from Amazon
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Curve v Slider
Cool interview. Great quote right here:
Coach Bagonzi: If a young pitcher doesn’t start to develop a curveball early in his career (age 15-plus), I don’t think he will ever have a good one. So, I agree with your contact who says that if he can’t spin it by age 19, forget it, and I think that is why there are so many sliders (the “devil’s pitch”) - it’s the quick fix.
In fact, I talked with the pitching coach of the Rangers a few years back when they [still] trained in Port Charlotte, Florida, and asked him why there were so many sliders and so few curveballs among the Rangers’ pitchers, and he quite emphatically stated that the young pitchers’ “window of opportunity” was small and narrow, and the slider could be learned faster, and this became the “fix.”
That is why before a young pitcher signs, it would be good if he had a curveball - a good, down-breaking 12-to-6 curveball with crispness thrown for strikes. This enhances the fastball and its effect multifold. Pitching up and down trajectory-wise is a devastating event, even for the good hitter; the trouble is that few pitchers do it well. Those that do are generally winners and high-strikeout guys. [Nolan] Ryan had a good curveball, and this made him electrifying.
Curveballs are less stressful on the arm than sliders because of the deceleration of the arm on release. However, one has to be aware of losing arm speed on their fastball if too many curveballs are thrown. A curveball should precede a slider in the learning business.
Why is it we only get good stuff like this from the mainstream media and not blogs?
{Dripping with sarcasm.}
I don’t really think his curveball statement is a hard and fast rule. This one example proves nothing, but Phil Hughes didn’t even have a curveball until after he signed his pro contract. Until that point it was all fastball/slider. I’m too young to have seen him, but I remember reading that Nolan Ryan didn’t develop his nasty curve until his late 20’s.