Split-finger fastball

Derived from the forkball, it is aptly named because the pitcher puts the index and middle finger on different sides of the ball.

[2] The modern splitter is often credited to baseball coach Fred Martin, who threw the pitch in the minor leagues as a changeup of sorts.

However, the forkball is held further back and wider between the fingers and is usually thrown with a wrist flip that makes it slower than the splitter.

[7] The split-finger is often recommended as an alternative to breaking pitches to young players because of its simplicity and the significantly reduced risk of injury.

Thrusting the hand and forearm downward causes reduced backspin relative to a fastball, thus giving the appearance of "drop off the table" movement from the pitch.

When thrown correctly, the split-finger's apparent last-second drop causes many batters to hit the top half of the baseball, thereby inducing a ground ball.

Bruce Sutter, a Hall of Fame inductee, was a dominant closer in the 1970s and '80s and made heavy use of the split-finger pitch.