I SAW ONE!
Today I was watching the Mets and the Giants.
And I saw a shuuto.
It was when Keiichi Yabu came into the game. He came on in relief, and he actually struck out Jose Reyes on a pitch that the SNY commentators declared to be a shuuto. I totally spazzed over this, because I'd never seen one thrown in real life (although I have seen Mihashi throw quite a few of them through my Oofuri-watching). I just spent some time scouring YouTube for footage of one, and here is an explanation of the pitch in Japanese. At about 3:35 there is some throwing footage, and when the pitcher lays down around 4:00 or so he is explaining the pitch's movement with his arm. And at 5:24, there's a batter turning a shuuto into a home run.
The best example of the pitch comes around 6:12 or so, right at the end. That's probably the best look you get at it in the entire video. They show a few strikeouts on the pitch at that point.
Here is Wikipedia's explanation of the pitch:
The pitch is mainly designed to break down and in on right-handed batters, so as to prevent them to make good contact with the ball. It can also be thrown to left-handers to keep them off balance. Good shuuto pitchers often break the bats of right-handed hitters because they usually get jammed when trying to swing at this pitch. It could be said that the shuuto has a somewhat similar break and purpose as the screwball for a left-handed pitcher, even though the latter is also meant to be primarily thrown at right-handed batters.. The shuuto begins as a fastball, taking a straight path towards home plate. However, the pitcher puts a slight spin on the ball, such that as the ball's velocity decreases, and it then "rolls over" and drifts toward the batter. Thus, if the shuuto pitch was thrown off the outside part of the plate, it would tail back over the outside border of the strike zone. Conversely, if it was thrown on the inside part of the plate, it would move even further inside.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite pitches, and I'd love to see more use of it. It's just so damn clever.
(Using the Mihashi icon here because, as I mentioned above, this kid knows how to throw one, too.)
And I saw a shuuto.
It was when Keiichi Yabu came into the game. He came on in relief, and he actually struck out Jose Reyes on a pitch that the SNY commentators declared to be a shuuto. I totally spazzed over this, because I'd never seen one thrown in real life (although I have seen Mihashi throw quite a few of them through my Oofuri-watching). I just spent some time scouring YouTube for footage of one, and here is an explanation of the pitch in Japanese. At about 3:35 there is some throwing footage, and when the pitcher lays down around 4:00 or so he is explaining the pitch's movement with his arm. And at 5:24, there's a batter turning a shuuto into a home run.
Click to viewThe best example of the pitch comes around 6:12 or so, right at the end. That's probably the best look you get at it in the entire video. They show a few strikeouts on the pitch at that point.
Here is Wikipedia's explanation of the pitch:
The pitch is mainly designed to break down and in on right-handed batters, so as to prevent them to make good contact with the ball. It can also be thrown to left-handers to keep them off balance. Good shuuto pitchers often break the bats of right-handed hitters because they usually get jammed when trying to swing at this pitch. It could be said that the shuuto has a somewhat similar break and purpose as the screwball for a left-handed pitcher, even though the latter is also meant to be primarily thrown at right-handed batters.. The shuuto begins as a fastball, taking a straight path towards home plate. However, the pitcher puts a slight spin on the ball, such that as the ball's velocity decreases, and it then "rolls over" and drifts toward the batter. Thus, if the shuuto pitch was thrown off the outside part of the plate, it would tail back over the outside border of the strike zone. Conversely, if it was thrown on the inside part of the plate, it would move even further inside.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite pitches, and I'd love to see more use of it. It's just so damn clever.
(Using the Mihashi icon here because, as I mentioned above, this kid knows how to throw one, too.)