According to
Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse, Twins left-handed reliever Jose Mijares
is honing a new pitch for the 2011 season: the two-seam fastball.
Recently in
camp, pitching Coach Rick Anderson was holding court with the local reporters
when Mijares wander past. Anderson turned his attention to the relief arm and inquired
what Mijares thought of his new weapon. According to Reusse:
“Mijares smiled widely and made a gesture
with a hand that indicated the downward movement of an imaginary baseball.”
In general,
the two-seam fastball, the four-seamer’s cousin, is thrown at a lower velocity
but runs down and towards the pitching arm side of the strike zone. This
differs from the four-seamer as that pitch has a tendency to “rise” (not
actually rise, per se, it just maintains its same plane rather than dipping
like the two-seamer). It can give a pitcher the ability to give opponents a
different look – hitting a different part of the zone or showing another type
of movement...
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