Suggestion for Future Puresim: Pitches

[Johnny Slick]

To be honest, I think that modeling individual pitches would work much better in Puresim than in OOTP because of the moddable nature of the former. Actually, OOTP does sort of have pitches in the game, but they are purely cosmetic. Below is a list of pitches I'd like to see implemented in the game, their general effects, and other notes.

My concept here is to have pitchers be "born" with a few pitches and gain proficiency in them and learn new ones as their career progresses. They can be used in some cases to offset the effects of age (think Jamie Moyer and Hoyt Wilhelm) and in general add a whole new level of role-playing to the game. This could, of course, wreak havoc with historical leagues (the Lahman database, of course, only holds stats, not biographical info like this).

Some of my sources: personal observation, Tim McCarver's "The Thinking Fan's Guide To Baseball", Rob Neyer and Bill James' "Guide To Pitchers", Wikipedia.

Deliveries
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Not exactly a pitch, no, but these are necessary. Think of them as character classes.

Straight Overhand
Description: A pitcher who throws straight overhand throws his pitches over the top of his body.
Examples: Tommy John
Effects: Since movement on this pitcher's throws tends to be up-and-down, he won't be able to throw breaking pitches that move right to left or vice versa such as the regular curve or the screwball. However, this is the only delivery that can master the 12-to-6 curve.
Era: The entire pitching mound era (late 1890s to present)

Three-Quarter
Description: As the name implies, halfway between overhand and sidearm. This class would also include pitchers who throw from a variety of angles like Joaquin Andujar.
Examples: Randy Johnson and a whole bunch more.
Effects: The most common variety of delivery. Allows a pitcher to learn pretty much every pitch, but cannot become really proficient in a couple (the knuckler, the 12-to-6 curve). Because most everything this pitcher throws comes from the side, there is a slight platoon bonus compared to the straight overhand delivery.
Era: Pitching mound to present.

Sidearm/Submarine
Description: These pitchers throw the ball from the side or even at a slight downward angle. Some of the extreme submariners graze the ground with the tips of their knuckles when they throw the ball.
Examples: Dan Quisenberry, Kent Tekulve, Chad Bradford, Carl Mays
Effects: Cannot throw anything that doesn't have a demonstrative downward movement to it. Historically, these pitchers are ideally suited for bullpen work because of the limited number of pitches they can throw and the ease of the pitching style that allows them to throw 40 pitches one night and still be able to pitch the next. Moderate platoon effect.

Knuckleball
Description: A three-quarter or overhand delivery with little to no windup that allows the pitcher to push the dancer out of his hands.
Examples: Charlie Hough, Tim Wakefield, Hoyt Wilhelm
Effects: Required to throw the knuckleball. It's really hard to throw a good, fast fastball from this delivery, so pitch selection is extremely curtailed. Little to no platoon effect.
Era: The first people to completely rely on the knuckler did not do so, I don't believe, until the 1930s.

Cross-pitch
Description: In the days before the pitching mound, some pitchers would start at one extreme corner of the pitcher's box and end on the furthest corner. This created a ball that would come in to the batter at an extreme angle.
Examples: Silver King
Effects: Obviously, very few pitches can be thrown from this delivery, but that's okay because very few pitches were available to pitchers at the time this was used. Heavy platoon effect.

Fastballs
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Yes, there are several types. Every pitcher is "born" with at least one of these, and the vast majority of pitchers throw these more than any other pitch.

Straight Fastball
Description: A fastball with little to no movement on it. For whatever reason, every Japanese pitcher who has to date come to the states has had this as their primary pitch.
AKA: ...
Examples: Hideo Nomo, Andy Benes
Effects: The bread and butter pitch if ever there was one. Provides a slight platoon bonus.
Era: There from the beginning.

Rising Fastball
Description: Fastballs, of course, do not literally "rise"; they're an optical illusion created by the way a major league hitter follows a ball being pitched to him. A 5-star riser can end up a foot or more above where the hitter thinks it should be (witness the last pitch of Randy Johnson's first no-hitter in Seattle, where the batter swung and missed at a ball above his head).
AKA: Four seam fastball, the riser, upshoot, the high cheese
Examples: Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson
Effects: Increases fly balls and homeruns (because it's higher than a batter expects it to be), increases walks and strikeouts (because it so often ends up out of the strike zone).
Era: 1890s-present

Split-fingered fastball
Description: Exactly the opposite of the riser, it comes in looking like a regular fastball but then drops to the bottom or out of the strikezone.
AKA: Sinking fastball (actually, technically that's probably a different pitch but the effects are so similar I'm going to group them as one), two-seam fastball, splitter, dropshoot.
Examples: Kazuhiro Sasaki, Mike Scott.
Effects: Increases ground balls, decreases homeruns and extra-base hits. Decreases walks and strikeouts because the forward spin put on the ball to make it tumble downward also reduces velocity. Rumored to have a deleterious effect on pitchers' careers. SPECIAL EFFECT: A relief pitcher can be very, very effective with a straight fastball-splitter combo because they look so similar coming out of a pitcher's hand and if a hitter guesses wrong, he actually will miss the ball. This would increase strikeouts (and not necessarily walks) but also increase homeruns because it's basically a gamble-selection.
Era: The splitter is a relatively new invention, dating back only to the 1970s. However, if one includes the regular old sinking fastball into this, it can be said to have dated back to the 1890s as well.

Cut Fastball
Description: A fastball that slides off one side or the other of a pitcher's hand.
AKA: Cutter
Examples: Mariano Rivera
Effects: Increases platoon bonus. When used by itself or with few other pitches, this seems to be one of the rare pitches that can actually lower someone's hits per balls in play.
Era: Late 1980s to present, although the occasional Three Finger Brown also threw something very similar.

Purpose Pitch
Description: A high, inside fastball generally not thrown for a strike so much as to keep the hiter from crowding the plate.
AKA: The What Are You, Trying To Kill Me? pitch, brushback
Examples: Pedro Martinez, Don Drysdale
Effects: Reduces homerun rates by backing hitters off the plate. At lower levels of proficiency, can increase hit batsmen, but a look at Pedro's career HBP totals demonstrates that this is not a foregone conclusion. Hit batsmen resulting from this pitch are more likely to result in serious injuries, ejections, and suspensions. More effective before the advent of the batting helmet in the 1950s than today.
Era: The brushback is as old as baseball itself.

Curves and Sliders
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Regular Curve
Description: Generally thrown 3/4ths or sidearm, this pitch spins down and away from like-handed batters.
AKA: Everybody I know just calls it the curve. A really good one might be stamped the "big breaking curve". Okay, the Eck called it a "yakker".
Examples: Bob Feller
Effects: Good platoon bonus. Increases HR rates because a hanging curve is just a slow fastball. At higher levels, increases strikeouts because it makes
Era: 1880s to present.

Slow Curve
Description: Like a curve, only slower. Dave Fleming once threw one clocked at 55 mph.
AKA: ...
Examples: Dave Fleming
Effects: This is more of a trick pitch: it's very hard to master, and if a pitcher isn't proficient, it can result in, to put it bluntly, batting practice (think: lots of homers). Because the curve is so huge, it increases walks as well. It's so slow that even if a batter guesses wrong on it, he can adjust in time to hit it. Therefore, it's only the quality of the pitch itself and not the pitcher's velocity, stuff, or control that determines how well it works.

12-to-6 Curve
Description: A curve thrown straight overhand so that the axis of its spin is straight down rather than down and away.
AKA: The drop-curve, big overhand curve, drop-ball
Examples: Tommy John
Effects: A very hard pitch to master, as it takes a lot of strength to throw a curve ball directly over your body. Increases groundballs and decreases homeruns. At higher levels, increases strikeouts as well because it is not easy to track.

Screwball
Description: A curveball thrown with a reverse spin so that it goes down and in to like-handed batters.
AKA: The reverse curve, scroogie, fadeaway.
Examples: Christie Mathewson, Carl Hubbell, Jim Mecir
Effects: Reverse platoon effect as heavy as the regular platoon effect a regular curve ball imparts. Over time, it tends to mess with a pitcher's tendons - you can usually tell a lifelong scroogie pitcher at a glance because his pitching hand naturally rests palm-out when he's standing.

Slider
Description: A breaking pitch thrown faster than the curve but with more movement than a fastball.
AKA: The nickel curve, "Mister Snappy".
Examples: Randy Johnson, Dwight Gooden
Effects: Used as an out pitch by a lot of strikeout artists. Increases K rates with only a slight increase in BB and HRs. Rumored to be bad on some pitchers' arms.
Era: First developed in the 1950s, although old timers in that period would tell you that the "nickel curve" was used by people since the pitching mound. SPECIAL EFFECT: Muy effectivo when used in conjunction with the splitter (think every 3rd person who pitched in the 1970s - that sinker-slider combo was just plain devastating).

"Gyroball"
Description: A curve thrown with the hand moving away from the body during the delivery rather than towards it.
AKA: The shooto
Examples: Greg Maddux (maybe), apparently very popular in Japan, where it was invented
Effects: Supposedly easier on the arm than the curve, but other than that provides much of the same effects. The platoon bonus would be a little bit smaller, as the outward motion of the hand and arm doesn't complement the curve quite as well as the American version.

Knuckle Curve A
Description: A curve thrown with a grip similar to an actual knuckleball. It comes out looking something like a curve but is a lot less predictable.
AKA: ...
Examples: Burt Hooton, Jason Isringhausen
Effects: Since this pitch is part knuckleball, it is a. a lot harder to learn to throw than most pitches, and b. it decreases hits per balls in play. Also imparts a platoon bonus, although not quite as large of one as a regular curve

Knuckle Curve B
Description: A curve thrown with the knuckles to impart a tighter spin.
AKA: That think Mike Mussina throws
Examples: Mike Mussina
Effects: A bigger platoon bonus than the regular curve, although it's a little harder to learn to throw and a bad one will result in a lot more homeruns.

Slurve
Description: A cross between a curve and a slider (which is already a cross between a curve and a fastball).
AKA: ...
Examples: (help me out here, guys)
Effects: Provides the bonus to Ks that a slider gives you and some of the platoon bonus of a curve. Harder to throw than a regular curve, and at lower levels of proficiency even higher HR rates occur, since this pitch doesn't break as hard and is closer in speed to a fastball.

Change-Ups
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Circle Change
Description: A ball thrown while nestled in the palm. It looks like a fastball coming out but is 10-15 mph slower.
AKA: Palmball (purists may disagree with me combining the circle change with the palmball, but the effects are similar), foshball, change of pace.
Examples: Jamie Moyer, Roy Halladay
Effects: Solid reverse platoon effect - I'm not sure exactly why, but practicioners of this pitch seem to have reverse splits. Increases fly balls (especially pop-ups) and, particularly at lower levels, homeruns. The effectiveness of this pitch depends on not only the proficiency of the pitch itself, but the proficiency of the pitcher's fastball, since the whole point of why the pitch works is that the hitter gets way ahead of it. Note that velocity need *not* be a factor; many of the best changes are thrown by guys who have trouble breaking 85 mph on a windy day.

Straight change
Description: It's basically just a fastball with some of the juice taken off of it.
AKA: Change of pace
Examples: Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez
Effects: This pitch is really there to simulate the people who are adept at changing speeds. Since the straight change is slower and more controllable than a regular fastball, it decreases BBs without necessarily decreasing K rates. Like the circle change, the success of this pitch depends not only on the proficiency of the pitch itself but of the pitcher's regular fastball.

Forkball
Description: The baseball, when thrown, is cradled between the index and middle finger. It's like a splitter, only slower and with more drop.
AKA: Dropball (yeah, pitches can be kind of confusing this way - different pitches can have the same name because they look so similar coming out of a man's hand)
Examples: Elroy Face
Effects: Increases ground balls, decreases HRs. Can be used like the splitter in conjunction with a straight fastball to great SPECIAL EFFECT.

Other Pitches
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Knuckleball
Description: A ball thrown with the knucklers or the fingertips so that it leaves the pitcher with very little spin of any kind. This makes it a very, very unpredictable pitch.
AKA: The dancer, knuckler
Examples: Tim Wakefield, Charlie Hough, Jim Bouton in "Ball Four"
Effects: Probably the hardest pitch to master, which is why only a handful of players each generation learn to use it. Neither stuff not velocity have any effect on this pitch; rather, its success in use is based on the proficiency of the pitcher with the pitch itself. Decreases hits per balls in play. Can only be thrown from the knuckleball delivery.

Knuckleball II
Description: A version of the knuckler thrown from a regular delivery.
AKA: ...
Examples: Eddie Cicotte
Effects: Very rarely if ever used in the modern age. The 2nd hardest pitch to learn after the real knuckleball. Speed and stuff have a larger effect (read: they have an effect) on this pitch than with its regular counterpart.

Eephus
Description: Throw the ball as high as you can into the air and have it fall towards home plate. The ideal eephus hits the ground just in back of the plate itself.
AKA: The LaLob (when thrown by Dave LaRoche), the Space Ball, the folly floater
Effects: Massively reduces homeruns at high proficiencies - for example, Rip Sewell was one of the few players in baseball history to rely on the eephus and he gave up just one homerun in his entire career (and that one, according to wikipedia, should have been an out). At lower proficiencies (which is the level to where most pitchers who do pick it up are at), actually increases homers because, well, it's a trick pitch. Hard to control, so increases walks, but doesn't have an effect one way or the other on strikeouts because, despite the sub-50mph speed, it can cause frustrated hitters to swing wildly at it. Velocity has no effect on this bad boy.

Spitball
Description: The ball is spat upon or rubbed with some kind of liquid - Vaseline has long been popular. The rubbed spot will make the ball dip erratically.
AKA: The spitter
Examples: Gaylord Perry, Don Drysdale, Jamie Moyer (rumored, though personally I think he just throws a really good circle change), Mike Scott (also rumored - in fact, a lot of the people who threw the split-fingered fastball in the 1980s were accused of throwing the spitter)
Effects: Reduces homeruns and increases groundballs due to the downward motion of the pitch, increases walks and strikeouts. Very hard to master for two reasons. For one, its use requires a great deal of deception: not only does a pitcher need to conceal his spitting, but to really make it work he needs to make the batter think about the spitball even when he's not throwing it (for example, by spitting into his glove when the batter's looking but the umpire isn't). Also, it's actually not so easy to throw the pitch. Illegal after 1920, so its use has a slight chance of resulting in ejections and suspensions. Note the use of the word "slight". In reality, it is very hard to catch a good spitball artist in the act, and any physical evidence on the ball itself can be eliminated by rolling it towards the umpire in the infield grass or by wiping it off.
Era: Actually didn't start to be used until the early 1900s, made illegal in 1920, but used by crafty old veterans ever since.

Emery Ball
Description: Part of the surface of the ball is actually defiled with a bit of emery board or a thumbtack.
AKA: Mudball, cut ball.
Examples: Rick Honeycutt, Double Duty Radcliffe
Effects: Basically the same as the spitter, except that a. it's easier to learn to use, and b. the chances of getting caught are far, far greater. It's very easy to look at a brand-new baseball and see scratch marks on it that shouldn't be there. And what do you do when the umpires do catch you? If you throw away the board or, in Rick Honeycutt's case, the thumbtack, they'll see you do it and find it.

Beanball
Description: A ball thrown at a batter's head or, in extreme versions, behind his head (since the natural inclination is to duck backwards when a ball is thrown at you).
AKA: ...
Examples: not applicable
Effects: This isn't actually a pitch that players "master" per se. Rather, it's a punishment pitch that's either ordered by the manager or served up by the pitcher himself if he thinks the player is showboating or otherwise not playing the game like it should be played. For example, a guy who deliberately swings at a wild pitch when he has 2 strikes against him already so he can easily take first base is a prime candidate for the beanball. Greatly increases the chances of a hit batsman and severe injury (Mickey Cochrane's career was ended by a beanball). In today's game, any pitcher caught throwing a beanball is ejected immediately. Even in the past, its use was frowned upon and would often result in a retalitory beaning, which would then occasionally cause a brawl.

If anyone has any more pitches I've forgotten, feel free to add them!

[Rhett]

All I have to say is amazing job, thats a great collection of information! Whether it can be implimented in the game or not, I found it to be a great read. Superb job of research and collecting all the info into one location, I can definately say I learned a few things that I didnt know about different pitches.

[Edward]

[/quote]

Rip Sewell was one of the few players in baseball history to rely on the eephus and he gave up just one homerun in his entire career

I didn't believe this when I read it & sure enough baseball-reference has Rip Sewell
getting taken deep 116 times.

but that didn't take away from the nice post. But you did forget to add one pitch!
Wild Pitch.
[:D]

[ChiefT]

What... How long did that post take you? You miss any classes? Miss any graduations? Weddings? Any APBs out for you? You tell your boss that you were gonna be gone for that long?

Go have a sandwich.

[Johnny Slick]

I didn't believe this when I read it & sure enough baseball-reference has Rip Sewell
getting taken deep 116 times.

Oops. I meant, "off the eephus". All his other homers were allowed off of other pitches from what I've read.

Hey, and ChiefT, surely you've had a couple hours to kill in the past. Also, when you're trying to write something big, writing something small like this is procrastination that feels like positive work. Kind of like finally tackling that big kitchen clean-up when you really should be studying for that big test that means 64% of your grade.

[Amaroq]

Good post, Johnny Slick. Keep the ideas coming!

[John David]

Great Job Johnny!

Awesome read![&o]

[puresimmer]

Wow, interesting read. Keep those ideas coming.

That's why I love the PureSim community -- this place can be really inspirational when I am in the doldrums (which is where I'm at now).