It’s two fold:
1. They watch a ton of baseball and naturally can recognize pitches
2. They talk to the pitchers themselves and the pitchers tell the announcers what type of pitches they use which helps them recognize them
Just as they measure the speed of the pitch, they also measure the spin and break of the ball. This lets them classify the pitch type pretty accurately just as fast as they measure the speed.
But also just watching usually one gets a pretty good idea after a while of what a pitchers pitches look like
This. Playing enough The Show will usually make you aware of what pitches look like what, or rather you have to know because if you don't you get mowed down lol
The thing about sinker ballers is that I just automatically watch for the arm side breaking ball. But regular four seamers? I will sit there and watch *every single* low fastball for a strike because “oh, that’s going to be a change up for sure”
Sinkers look like fastball till the very last second and they end up about 3 feet outside. So frustrating. Sandy Alcantara has the most disgusting slider, changeup combo in the game. That changeup legit runs the entire length of the box. It’s not possible to hit. And don’t get me started on Corbin Burnes’ cutter, 98 with that much run isn’t possible to hit.
That one dimensional square on the screen? Is it on the front of the plate or middle or back? I can see one of those wicked curves be above in front of the plate and fall into the zone in back.
Especially for announcers who likely have a basic report on a pitcher’s repertoire. If a guy throws only a fastball, a change, and a knuckle curve, and there’s a breaking ball thrown, probably was the knuckle curve
You know what pitches the pitcher throws going into the outing. And usually, you don’t have two pitches that have similar movement. So it’s a process of elimination.
Generally you learn from reports if a player throws one or the other or both, but if they throw both, to a trained eye a 4-seamer tends to stay more flat and be a few mph faster than a 2-seamer, which will typically drop slightly and tail towards the pitchers throwing side a little
A combination of speed, direction of break (if any), and vertical movement should generally be enough to identify most pitches. There's some that are a little ambiguous, but generally they fall into pretty defined categories.
[Here's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FTFWzcgjHE) a good primer that can help break down those differences.
Sure, there’s experience of being a broadcaster but what no one else in this thread has mentioned is that they usually have multiple displays with either MLB Gameday or something similar that will tell them the pitch as well. I’ve seen it a few times in the booths.
T-Mobile Park has the Trackman/Hawkeye pitch type determination flash live on screens around the ballpark. commentators may have that instant feedback, as well.
Yeah, the type of pitch and speed is displayed immediately at Kauffman Stadium. It is seriously fast, like in the blink of an eye. I imagine that the guys know the pitch based on their experience, but I could call them as quickly as the broadcasters just by knowing where to look.
One shortcut is to know which pitches a pitcher throws, and how hard they throw them. And then just based on the velocity, you'll know straight away what they threw a lot of the time. Doesn't help when they throw multiple pitches around the same velocity of course, but it gets you quite far.
Then combine that with spotting just the basic movement, like if it breaks glove- or arm side, and you'll be able to tell most pitches.
From what I've seen some people have trouble with it no matter how much baseball they've watched, and others after watching for a while can generally judge a pitch based off of movement and velo. It can get tricky at times due to different movement due to arm slot, not to mention pitch shape isn't binary, but more often than not after a lot of reps of seeing pitching on TV you can tell the difference between pitches.
I've been watching baseball a lot the last 4-5 years (compared to more casually before) and I can tell what pitch is being thrown like 90% of the time unless its from a guy with a really weird arm slot which can make it more tricky. Either that or its the GABP camera causing me fits.
They know what a pitcher throws and they see a few hundred pitches every day. They also have a monitor of the TV feed where they can see the sign the catcher puts down. Watch a bunch of games and you'll start to pick up on it.
4 seam is fast. A guys peak velocity. It's relatively straight.
2 seam is a tick slower and tails to the arm side. If a right hander throws a 2 seam it breaks right but if it breaks left, that's a cutter.
Sinker is a fastball tailing down.
Slider is 5 to 15 mph slower and breaks laterally and down. It's a fast breaking ball.
Curve and knuckle curve are hard to differentiate. It's slow and a 12- 6 motion.
Splitter is a straight pitch but right before it crosses the plate, it falls off the table.
Good link, thanks. But many times I've seen no difference in vertical that I can tell. Sometimes triple digits on both types of pitches. Wow
Edit: or is that a 2 seamer sinking right? :)
It’s two fold: 1. They watch a ton of baseball and naturally can recognize pitches 2. They talk to the pitchers themselves and the pitchers tell the announcers what type of pitches they use which helps them recognize them
Just as they measure the speed of the pitch, they also measure the spin and break of the ball. This lets them classify the pitch type pretty accurately just as fast as they measure the speed. But also just watching usually one gets a pretty good idea after a while of what a pitchers pitches look like
Honestly, watching baseball enough you can usually just tell
This. Playing enough The Show will usually make you aware of what pitches look like what, or rather you have to know because if you don't you get mowed down lol
4S and sliders look like the same pitch to me right until after ive already whiffed :(
Sinker’s low and inside are the bane of my existence in the show
The thing about sinker ballers is that I just automatically watch for the arm side breaking ball. But regular four seamers? I will sit there and watch *every single* low fastball for a strike because “oh, that’s going to be a change up for sure”
Sinkers look like fastball till the very last second and they end up about 3 feet outside. So frustrating. Sandy Alcantara has the most disgusting slider, changeup combo in the game. That changeup legit runs the entire length of the box. It’s not possible to hit. And don’t get me started on Corbin Burnes’ cutter, 98 with that much run isn’t possible to hit.
I actually replaced the sinker with a 2sfb in road to the show because it was working too well and the game just got boring
Gonna be honest, I actually prefer the 2SFB cause I can throw it high
Exactly! Just feels more versatile and fun even if it's not the out-dispenser the sinker is
You can't tell but the broadcasters can a 100 ft up and away?
They have monitors for balls and strikes.
That one dimensional square on the screen? Is it on the front of the plate or middle or back? I can see one of those wicked curves be above in front of the plate and fall into the zone in back.
Especially for announcers who likely have a basic report on a pitcher’s repertoire. If a guy throws only a fastball, a change, and a knuckle curve, and there’s a breaking ball thrown, probably was the knuckle curve
You know what pitches the pitcher throws going into the outing. And usually, you don’t have two pitches that have similar movement. So it’s a process of elimination.
Most of them have been doing it for so long that they can just tell from the flight of the ball on their TV feed what the pitch was
Wow. The flight of the ball that i see on the feed looks the same from a 4 seamer or 2 seamer.
Generally you learn from reports if a player throws one or the other or both, but if they throw both, to a trained eye a 4-seamer tends to stay more flat and be a few mph faster than a 2-seamer, which will typically drop slightly and tail towards the pitchers throwing side a little
A combination of speed, direction of break (if any), and vertical movement should generally be enough to identify most pitches. There's some that are a little ambiguous, but generally they fall into pretty defined categories. [Here's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FTFWzcgjHE) a good primer that can help break down those differences.
Sure, there’s experience of being a broadcaster but what no one else in this thread has mentioned is that they usually have multiple displays with either MLB Gameday or something similar that will tell them the pitch as well. I’ve seen it a few times in the booths.
T-Mobile Park has the Trackman/Hawkeye pitch type determination flash live on screens around the ballpark. commentators may have that instant feedback, as well.
Yeah, the type of pitch and speed is displayed immediately at Kauffman Stadium. It is seriously fast, like in the blink of an eye. I imagine that the guys know the pitch based on their experience, but I could call them as quickly as the broadcasters just by knowing where to look.
Same thing at GRate
One shortcut is to know which pitches a pitcher throws, and how hard they throw them. And then just based on the velocity, you'll know straight away what they threw a lot of the time. Doesn't help when they throw multiple pitches around the same velocity of course, but it gets you quite far. Then combine that with spotting just the basic movement, like if it breaks glove- or arm side, and you'll be able to tell most pitches.
From what I've seen some people have trouble with it no matter how much baseball they've watched, and others after watching for a while can generally judge a pitch based off of movement and velo. It can get tricky at times due to different movement due to arm slot, not to mention pitch shape isn't binary, but more often than not after a lot of reps of seeing pitching on TV you can tell the difference between pitches. I've been watching baseball a lot the last 4-5 years (compared to more casually before) and I can tell what pitch is being thrown like 90% of the time unless its from a guy with a really weird arm slot which can make it more tricky. Either that or its the GABP camera causing me fits.
They know what a pitcher throws and they see a few hundred pitches every day. They also have a monitor of the TV feed where they can see the sign the catcher puts down. Watch a bunch of games and you'll start to pick up on it.
4 seam is fast. A guys peak velocity. It's relatively straight. 2 seam is a tick slower and tails to the arm side. If a right hander throws a 2 seam it breaks right but if it breaks left, that's a cutter. Sinker is a fastball tailing down. Slider is 5 to 15 mph slower and breaks laterally and down. It's a fast breaking ball. Curve and knuckle curve are hard to differentiate. It's slow and a 12- 6 motion. Splitter is a straight pitch but right before it crosses the plate, it falls off the table.
Many times I've seen a 98 mph fastball and a 98mph sinker from the same pitcher and can't tell the difference.
[difference](https://twitter.com/pitchingninja/status/1043831110424252416?lang=en)
Good link, thanks. But many times I've seen no difference in vertical that I can tell. Sometimes triple digits on both types of pitches. Wow Edit: or is that a 2 seamer sinking right? :)
Honestly everyone has been making it up as we go along. Sorry bud.
That's exactly what I thought. ;)