Cutter (Baseball)

Cutter, also called cut fastball ( engl: actually cutting, cutter, but in this context without direct translation ) refers to a specific Wurfart the pitcher in baseball sport.

The cutter is one of the "Fast Balls", the litters with high airspeed. Its name comes from the lateral air movement, as you would, with a horizontal cut. Similar to the slider, he is also an intermediate form, but which is very close to the fastball. He is thrown with the same arm motion and speed as the fastball, but the pitcher attempts towards this, by varying finger pressure or lateral thumb grip next to the reverse rotation ( backspin ) mitzugeben also a strong lateral rotation. This causes a breaking of the ball just before the strike zone or already in the swing area of ​​the batter. Depending on when a batsman hits this pitch, has several implications for the blow. Is he trying to hit the ball because of the high speed very early ( pull hitting ), he beats him into foul territory. It may the later the ball is hit but, the less targeted and beaten hard because of the lateral movement. This causes the cutter often weak ground balls that are easy to take of the Infieldern and lead to the "Off" at the first base. In contrast to the changeup or slider, the cutter is not a typical strikeout pitch.

Throws a right-handed pitcher against left-handed hitters (or vice versa), so it is more common than usual in this pitch for chipping or cracking of the Bats. The late sideways movement of the ball towards the batsman implies that the contact point outside the sweet spot on itself is more widely tapered portion of the Bats. The smaller thickness combined with the high airspeed are then the cause of the break.

One of the most feared Cutter launcher is closing pitcher Mariano Rivera, the record holder for Major League Baseball in the category Saves.