Palm ball

The palm ball (dt .: palm throw) is a throwing technique of a pitcher in baseball . The baseball is pressed into the palm of the hand with the thumb and ring finger, so that the ball deliberately flies more slowly.

The basic idea of ​​palmball is to have the same throwing movement as with a fast fastball , but intentionally throwing the ball less quickly ( change-up ), so that the opposing batsman swings too early. One of the best palmball players was Trevor Hoffmann , a long-time thrower with the San Diego Padres , who with 601 saves is statistically one of the best closing pitcher in Major League history. His palmball was around 15 km / h slower than his fastball, but he was able to camouflage it so well that the opposing batsmen regularly fell for it.

Web links

• One pitch wound up changing baseball history , San Diego Times - Article on Trevor Hoffman's palmball