The slurve is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitch in which the

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

throws a

curve ball In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the baseball (object), ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties o ...

as if it were a slider."The Mechanics Of A Breaking Pitch"
''

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (often abbreviated as ''PM'' or ''PopMech'') is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do it yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation an ...

'', April 1997. Accessed July 6, 2007. The pitch is gripped like a curve ball, but thrown with a slider velocity. The term is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of slider and curve.

History

Johnny Sain of the

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

was known to throw a slurve in the 1940s.Liptak,
"Johnny Sain Remembered"
, ''White Sox Interactive''. Accessed July 6, 2007. On May 6, 1998, Kerry Wood of the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

utilized the slurve in a major-league record-tying 20 strikeout game.

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, Yakult Swallows, and Seibu Lions pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii, despite his well-documented control problems, used a slurve almost exclusively against left-handers. Alfredo Aceves from the Boston Red Sox was also known to throw a slurve. Stephen Strasburg claims to throw a slurve, although experts still call his pitch a curveball. Hall of Fame relief pitcher Goose Gossage stated that learning how to throw a slurve changed his career in his Yankeeography. Both

Cy Young Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Born in Gilmore, Ohio, he worked on his family's farm as a youth before starting his professional baseball career. Young entered t ...

and

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "the Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and Manager (baseball), manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Ba ...

had slurves in their arsenals and the former is the earliest known user of the pitch, having started his career in 1890.

Notable slurve pitchers

* Alfredo Aceves * Dellin Betances * Jose Berrios * Dallas Braden * Yu Darvish * José Fernández * Corey Kluber * Aaron Loup * Dámaso Marte * Roberto Osuna * Michael Pineda * Jonathan Sánchez * Drew Smyly * Stephen Strasburg * Julio Urias * Kerry Wood

Concerns in pitching

Critics of the slurve call the pitch a sloppy slider because of its wide break. They claim that the slurve produces more home runs than a late-breaking slider. The usefulness of the slurve is debated. The slurve is also claimed to cause problems to a pitcher. In 1998, Kerry Wood claimed his elbow soreness was caused by throwing the slurve.Kiley,
"Whatever happened to ..."
''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

, February 8, 2000. Accessed July 6, 2007.

References

External links

The Mechanics Of A Breaking Pitch
at ''

'' {{Baseball pitches Baseball pitches