Fastball

"Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the speed, often exceeding 100mph, and movement of their fastballs to prevent the ball from being hit.

[1] As an alternative to the fastball, pitchers can put more movement on slower thrown balls, or throw them towards the inside or outside of home plate where batters cannot easily reach it.

With this grip, the thumb will generally have no seam on which to rest.The four-seam fastball is widely regarded as the main key to advancing to the next level of play.

Differences in arm slot, spin, and velocity cause some sinkers to exhibit more vertical 'drop' or 'sink', while others 'run' or move more horizontally toward the pitcher's arm side.The unique running and sinking movement profile of the sinker makes it more likely to induce ground balls than other pitches as it sinks under the plane of the batter's swing.

Not all fastballs exhibiting sinking or running movement are necessarily sinkers; four-seam fastballs thrown from a low arm slot can also exhibit sinking and running movement due to the horizontal spin axis imparted by a low or sidearm release point.

[4] To throw a sinker, the pitcher typically grips the ball as they would a four-seam, but with their index and middle finger parallel to the seams instead of perpendicular to them.

[5] Throughout much of baseball history, the reasons why a two-seam grip resulted in different ball movement compared to a four-seam fastball were not fully understood.

The pitcher typically shifts their grip on a four-seam fastball to the side of the ball, and slightly supinates their wrist to convert some backspin into gyroscopic spin.