I can definitely tell the difference between a fastball and a curveball, and sometimes I can even guess correctly that a pitch was a slider. However, there are so many other types of pitches, like changeups, split-finger fastballs, and screwballs. How are the commentators always able to tell all of these apart?
One
They have great seats.
Two
They have many camera angles to look at.
Three
They are very experienced.
Movement + speed are usually all you need to know.
It’s pretty easy to distinguish between a fastball and a curveball. The speeds and motions of the two pitches are quite different.
It’s harder to distinguish between a fastball and a change-up. The two pitches are designed to look the same except for their speeds. You can tell the difference easily if you look at the radar gun readings - a change-up will be several miles per hour slower than a fastball. It’s also easy to tell when a batter gets fooled by a change-up: his swing will be early, and he’ll be on his front foot when the ball passes him.
A slider will have some break on it and will be several miles per hour slower than a fastball.
The splitter drops on its way to the plate (to the batter it looks like it changes directions suddenly, but this is an illusion). It’s also a bit slower than a normal fastball. A splitter is usually a low pitch and often drops out of the strike zone as it crosses the plate. A fastball that bounces in the dirt is often a splitter.
The screwball is just a type of curveball that breaks in the opposite direction from a normal curveball. Not many pitchers throw the screwball (it’s hard to learn and it’s hard on the arm), and those pitchers that do throw it usually don’t throw a regular curveball. So it’s easy for the commentators to recognize a scroogie - it’s a slow breaking pitch thrown by a screwball pitcher.
The really hard thing is to distinguish between four-seam, two-seam and cut fastballs. The differences are subtle, and I think they rely on radar gun reading and high-resolution cameras.
Another thing to consider is that the commentators may not always be right.
Yes, don’t discount this. I’ve heard them disagree, for example–“No, Tom, that was a splitter”–so I’m sure many mistakes, delivered with authority, go uncorrected.
An even simpler answer is that they mostly don’t have to distinguish them. They can read pitch type right off of the scoreboard once the spotters radio it in (and that comes mostly from radar readings). It only takes a split second for it to be displayed, so if the commentator just says “down at the knees with a” that’s enough time to glance at the readout and say “…slider.”
That’s not to say they can’t tell a pitch just by looking the way everyone’s been describing, especially when they’re familiar with the pitcher or when the pitcher only uses one breaking pitch and doesn’t play around with his deliveries. Over time, once you’ve seen everything a pitcher throws and even had a chance to chart it, it becomes clear which pitchers are which. With Roy Halladay or Greg Maddux pitching, you might as well not bother trying to distinguish between cutters and fastballs and sinkers. With Stephen Strasburg pitching, the one that’s 97-99 is his heater, the one at 94 is his two-seamer, and the one at 90 is his changeup, and the slower one that breaks like a guy crashing a jet ski is his curve. You can see from the charts at the bottom that in the latter case, there are 4 very distinct pitch types, and in the former two they’re all blended together. When Halladay throws a pitch around 91 that runs in on a batter’s hands, there’s basically no point trying to name it. It’s just one of those pitches Halladay throws that does that.
They know it the same way a batter knows it – by the pitcher’s grip, and the ball’s spin, trajectory, and speed. And while the batter has a split second to react, the announcer has several seconds to say “fastball inside”
Bear in mind, too, that no pitcher throws all the possible pitches. There are at least eight different basic pitch types plus a lot of variations on them, but no pitcher actually throws them all. Most starters throw 3-5 pitches and relivers sometimes only throw two. So if you know the pitcher, you can limit yoiur guesswork to a limited range of possibilities.
If the caster says it’s a “breaking ball”, does that mean he doesn’t know if it was a curveball or a slider, or is he just changing up his terminology for the sake of variety?
Very much so; and this kind of thing goes for all sports. Announcers are paid to be interesting and authoritative, not necessarily accurate.
One of the reasons I loved Richie Ashburn as an announcer was that he never pretend he knew more than he did. I remember on one occasion he and Harry Kalas were doing a game against a Dodgers rookie making his debut. They didn’t have a scouting report, and spent the whole game arguing over one of the guy’s pitches.
Probably the latter, but sometimes the former.
Until tonight at around 7:05 when Yu Darvish makes his debut.
All you need is one good pitch- just ask Rivera.
They don’t need to anymore:
PitchFX is live and instantaneous.
It becomes easier to narrow it down when one knows the types a certain pitcher throws. If he throws a 2 seam fastball, curve, and a splitter all you need to do is look at the speed.
They may also have access to a camera angle of the pitcher’s hand as he’s throwing.
–Cliffy
The answer is probably a combination of everything already posted, however
Announcers get the list of pitches the current pitcher on the mound is known for. So if the guy has 3 pitches, a fastball, curve, and slider, you can pretty much tell what the pitch is by the speed and the movement.
The announcers have earpieces with people telling them what was thrown, because from where they are sitting, it’s very difficult to tell the difference between a fastball and a good slider. both have similar speeds, and movement can’t be seen by the naked eye from a high perch right somewhere between first and third base. If a slider doesn’t slide, it looks like a fastball. And what exactly is a cutter? 2 seam and 4 seam fastballs? A sinker is different than a split fingered fastball, but they both move downward. The split finger just does it later in the path of the pitch.
So, it amounts to a number of factors.
- the tendency of the pitcher
- the info received by a spotter
- their own experience based on whether they saw the pitch from the center field camera angle vs the press box.
- an educated wag.
They are right enough times to keep folks happy, but they do make mistakes. And the term “breaking ball” can mean a number of pitches, including curves, sliders, slurves (I’ve heard of them, I have no idea if I’ve ever actually seen one). I guess technically a knuckle ball is a breaking ball, but they are easy to see if they are being thrown correctly.
I personally don’t mind if they get a few wrong from time to time. To me, it’s not the most vital part of the game. Plus, from the centerfield camera angle, the viewer can see most of the pitches fairly well and you can get a feel for what the pitcher is throwing without the announcer.