Pitchers who can throw a fastball 90 mph or better are a dime a dozen in professional baseball. In addition, it is not unusual to find strong high school baseball programs with several pitchers whose fastballs register 85-90 mph on the radar gun. Accomplished hitters, from high school through the major leagues, can hit the fastball, and it is rare for a pitcher in professional baseball to overpower good hitters repeatedly with mere velocity. A great fastball is not enough for a pitcher to win consistently at the professional level. So, what sets the consistent winners apart from the other pitchers who have the talent to play major league baseball but lack that extra something that vaults them into the ranks of the elite? What is that “extra something?” With very few exceptions, the extra something is an additional pitch or pitches that complement the fastball and that, more often than not, certain pitchers throw better or more effectively than most other pitchers throw the same pitch. The purpose of this article is to examine the extra something that specific pitches can add which will help set a pitcher apart from his peers.Read More