Most of the preceding points assume a straight pitch (including our curveball that fails to break). And the emphasis has been on changing speeds ...actual or effective or both. Certainly that's a part of the process of batter deception, a very important part. After all, every pitcher is obsessed with increasing fastball velocity. That's why a fundamental understanding of the new theory of effective velocity is so very important. It's not just raw speed, it's about location.

Yet, even when location is hard to control precisely or consistently, changes in pitch speed matter. That's why we encourage every young pitcher to discover the magic of the change-up as a good second pitch. It's another good way to fool the batter by throwing off his timing.

Of course, a change-up will start out looking like a fastball but won't stay on the same plane. The reason is pure physics — on a slower pitch the force of gravity has more time to work to bring the pitch down. Likewise, there is a clear difference in flight path between a two-seam and four-seam fastball. But there's more to that difference than simply velocity vs gravity. (See the section on Pitch Grips for details.)

The point is, you can't talk very long about pitching without coming to an important realization...
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