Top 10: Toughest Baseball Pitches

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No. 10 - Split-finger fastball

Bruce Sutter

One of the top relievers in history, Bruce Sutter called his split-finger pitch “The Jewel,” and for good reason. Sutter saved 300 games and had a career E.R.A. of 2.83, thanks to his mastery of one of the toughest baseball pitches to hit against. Bruce Sutter learned the pitch because it doesn’t put a lot of stress on the throwing arm: Tossed by placing the ball between one’s spread index and middle fingers, an effective splitter approaches the plate looking like a fastball, but drops quickly on its approach.

No. 9 - Shuuto

Greg Maddux

Though mastered by Japanese pitchers such as Masaji Hiramatsu, whose shuuto appeared to knife through the air, this pitch is occasionally thrown by MLB players like Greg Maddux. The shuuto first appears as a fastball, but loses speed and rolls toward the batter. It is effective when thrown outside a batter, as it will drift back and catch the outside of the plate for a strike. It is essentially the opposite of a slider, which breaks away from the batter. The shuuto has lots of variations And Greg Maddux throws his on the edge of the plate against left-handed batters.

No. 8 - Changeup

Trevor Hoffman

The mother of all off-speed pitches, the changeup is delivered with the same throwing motion as a fastball, but because of the pitcher’s grip on the ball, it’s slower in getting to the plate. When a batter misses a changeup, it’s because he’s fooled into swinging too early. Closer Trevor Hoffman has thrown a tricky changeup throughout his career, and though his fastball rarely hits 90 mph these days, his changeup is still effective. Hoffman throws the pitch by palming the ball, rather than relying on his fingers, and has struck out more than 1,000 batters.

No. 7 - Gyroball

Daisuke Matsuzaka

Though this mysterious pitch is popular among Japanese players, it became a household word in North America when Daisuke Matsuzaka began his MLB career with Boston. The gyroball’s key is the pitcher’s arm movement, not the placement of his fingers on the ball. As he releases the ball, instead of swinging his arm back toward his body, a gyroball thrower will rotate his arm away, giving the ball an unexpected axis of rotation. Though Daisuke Matsuzaka denies throwing the gyroball intentionally, there’s no doubt that his oddly spinning pitch is fooling batters. His strikeouts-to-innings-pitched ratio is nearly 1:1.

No. 6 - Screwball

Christy Mathewson

Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson was one of the first prominent screwball throwers. He used this tough baseball pitch during his 17-year career, which included an impressive 373 wins, 2,502 strikeouts and an E.R.A. of just 2.13. If thrown by a righty, the pitch makes an unorthodox break from left to right, moving in on a right-handed hitter and away from a left-handed one. Finger position when throwing the screwball is of no consequence; the effective delivery lies in the thrower’s arm motion.

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The above was provided to us by AskMen.com.