The SWEEPER: What is this HOT NEW Pitch Type that's thrown by Shohei Ohtani & other MLB Pitchers!

This combines two interests of mine, aerodynamics and Baseball. Imagine what stuff you could do if you really wanted to push the limits of drag and lift on a pitch.

The 'Slurve' is this pitch in MLB The Show. They also have a 'Sweeping Curve' which is a less pronounced Sweeper with more vertical break. It's my favourite pitch because it hovers outside of the zone for so long and then falls back into the inside edge of the strike zone, or in the zone to outside of it.

Slurve. Mark Clear pitched for the Red Sox in the early '80's. That pitch had incredible movement.

Would love a follow up video discussing Seam Shifted wake in general or Seam shifted versions of other pitches. This new concept is so interesting to me after stumbling into it while trying to recreate that one ufo splitter that I accidentally threw in a bullpen that ran as if it had rocket thrusters pushing it side ways 🤣🤮

Thanks alot for this cool video. Could you make breakdowns for other pitches (changeups, fastballs, splitters etc.) similar videos just different pitches like this one.

It's so cool to see developments in science and the technology available to athletes and coaches result in both changes to how we understand what is happening in baseball and to how baseball is played. What a terrific time to be a baseball fan!

I thought it was just a slider with a ton of horizontal break. I’m a baseball newbie, so I use the clock system to identify pitches and a slider to me is a 1-7 break. The sweeper is more of a 2-8: less vertical and more angled horizontal. Like between 30 and 45° instead of a slider’s 60-75°. It’s now probably my second favourite pitch after the two-seam fastball. Thanks for the breakdown.

Great stuff…I appreciate that you explain that this isn’t new, but this is what’s happening here. Playing College baseball in the 90’s everyone threw the slider and soft slider/frisbee/sweeper. Largely because of John Smoltz who would take something off his slider and come around it a bit more. When i got to minor league baseball, the height of the seams made it challenging to manipulate it the same way unless you had elite hand speed. A long time pro named Michel LaPlante used to throw all of his pitches with a two seam grip. FB, curve, slider, change. He focused on getting the ball to escape off his middle finger or between the index and thumb.

As a physics student who just got into baseball and know nothing about pitch types, I really enjoyed your video.

Man, I loved science class growing up, but I also love just grabbing a baseball and throwing out 1000 different ways to see what it would do

Stieb’s slider’s the best I’ve ever seen, ridiculous movement.

Yu Darvish has some of the nastiest shit I've ever seen. Dude can throw so many different pitches at different speeds and disguise them all to look like his delivery of everything else and that's messed up when you think you're getting a 95mph heater that breaks towards you as a righty and then the damn thing beyblade's itself off the plate behind where a lefty would be standing. And HE is giving Shohei, who is already disgusting with it, tuition on pitches? Man...Shohei is going to end up with. 027 BAA one of these seasons lol.

Also thanks for clarifying because every time ive heard an analyst say “sweeper” I couldn’t tell the difference in movement from a slider. Btw slurve was a popular designation for this pitch 20 years ago I think, it could be a different pitch though.

This is fascinating stuff. Thanks for it.

Your stuff is gold, Ninja.

Now all these years after leaving college baseball from two arm surgeries, I couldve finally described my "slurve but not a slurve vs slider" difference better to catchers than just saying one is slower and moves more. Turns out I was throwing a damn sweeper and a slider

Thank you for explaining. I know I will forget it. I can used this on my mlb the show 2023. 😊

That the exact grip and action that I used to throw when I played in Rep. ball back in the 90s.

GREAT segment

Awesome video!!!!!