Okay so let's talk about the physics of the slider a little bit. So the slider
can be a little bit misunderstood it's it's basically a combination of spin so
if you talk about rhapsode oh and some of these new pitch tracking devices like
track man flights go rhapsode oh one of the terms that they use is pitch
efficiency or some czar spin efficiency so spin efficiency is basically when you
have a spin axis say was this one where I drilled right in the center how well
it spins exactly on that axis right so for curve balls we want them to have
exactly one axis spin as fast as possible a slider is not like that a
slider is kind of a mixture of two spins so when you throw a slider you're
getting to the front of the ball and then you're also turning the ball
sideways so turning the ball sideways creating quote-unquote bullet spin would
mean the ball doesn't actually move at all because when you should fire a
bullet out of a gun it goes dead straight because of the rifling that
causes bullet spin so purely bullet spin like this is just gonna cause no
movement and purely one axis spin is going to create a curveball so the
slider actually exists kind of somewhere in between so you get to the front of
the ball a little bit so if you look at high-speed video and I encourage you to
watch for you know major league baseball games because you're gonna see all these
big weak guys throw them they do high-speed video all the time showing
you know boom just out chapman releases slider or whatever it is and when they
get to the front of this you'll see them get to the front of the ball and then as
they follow through as they start to come through and they'll eventually
pronate you pronate on every pitch they get to the front of the slider a little
bit so out in front kinda like 1 o'clock if they're the clock was here and this
is 12 this is one as if they're righty so they're getting out in front and then
they're spinning it so that's what we're getting a little bit of forward spin and
then we're coming back through and adding that bullet spin ok so that's
something to think about when you're throwing a slider so you're thinking how
do I accomplish this how do I throw this pitch it's not getting around it you're
not throwing it like the little D curve ball quote-unquote you're not trying to
make it break laterally you really have to think be through the ball get on top
of the ball but there's still just a little bit of that tool component so if
you kind of think about your fingernails your fingernails are gonna kind of get
set like basically pointing towards one o'clock and a lot of coaches teach the
cutter and the slider like a handshake so you're trying to
point these two fingers towards the catcher and that's a really good way to
think about it you're trying to get in front of the ball and then come back
through the ball like that and that's how you get this combination this
mixture of spin where you have a much lower spin efficiency because it's not
that you're not spinning the ball just on one axis it's a mixture and then
that's what gets the combination or break it's just a very different pitch
all right so just a little bit of the physics overview because the slider is
an awesome pitch it can be a great pitch for one pitcher and a curveball can be a
great pitch for another pitcher is this about finding the right pitch for you
but obviously the slider can be a really devastating offering depending on how
well you understand it and how well you can spin it okay let's go over the
slider grip so unlike the curveball there's not I mean there's a lot of
variation in the slider grip okay so it can kind of be whatever you want it to
be but I'm gonna go over just basically the basics and you can kind of tinker
and figure out what feels best for you so basically curveball grip is like this
right so a thumb underneath this seam so it can kind of catch up and then these
two or on the inside of the horseshoe like that that's a standard curveball
grip and it's also a slider grip you can throw a slider like this because you're
getting on the inside you're getting at the front of the ball and then on the
inside as we give it a combination of bullet spin and forward spin so we're
getting to the front of it so we get a little bit of forward spin and then we
get that mixture of bullets man that's how the pitch pretty much does its thing
so to accomplish that we just have to get a good feel to catch the ball on the
front kind of like if this was 12 o'clock and this is 1 o'clock we're
trying to catch it the one o'clock edge or the 11 o'clock edge for lefties so I
when I learned a slider I threw this in two different seasons I tinkered with it
and it was a much easier pitch to learn and immediately be somewhat effective
within a curveball I learned from my whole bull pen I got probably eight guys
told me eight different grips I kid you not
they all had a slightly different way of throwing it so the other day it's really
mostly about the arm action and the the feel of it and the way you
spin it with your hand not as much on the grip because if it was all about the
grip then there'd be one right way to do it but really it's about how you spin it
so you could be here we're on the inside the seam you could be a little further
up I've had some guys throw one from here guys
like just sometimes catch their middle fingers right there on the home the seam
like that some guys show me how to catch it here so either way is I'm throwing it
home I have seemed to grab and help it snap off a little bit
my favorite was this one where I was a little bit here on the inside of the
seam and on the front edge of the ball it helped me get to the front of the
baseball a little bit more but again you could be here and I've also had guys
show me like this honestly you can grab it basically just two fingers together
somewhere on the descending edge so if you see like this is 12 this is 6 this
is 3 somewhere in the 1 o'clock 2 o'clock area that's basically where the
the ball is descending that's where I need to be and I'm overloaded so then
boom I get to the front edge of the baseball so it doesn't matter so much
what you're doing as long as you're gripping it as long as you're getting to
the front of the ball because that's where the slider is created it's not
this loopy side spinny thing it's getting to the front and then pull them
coming back through it afterwards as far as thumb placement you've a
couple options you can put on the very bottom some guys will put on the side
no one some guys kind of like put their thumb like that it just depends this is
a personal preference you can have your thumb straight you could have your thumb
bent or you could come up the side of the ball a little bit some of those
change how to interact so whether you're here here or here it's pretty much up to
you there's a lot of tinkering you can do with the slider so I'd encourage you
again just to go out and throw it make sure you have a throwing partner who
will give you good feedback and they'll tell you hey that one was sharper that
one was not as sharp that one looked very different that one looked kind of
Slurpee that one looked kind of straight up and down stare at an angle everyone
throws the differ version of pretty much the same pitch
and you could have a different signature so if you'll remember Brad Lidge in the
big leagues his slider broke mostly straight down right here a little bit of
lateral English but not as much guy like John Smoltz Chris Sale these guys have a
lot of lateral movements probably equal parts down and lateral so it can be what
you want it to be so don't force it into into any one mold but the way you grip
it is gonna have an influence a little bit on the shape but it's also going to
have an influence of you getting in the front but the core of the slider is
going to the front of the ball and then applying forward spin and bullet spin so
it's not just on the side because then it wouldn't break it all it's why
bullets fly straight and it's not a curveball because we're not getting on
the front of it it's a combination of the two that's the easiest way to think
about it so when you grab the baseball and you're about to throw a slider
tinker with it throw them a ton and practice ask for a feedback and find the
grip that works for you
you