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It's A Fastball; It's A Slider; No, It's A Cutter
By CARTER GADDIS igaddis@tampatrib.com
Published: Apr 27, 2004
BOSTON -
It didn't start with Mariano Rivera. The Yankees closer may have perfected it,
but the cut fastball was around long before Rivera turned it into the ultimate
ninth-inning weapon. It just hadn't yet become the prominent pitch it is today
.
“When I played, the cut fastball was probably there, but it was a fastball
that moved a little bit,”said Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella, who played for
the Royals and Yankees from 1969 to 1984. “Now, you've got terminology for
everything. Cut fastball, two-seam, four-seam, split-finger. You've got
terminology for it.”
Whatever its origins, the cut fastball (or cutter) of today falls under
another category of terminology - career saver.
Exhibit A:
Chicago White Sox ace Esteban Loaiza, who became a 21-game winner in 2003 by
turning to the cutter after scuffling along as a .500 pitcher for 10 years
with Pittsburgh, Texas and Toronto. He threw a two-hit shutout against the
Rays on April 18.
Possible Exhibit B:
When Devil Rays pitcher Paul Abbott takes the mound at Fenway Park today
against the Red Sox, he will take with him an assortment of pitches he has
learned and honed during an 18-year professional career.
Where once Abbott relied on a sweeping curveball, today the 36-year-old
right-hander credits the development of his cutter with helping him get off to
a 2-1 start with a healthy 2.37 ERA.
Abbott began his Rays career April 7 by no-hitting the Yankees for 5 1/3
innings. Afterward, he said he learned his new best pitch from Mike Gosling,
an Arizona Diamondbacks prospect who was a teammate with Triple-A Tucson in
2003.
But even before the veteran picked the prospect's brain, the cutter was a part
of Abbott's repertoire. It wasn't until last year, when Abbott was attempting
a comeback from yet another surgery (he's had two injury-free seasons in 12
years), that the cutter became his out pitch.
“Actually, I asked Al Leiter a couple of years ago how he held his,”Abbott
said.“The cutter was kind of like my fourth pitch, just something to have. It
became more my slider. I always threw a big curveball. My elbow surgery
ditched that, so my cutter became my slider.”
What, exactly, is a cutter? To the untrained eye, it's a pitch that resembles
the slider.
“It has to,”Abbott said. “They're brothers.”
The slider and cutter are thrown almost identically. When Abbott demonstrated
the difference in grips, he moved his index finger about a half-centimeter up
the seam.
“It doesn't take much,” Abbott said,“to miss the barrel of the bat.”
That small adjustment with the grip can make a huge difference.
“It's a version of a slider with more velocity and a quicker break, and it's
probably more controllable, because it's not that big of a break,” Piniella
said. “It'll really dart in there and eat up that handle of those left-hand
bats. It seems like if you do hit it good, you almost have to pull it foul and
get ahead of it.”
Rivera's cutter is so effective against left-handed hitters that switch-hitters
, such as Tampa Bay's Jose Cruz Jr., frequently bat right-handed against the
Yankees closer.
“His cutter's unique,”Abbott said.“It's harder than most guys‵fastballs.′
”
The cutter actually uses a hitter's training against him, Abbott said. Hitters
today are trained to stay inside the pitch, turn on it and drive it.
To a right-hander, a good inside cutter looks like a fastball longer than a
slider does. Just when the hitter tries to dodge the pitch, it‘cuts’over the
inside corner for a strike.
To a left-hander, centering on a good cutter is nearly impossible. Lefties are
most likely going to pull the pitch foul, if they don't hit it off the handle.
“Even when you know it's coming,”Rays catcher Toby Hall said,“it's still
hard to hit.”
Keyword: Rays for an interactive graphic on how different pitches work.
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