Everyone wants to talk about my slider, and how effective it is, but it really can't be without fastball command. It starts with my fastball, even if the slider is the pitch I want to get to.
Everybody wants to know, 'How do you throw a curveball, how do you throw a slider, how do you throw this and that,' when they can't even locate a fastball. Learn how to control your fastball and then once you've got that, move on to other things.
I never knew how to throw a fastball, never learned how to throw a curveball, a slider, split-finger, whatever they're throwing nowadays. I was a one-pitch pitcher.
I've got a fastball, change-up, forkball, curve, slider, knuckle-slider, knuckle-curve, I had about seven pitches I could have used at any time.
John Wetteland had a very good curveball. He threw it for a strike, too, in any count, any situation. But, he really didn't use it much. He didn't want to throw it. He wanted to throw fastball-slider.
I threw all my pitches over the top which was important for me because my slider was hard to tell from my fastball at release.
I'm pretty proud of my fastball. I can throw a screwball. It's not as accurate, and I don't have the velocity like I do with my fastball, but I think my fastball is not too shabby.
I love the slider. I'll throw it anytime. It helps the curve. The last five feet, it dives toward the left-handed hitter's box. It's a pitch that looks like a fastball coming in. It's a pitch I throw when I need a ground ball with a man on base.
John Wetteland had a very good curveball. He threw it for a strike, too, in any count, any situation. But, he really didnt use it much. He didnt want to throw it. He wanted to throw fastball-slider.
If you can't see the rotation and tell if it's a sink - a fastball, then you have to be able to tell whether that fastball is a two-seamer or a four-seamer. You have to be able to recognize if it's a slider or a curveball. You have to be able to recognize if it's a changeup or a split-finger.
Back in the day when I played, a pitcher had 3 pitches: a fastball, a curveball, a slider, a changeup and a good sinker pitch.
I want to make my fastball better. How do I high-grade my fastball to make it the best fastball in the league? I can only throw so hard. I'm close to my genetic ceiling on my velocity.
Later, I could take something off my slider and I could make my fastball sink, so I really had four pitches.
When you pinch-hit, you know you're getting their best guys, and usually it's a reliever and a guy that's got a really good slider or a really good fastball.
I consciously memorized the speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve, and slider. Then, I'd pick up the speed of the ball in the first 30 feet of its flight and knew how it would move once it has crossed the plate.
I consciously memorized the speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve, and slider; then, I'd pick up the speed of the ball in the first thirty feet of its flight and knew how it would move once it had crossed the plate.