Power Pros Forum

What would you say is the single best pitch of all time? By best pitch, I don't mean the type, but I mean something like Pettite's cutter or Wakefield's Knuckleball (not that either of these are anywhere near the best)
I'd personally pick Mariano's cutter. He is the only reliever to have success on one pitch, let alone the best success of any closer.

Phil Niekro's knuckleball or maybe Nolan Ryan's fastball.

Clemens spiltter(Dunno) or Rivera's cutter.

I know I'm doing it wrong, but the Eephus pitch is the best.

I agree.

Don't forget to mention Randy's slider, Steve Carlton's slider, Bert Blyleven's curve, Bruce Sutter's splitter, numerous fastballs (Walter, Bob Feller, Lefty Grove, etc.), Pedro's CCHG, Kevin Brown's hard sinker, and, uh, Dice-K's gyroball! j/k.

by the way, some famous eephus pitches include Steve Hamilton's "Folly Floater" and Casey Fossum's "Fossum Flip". Rip Sewell also threw an eephus.

If your thinking of the same thing I'm thinking of, I don't think it's one of the best pitches. It was only used like once a game. It was just so unexpected. He knew if he threw it actively it would be easy to hit and it wouldn't do anything. This is the pitch that had that arc movement and floated in, right?

It has no movement really, you don't really wind-up and you throw *about* 60ft high. It's actually a very hard pitch to hit. It has been used a lot more than once.

Pettite and Mariano both have deadly cutters
Joba has a lightning fast ball
Wakefield has a good knuckler but when hit...ouch!
Ching-Ming Wang's sinker could even be on this list
Honestly its impossible to choose the greatest pitch ever

Maybe were thinking of different things, that pitch if its what I think it is could only be used once a game.
Oh, and Dipuma, none of those are contenders for the best pitch ever except Mariano's cutter. All of those are great pitches, but the best ever? What's so good about Mariano's cutter is that hitters always know it's coming, but they don't know how to hit it anyway. He has such great control and the right amount of speed that it's practically unhitable. Nolan Ryan's fastball should be thrown in there, though I don't think its the best, as with Kinko's fastball. The Euphus pitch shouldn't be as hitters can hit it very well if they know its coming, it's never a main pitch and only thrown a few times a game. It's also very hard to aim with and it hasn't been thrown enough to really judge. I'm glad no one said Wakefield's knuckleball, which, however good it might be, is certainly not the best.

The Eephus pitch is really easy to control. If you have another amount of good pitches and throw in an eephus here and there then it will be unhittable. It's nearly impossible to time hitting it. And again it has been used much more than once....

Wakefield's knuckler isn't good, no ones is.... The knuckler can be based on pure luck. It's luck of the draw. It's nearly impossible to control it. Some days the Knuckler is good others... Not so much. That's why you see so little knuckle ball pitchers.

Just throwing this out there:

Rivera's cutter isn't good enough to last 7 innings as a starter (otherwise why is he closing?). Wang's sinker and Wakefield's knuckler can baffle hitters for an entire game.

Hmm, interesting point. Well, he was originally a starter and as a starter he never even threw a cutter. Actually, he was a short-stop long before he started (which is why he didn't start playing till he was 27). But, a closer can be more valuable then a starter sometimes, and this is also the best closer of all time who certainly wouldn't have been the best starter. So I think he was more valuable as a reliever. He never threw a cutter as a starter, he actually threw his first by accident. So, who knows how it would have faired as a starter. I think he'd mix more pitches in, but I'd think he'd certainly be successful (Wang doesn't solely throw his sinker, it's just his main pitch. Mariano would probably throw his cutter as much if not slightly more if he started. He originally feautured a change up.).

But of course, Wakefields knuckler can be so easy to hit, he gives up alot of runs.

Rivera only pitches one inning and usually only pitches 3 outs, so odawali, you are right. If he did pitch 7 inninning, eventually they would figure out how to hit it.

Notice how we're only including active players....

And i nominate brad lidge's slider

Nah, Just Mariano. I don't think anyone's arguing that Wakefield or Wang have the best pitch, and I definetly wouldn't put Lidge in there too. I believe that right now, no established pitchers other then Mariano can make a good argujment for one of the best pitches.