Breaking ball

A breaking ball is the collective term in baseball for all throws by the pitcher that do not fly in a straight line towards the batter . For this purpose, the pitcher uses special grip techniques to give the baseball a spin ( Magnus effect ).

A breaking ball (e.g. a curveball , screwball or slider ) is slower than a fastball that has just been thrown , but spends less time in the strike zone and is therefore harder to hit by the batter. However, catching a breaking ball requires a lot of precision from the catcher .