Hitting a baseball is extremely difficult for a variety of different reasons. Pitches vary in speed, movement, and breaking point. Each different type of pitch carries a different generalized speed, movement, and breaking, meaning some can prove more consistently difficult to hit than others.
Different Types of Pitches
There are over ten different kinds of pitches that pitchers may choose to utilize throughout a single game. These vary from four-seam fastballs to change-ups and even curveballs. The pitcher moves the ball through the use of spinning it as it leaves their fingertips. Each pitch has its own signature movement that deceives the batter in many different ways.
Top Two Most Difficult Pitches to Hit In Baseball
The most difficult baseball pitch to hit varies according to the hitter's capabilities, knowledge, and preferences. Each baseball player has their own specialties. However, the two pitches that stand out to be the hardest to hit are the splitter and the slider. This conclusion is backed by research that has been done to detect the whiff rate for various pitches. The whiff rate represents how many times the batter missed the ball when swinging at a given pitch. After thoroughly observing this factor, the splitter had a 19.4% whiff rate while the slider had a 17.5% whiff rate. This means that once a pitcher throws a splitter, there is only an 81.6% chance the batter will manage to put the bat on the ball. Furthermore, once a pitcher throws a slider, there is only an 86.5% chance that the batter will make contact. Naturally, this is under the assumption they even attempt to swing.
The Slider
From a pitcher's perspective, a slider has a unique grip like the rest of the abstract pitches. You grip a slider by placing your pointer and index finger slightly off-centered from the middle of the ball, having only your middle finger resting on the seam. Your thumb follows underneath for grip laying on the opposite seam, and the leftover two fingers remain off to the side. After you have the proper grip, it is all about the snap of the wrist and when you release the ball from your hand.
A slider is a breaking ball where it breaks abruptly, changing the direction of the ball. This pitch breaks either down and away or down and towards the batter, depending on the handedness of the hitter and pitcher, making the pitch initially seem inside of the zone before sliding out of it or outside of the zone before sliding into it. In addition, a slider is thrown with a much higher velocity compared to most other breaking pitches.
The Splitter
On the other hand, a splitter is also a complex type of pitch that takes lots of practice to perfect. You grip a splitter by placing your pointer and index fingers spread apart on the ball outside of the seams. Placing your fingers here helps increase the rotation of the ball and add break. Your thumb follows underneath, and your leftover fingers linger off to the side, keeping them close to the palm of your hand. Each finger should be at even distances from each other, establishing a triangle-like formation when looking at your fingertips. After you obtain the proper grip, it’s time to give the pitch a try by winding up and snapping your wrist. After the ball is thrown, a splitter is known to break down suddenly once reaching over the plate. This pitch was designed to make the batter swing early, therefore, inducing weak contact. A splitter is a difficult pitch to hit due to its abrupt change in motion and velocity.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina celebrate the team's 6-1 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates. (Photo by Scott Kane/Icon Sportswire)
It’s often said that one of the toughest things to do across all professional sports is hit a major-league fastball. The average Joe can sink a three-point shot or a 30-foot putt with practice, but only a select few have the ability to hit a 90-mph pitch.
Major league hitters are in a class of their own, but unfortunately for them, the pitchers are getting paid too. From Christy Mathewson’s screwball to Mariano Rivera’s cutter, there have been certain pitches through the ages that have been simply impossible to hit, even for the best in the business.
Advanced analytics came too late to quantify the effectiveness of pitches like those mentioned above, but we have the data for here and now. Without further ado, here are the five toughest pitches to hit in baseball, based on Fangraphs data compiled in 2020.
5. Marco Gonzales’ fastball
Despite throwing his fastball just 45.3% of the time – 57th among all players who pitched 50 or more innings in 2020 – Seattle Mariners starter Marco Gonzales led the majors in weighted fastball (wFB, 14.3) and weighted fastball per 100 pitches (wFB/C, 2.99).
Lowest wOBA against when throwing a fastball while behind in the count:
Marco Gonzales: .203
— Michael Simione (@SPStreamer) February 1, 2021
Trevor Bauer: .292
Zac Gallen: .305
Jesus Luzardo: .309
Dallas Keuchel: .311 pic.twitter.com/tjs1cOajix
The southpaw’s “heater” clocks in at just over 88 mph, but it obviously isn’t just going in a straight line. Gonzales had a career year in 2020, going 7-2 with a 3.10 ERA and an MLB-leading 9.47 strikeout/walk ratio.
4. Dallas Keuchel’s cutter
The 2020 MLB-leader in weighted cutter (9.7) and weighted cutter per 100 pitches (3.26) was White Sox hurler Dallas Keuchel. He mixed in other pitches too, but he threw his cutter at the sixth-highest rate in the majors (30.9%).
Keuchel was a dark-horse Cy Young candidate in his first year with the South Siders, as he went 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA and a 1.089 WHIP.
3. Zach Davies’ changeup
Zach Davies’ changeup may not deserve that name, as he threw the pitch an MLB-leading 41.3% of the time in 2020, but it’s hard to argue with results.
Davies was the runaway leader in weighted changeup in 2020 (11.0, compared to Kenta Maeda’s 7.8 rating in second) and ranked sixth in weighted changeup per 100 pitches (2.53). Despite a solid season by the traditional metrics too (7-4, 2.73 ERA, 1.067 WHIP), Davies was dealt by the San Diego Padres to the Chicago Cubs as compensation for Yu Darvish.
2. Adam Wainwright’s curveball
The pitch that won the St. Louis Cardinals the 2006 NLCS is still getting results nearly 15 years later.
Adam Wainwright threw his curveball a major league-high 38.3% of the time in 2020 and recorded the highest weighted curveball (10.8) and second-highest weighted curveball per 100 pitches (3.03). This comes despite the pitch clocking in at 73.5 mph, the slowest among all pitchers in the Top 10 in curveball percentage.
Wainwright had a renaissance year in 2020, going 5-3 with a 3.15 ERA and 1.051 WHIP.
1. Dinelson Lamet’s slider
Dinelson Lamet came from out of nowhere to make a late-season Cy Young bid in 2020, and his weapon of choice was the slider.
#Padres ace Dinelson Lamet faced the Dodgers 2x last year.
Against his trademark slider, LAD went a combined 0-for-19 with 12 K's. They missed on ~47% of their swings.
Here's hoping a healthy Lamet is a big part of the 2021 SD-LAD rivalry🙏 pic.twitter.com/ECiOUwOPtm
— Matt Kelly (@mattkellyMLB) February 25, 2021
Lamet was the runaway leader in weighted slider at 20.0, well-clear of Zach Plesac (11.4) in second place. That’s due in part to Lamet using his slider 53.4% of the time, also leaps-and-bounds ahead of second-place Clayton Kershaw (40.2%). Lamet was a solid fourth in weighted slider per 100 pitches (3.58).
An injury kept Lamet out of the playoffs in 2020, but he could be a key contributor to a Padres team with World Series aspirations if he replicates his numbers from last season (3-1, 2.09 ERA, 0.855 WHIP).