Baseball Pitches Illustrated

If you’re interested in the physics of baseball or you just like data visualization (I’m guilty of both), definitely check out Baseball Pitches Illustrated, a beautifully-rendered set of infographics describing the speed and trajectory of a whole list of common pitches. [Lokesh Dhakar] picked twelve of the more common pitches: Fastballs: Four-seam, Two-seam, Cutter, Splitter, […]


If you're interested in the physics of baseball or you just like data visualization (I'm guilty of both), definitely check out Baseball Pitches Illustrated, a beautifully-rendered set of infographics describing the speed and trajectory of a whole list of common pitches.

[Lokesh Dhakar] picked twelve of the more common pitches:

  • Fastballs: Four-seam, Two-seam, Cutter, Splitter, and Forkball
  • Breaking Balls: Curveball, Slider, Slurve, and Screwball
  • Changeups: Changeup, Palmball, Circle Changeup

Things to watch for that will help you identify a pitch:

  • Speed
  • Movement - the general direction the ball is moving
  • Break - a sudden shift in direction

The graphics are clear and easy to understand, yet each one has enough information to spark a discussion or a brainy game of catch. Better yet, the whole set is available as a vector illustration in PDF, perfect for printing a poster for that baseball-infatuated geeklet in your life.