Simple Grips Part 2

Last time we talked about the 4-seam fastball, which in my opinion is the most important grip whether we're playing the field or pitching. Today I'm going to go over my favorite grip; the 2-seam fastball.

Opposite of the 4-seam, the 2-seam is held with the fingers along the laces. We still need to keep our finger tips on the seams in order to really feel the pitch but now more of our finger is also resting on the lace.

As with the 4-seam, the thumb is going to be placed directly underneath the index and middle fingers.

Unlike the 4-seam, the 2-seam is going to move. As a right-handed pitcher, the ball is going run back into a righty batter, or away from a lefty batter. Vice versa for leftie pitchers.

The .gif above shows why the ball is going to move. Once the index finger leaves the baseball, the middle finger is still influencing the rotation. Instead of 4 seams traveling one over the other through the air, the 2-seam creates an imbalanced spin. This imbalance causes the air to travel over the seams differently, causing the "run".

While in college this was my primary pitch, even over the 4-seam. Its a great pitch to have in one's arsenal on the mound as it can be used in any situation. Keep an eye out for more posts as we move into "out pitches" like the curveball, change-up, etc. Thanks for reading!