How to Throw an Awesome Slider!

Do you want to learn how to throw a slider?

To grip the slider, place your fingers the same way you would with a curveball grip using your index and middle fingers putting them close together. Thumb and middle finger split the baseball in half as you should do with all of your pitching grips; aside from the fork ball and split finger fastball.

Keep your ring finger and your pinkie off to the side as they shouldn’t make any real contact with the ball. Place a little more pressure with your thumb and middle finger as your index finger puts little to no pressure on the baseball.

With your curveball grip your palm is facing you as you bring the ball out of your glove. : Throwing a slider is similar other than your palm facing you, it is slightly turned in. Using your fastball mechanics with identical arm speed and arm slot, release the baseball in front of you.

Here is a youtube video I created to make sense of what I just wrote; it’s easier to explain that to write. 🙂

Curve and Slider Video Clip What wrist and forearm angle looks like with both curve and slider!

What does the slider do?

The slider breaks down about six inches and in by six inches to an opposite hand hitter. A left-handed pitcher’s slider breaks down and away from left-handed batters; down and in on right-handed batters. It appears to be a fastball but breaks at the last minute going about four to six miles an hour slower than the fastball. It is one of the fastest pitches in baseball.

When pitchers learn how to throw a curveball they will end up throwing accidental sliders because the positioning of the wrist and forearm angle of each pitch is so similar. In my opinion, for most pitchers a curveball is the pitch to go with before attempting a slider.

If you are anxious to learn how to throw different pitches and add a ton of movement to the ball we highly recommend our pitching grips DVD where we teach you several knee buckling pitches.