How To Throw An Eephus Pitch In Baseball

Are you looking to add a little extra zip to your fastball? Then you might want to try throwing an eephus pitch! In this blog post, we’ll show you how to throw an eephus pitch in baseball.

What is an eephus pitch?

An eephus pitch is a very slow, low-arcing pitch. It is sometimes called a dribbler, a blooper, or a humpback. The eephus pitch is about as slow as a human being can throw a baseball without using magic.

Eephus pitches are rare in baseball. They are usually thrown by pitchers who have lost velocity on their fastballs, or by young pitchers who are trying to trick hitters with something slower than a fastball. Most hitters are not expecting to see an eephus pitch, so they often swing early and miss.

Eephus pitches were once common in baseball. In the early 1900s, there was a lot of experimentation with different pitching speeds and styles. But as the game evolved, pitchers began to focus on throwing fastballs and breaking balls—pitches that were more difficult for hitters to hit.

Eephus pitches are still thrown occasionally, but they are not as common as they once were. When they are thrown, it is usually done as a surprise—a “trick” pitch that the hitter is not expecting.

If you want to throw an eephus pitch, you will need to use a very light baseball and grip it with your fingers across the seams. Then, you will need to throw the ball very slowly and lightly—so lightly that it barely has any spin on it. The ball should Arch high in the air before coming down into the strike zone.

Throwing an eephus pitch is more difficult than it looks. It takes practice to get the hang of it. But if you can master this unusual pitching style, you may be able to surprise some hitters and get them out!

The history of the eephus pitch

The eephus pitch is a very slow, low-arcing baseball pitch. It is sometimes called a “blooper” or ” junk” pitch. The eephus pitch was once commonly used by pitchers as a strategic tactic to confuse batters or to make them swing at bad pitches. The batter will often swing at an eephus pitch well before it reaches the plate, resulting in an easy out.

The eephus pitch was first thrown by Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1940s. He called it his “blooper pitch.” Fellow Pirate Ralph Kiner recalled that when Sewell first threw the pitch, “the hitters were so far out in front of it, they almost fell down.”

Sewell’s bloopers were so effective that other pitchers began throwing them as well. Eephus pitches became more common in the 1950s and 1960s, when pitchers such as Hoyt Wilhelm and Warren Spahn were using them with great success. By the 1970s, however, the eephus pitch had fallen out of favor; few pitchers threw it, and batters had become much better at hitting it.

Today, the eephus pitch is rarely seen in Major League Baseball. When it is thrown, it is usually by a relief pitcher trying to surprise a batter late in the game. Pitchers who have thrown eephus pitches in recent years include Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey of the Toronto Blue Jays.

How to throw an eephus pitch

An eephus pitch is a very slow junk pitch in baseball. The eephus got its name from the Hebrew word for “nothing,” because that’s what an unsuspecting batter might see when trying to hit this pitch.

Eephus pitches are typically around 40-50 mph, which is much slower than the average major league fastball (which hovers around 95 mph). This makes hitting an eephus pitch very difficult, as batters are used to seeing much faster pitches

There are a few different ways to grip an eephus pitch, but the most common is to hold the ball with your index and middle fingers across the seams. Your thumb should be underneath the ball, and your pinky and ring finger should be off to the side.

To throw an eephus pitch, start with your arm at a 90-degree angle and keep your elbow close to your body. Then, simply lob the ball toward home plate, using a smooth, easy motion. The key is not to put too much spin on the ball — otherwise it will lose its slow, looping movement and become easier for hitters to track.

While eephus pitches can be difficult to hit, they can also be difficult to control. As such, they are often used as “get me over” pitches — meaning they are thrown early in the count in order to get ahead in the count. They can also be used as surprise pitches later in the count, when batters are expecting something harder.

Throwing an eephus pitch takes practice, but it can be a deceptive and effective weapon in a pitcher’s arsenal.

Famous eephus pitches in baseball history

Among the most famous eephus pitches in baseball history is the one thrown by Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates to Yankee slugger Phil Rizzuto in an exhibition game on August 19, 1948. Rizzuto, who was facing Sewell for the first time, flailed at the pitch and missed. Afterward, Rizzuto quipped, “He must have been throwing me a Chinese ball.”[1]

The most recent well-known eephus pitch was thrown by Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies to B.J. Upton of the Tampa Bay Rays on August 19, 2014.[2][3] Highlighting its unusual nature, New York Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen called it “one of the more bizarre things you’ll ever see on a baseball field”.[4] Upton struck out swinging at Hamels’ second eephus pitch of the at-bat.[5]

Why pitchers don’t throw eephus pitches anymore

Eephus pitches are very slow, often outside of the strike zone, and can be difficult for hitters to make contact with. As a result, eephus pitches can be very effective at getting hitters to swing and miss. However, eephus pitches are also very difficult to control, and if a pitcher doesn’t have good control of his or her eephus pitch, it can end up being a ” batting practice” pitch that is easy for the hitter to hit. For these reasons, eephus pitches fell out of favor in Major League Baseball in the 1960s and 1970s as pitchers increasingly relied on fastballs and other pitches that were easier to control.