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Crash Davis Speaks of Exploding Sliders?

posted 14 years ago by zurichpoet
14 replies | jump to latest

Yes, they explode off player’s bats.
Why do pitchers still throw them? Why is that pitch still taught?
I never understood this. A good fastball will have just as much movement as a slider. And the margin of error is so slim with a slider; and it speeds up the batter’s bat being that it isn’t that much slower than a fastball. A horrible curve will work better than an average slider. This boggles the mind. Only Sergio Romo of the SF Giants should be allowed to throw one, as it’s his only pitch, uses it like a fastball.

[–] findanddestroyatlantis 14 years ago

"A good fastball will have just as much movement as a slider." - If a slider moves less than a fast ball, then it's not a good slider and should be scrapped or re-learned, but there are plenty of good sliders in the major and minor leagues.

[–] zurichpoet 14 years ago

If taught correctly. Sure. But being realistic: there is only one Mel Stottlemyre I’m aware of.

Also, I’m talking about facing great hitters. Not the Crash Davis’ of the world. The oddest thing about the pitch: really bad frisbee sliders thrown with complete and inadvertent incompetence get out great power hitters with the kind of strike zone that starts when they get out of bed in the morning and can drive anything: Ryan Howard, Pablo Sandoval, and in the past, which was always stunning to watch, Gary Sheffield. Good and great sliders, they crush.

[–] findanddestroyatlantis 14 years ago

I'm willing to bet that sliders account for a significant percentage of Ryan Howard's 180+ K's per season and I'm also willing to bet that he hits the vast majority of his HR's on fastballs.

Claiming that the slider isn't effective against elite hitter is just silly. The foolish claims of the OP have no basis in reality.

[–] kobie173 14 years ago

^^ What he said.

ANYBODY in the show can hit a fastball. Not everybody in the show can consistently hit a pitch that's 5-10 MPH slower than a fastball with a wicked bend.

[–] JR541 14 years ago

A good slider thrown by a lefty to a lefty is still a very effective pitch. I still see many lefty batters flail away at it.

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

[–] Rockhound6165 14 years ago

Steve Carlton went to the Hall of Fame on a slider. Brad Lidge was perfect in 2008 and helped the Phillies win the World Series with a slider. But, as was said, if you don't have a fastball, you're slider doesn't really slide at all.

When you steal from Peter and give to Paul, you will always have the support of Paul.

[–] JR541 14 years ago

Seaver also had an outstanding slider. He preferred it to his curveball which was average at best.

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

[–] kobie173 13 years ago

Rob Nen had an absolutely filthy slider.

[–] jscrash-1 14 years ago

An exploding slider is not a bad thing, it is a sharp slider that breaks hard. The kind of pitch even the best hitters have a problem with, probably a lifetime "professional hitter" like Crash, lingered in the minors because they could hit a fastball but not an exploding slider.

[–] baran_erik 9 years ago

The slider killed more careers than anything else in baseball. Otherwise, you'd think a switch hitting catcher with power and knowledge of the game would have made it for more than 21 days.

[–] Lucky_Man 9 years ago

Imagine batting right handed, and the pitcher throws you a slider. Naturally, you don't know it's a slider and it appears to be a change-up coming inside, so you ease up a tad, ready to take the pitch. Half way to the plate the ball skids against an invisible wall, works itself away, and catches the inside half of the strikezone. All this happens in one half of a second.

You're standing there with your thumb up your ass because you just looked at mother-fu*cking strike three.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv_TA2S2z34

[–] baran_erik 9 years ago

Look for the dot. And I don't have to imagine.

[–] face_jammer 11 years ago

"A good fastball will have just as much movement as a slider"

Uhhh no. You have no idea what you're talking about.

[–] PsychoDingo 9 years ago

Randy Johnson most certainly disagrees with you.

I got girls up here do more tricks than a god damn monkey on a hundred yards of grape vine.

Crash Davis Speaks of Exploding Sliders?

Crash Davis Speaks of Exploding Sliders?