Creative pitch naming 101
Pitchers in baseball have an arsenal of pitches, and there are a couple you may have heard of: the curveball and slider. The curveball has more of a vertical drop to it, while the slider’s movement is more horizontal. Sometimes, pitchers throw a cross between a slider and a curve, called the “slurve”. Another combination pitch is when a fastball and a slider morph into one pitch, called a cutter, because it’s like a fastball that ‘cuts’ horizontally.
Why do I mention this? Because Jonathan Papelbon of the Boston Red Sox throws what he thinks is a combination of a slider and a cutter. Therefore, he calls it a “slutter”.
