The Gyroball

I played baseball in High School and believe it or not was a pitcher. I could throw a fastball, change up, curve ball and knuckleball. That is a fairly good mix in high school.

In the big leagues things can be different. Take Daisuke Matsuzaka for example. There are, so far, 8 different pitches he uses in games. He has been a pitcher in the Japan Leagues but has just been drafted by the Red Sox. In Japan he is called "The Monster."

What is interesting is he is working on a "revolutionary" pitch called the gyroball. In theory the ball has massive spin like a curve ball or slider but instead of breaking the spin is actually deflecting in the air enabling the ball to move straight like a fastball with the same speed. If this is true it will be a nasty pitch.

Batters, especially by the time they get to the major leagues, know when they see massive spin, the ball is going to start breaking. Furthermore, such balls are almost always thrown in the 70-80 mile an hour range, again something batters are used to. Here is a clip of the supposed gyroball. It is thrown at 145 kph or 91 mph. If this ball really looks like a curveball coming in with that speed and not haveing any breat at all it would be nasty for batters. It really would.

Even without his gyroball Matsuzaka is nasty. So far in the pre-season, no gyroball but is too hot to handle. Even pitched 5 no-hit innings against the Reds.