game.
If a pitcher is trying to learn a new pitch and doesn’t have time to master it, there are two things they can do: either throw it with the risk of it not doing what they want, or not throwing it and just keeping it in their back pocket until they reach a point of confidence.
The third-time-through-the-order rule comes into play as well when looking at what type and how many different pitches someone throws. When looking at a starter and a bullpen pitcher, a starter has much more reason to learn more pitches, seeing as they will be facing the order two to three times, rather than the one to two times the reliever will.
“In the bullpen, obviously, way different than a starter,” Sewald said. “As a starter, facing their lineup three times, you have to have three, even four pitches to make sure that you can throw at them a third, fourth time.”
But the question still remains: When is enough enough?
A guy who can master two or three pitches will almost always be more successful than someone who has seven different pitches, but only has total confidence in two of them.
“To have the ability to change speed and get hitters out in front or get hitters late on pitches can help you get that weak contact is the goal,” Emerson said. “If you’re constantly chasing, swing and miss from a starter, and your pitch count goes through the roof, well, you’re killing a bullpen, because you’re going five innings and 110 pitches every fifth day, and your bullpen’s got to come for three or four innings every night.”
Good pitchers will know when the new pitches they are trying to learn are ready. Just because they know the grip and what movement to make with their wrist does not mean that they will always have success with the pitch.
While technology has made it easier to evaluate, a pitch can only be ready if the pitcher feels ready to throw it.
“I tried to do the changeup thing. I worked on it, adapting during spring training as much as I could where you have the luxury to kind of see how it looks,” Sewald said. “I think you can kind of check to see what a computer says, and if the grades on it are pretty good, then it’s time to get into a game and see what happens.”
Another big issue with learning a new pitch is consistency. Sometimes, players and coaches will get so caught up in what the computer says or what the video shows that they will seemingly forget that the thing that matters the most is how they feel.
If they are throwing a new pitch and the computer says it’s good and it looks good out of the hand, but the pitcher doesn’t feel good for some reason, that should be a sign. Too many pitchers in today’s game are testing out their new pitches before they feel good about them mentally, which only leads to disaster.
“You can’t put a pitch in unless you know you can (throw it) for a strike,” Sewald said. “That’s really what you need to know is: 75% of the time when I throw it, (is it) where I need to?”
Despite all the challenges and assessments, there are advantages to having so many pitches.
While having two or three great pitches is amazing, that also means there is only so much randomness a pitcher can throw at hitters. Being able to mix up the pitches they throw and when they throw them creates more confusion for hitters in multiple different counts.
“You are looking for your arsenal to have a dominant strike pitch,” Emerson said. “Then you’re looking to have a dominant swing-and-miss pitch, and then you’re looking to have a pitch that can produce weak contact, something that you need to put a ball in play.”
Being able to confuse a hitter and mess with their timing in a 1-0 count or 1-1 count can change the whole course of an at-bat and possibly the whole course of a game. It is so much easier when pitchers have more pitches from which to choose.
Having so many pitches allows a pitcher to build confidence in themselves. As a pitcher learns more and more pitches, they take more time in their bullpen sessions and listen more to their coaches. That builds confidence, allowing them to feel good about both themselves and what they are throwing.
“Some pitches come easier than others,” Pfaadt said. “Once you get it under your belt and get a few good results with it, I feel like the confidence grows and you’re able to throw it more.”
While not every pitch might be working that day, having that huge bag and so many choices allows them to see what pitch might be working that day and which ones aren’t. If a pitch is not working on a particular day, they have others to choose from and see what is working. In an ideal world, all the pitches are working well every time they step on the mound, but in reality, that rarely happens.
“The elite pitcher’s gonna throw 66% strikes or more with three pitches,” Emerson said. “That’s kind of what we’re shooting for. It’s not just about throwing strikes. It’s creating strikes. Can you certainly miss outside to strike some?”
There are both advantages and disadvantages to having so many pitches in an arsenal, but at the end of the day, if a pitcher can get guys out, that is really all that matters.
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