How To Grip and Throw The Curve Ball

The curve ball is a good pitch to throw for many reasons. A good curveball should have a sharp break and alot of depth. Depth is how much break it has as it gets toward home plate.

You want your curve ball to break just before home plate. If your breaks too early the batter can see it and spit on it (take it for a ball). If your curve ball breaks too late a hitter can get a good peice of bat on it. So mastering the curve ball is a hard thing to do but will make you a better pitcher once you have mastered it.

To grip a curveball take your middle finger and pointer together on the bottom lace of the open end of the horseshoe. The thumb should go directly under the pointer finger. Keep the thumb straight as it is only there to help guide the baseball. There shouldn't be alot of space between the baseball and your palm as with other pitches. Especially if you have smaller hands.

To throw the curveball you want to have an arm action that emmulates a 12 to 6 motion on the clock. Almost like you are pulling a window shade down. Keep your fingers on top of the baseball and palm towards firstbase. As you get down to your release point you should snap the wrist causing the ball to come out of the hand over the middle and pointer fingers with a 4 seam downward spin. The more spin you can get with this rotation will make the pitch break more.

Be sure to keep your elbow up on the pitch because if you drop your elbow the pitch won't break like you want it to.