Those whippersnappers and their profane *sliders*.
We don’t have the same resources as the generations before us to throw a slow breaking pitch. In 2004, Barry Zito could dot those curveballs all he wanted but 20 years later, things have gotten more difficult.
Edit: An article that uses the word Curveballingest has to be taken light.
Welp the curveball had long been the scapegoat for arm injuries at the youth baseball/high school level so I feel like it was discouraged to be taught/thrown
Any young pitchers should establish fastball (2S/4S), changeup, and a knuckle curve (less taxing on the arm) but still limit it as you’re coming up.
Aside from the curveball being the scapegoat and discouraged at the youth level, there was also the rise in travel ball and the boom, so you had kids playing too much baseball and killing their arms super young.
Oh no. It’s no longer just millenials killing off industries. Now Gen Z has a taste for blood. What have we done?!
Kids these days don’t understand the joy of hanging a dog shit curve ball and seeing it get launched into the next county.
I used to hate when people beat up on Millennials but I don’t mind it so much when it happens to Gen Z
I guess as a millennial I’m getting older since these copypasta articles aren’t about us anymore.
They may be killing the curveball but they’re certainly gonna grow the Tommy John replacement industry
So proud of Gen Z growing up. It’s now their turn instead of us crotchety millennials getting blamed for nonsense
They’re gonna be missing those 77 mph hooks when all their arms are falling off.
Knuckleball > curveball. Let the game change.
back in my day pitchers were embarrassed by sliders and only used them in back alleys
The game is going to change, but the author is right that curveballs have a certain elegance that is missed with the slider.
Here this guy is bitching about the curve, and I’m wondering where my boy the knuckle ball went.
It could be because youth baseball coaches are growing more and more hesitant to let their young pitchers throw curveballs. The curveball is like this boogeyman pitch that has to be avoided. Nevermind that an improperly thrown fastball or slider at full strength is far more damaging to a kids elbow than an improperly thrown curve at 60% percent strength. Especially when all they’re throwing is that improper fb. It’s all about good technique and avoiding overusage.
One thing that fascinates me about baseball is pitching fads. It’s all about the sweeper now, but 20 years from now, the hot pitch everyone is using will be something else
Millennials killed the knuckball and Gen Z is killing the curveball. What’s next, Gen Alpha doesn’t want to lose an arm because they can’t throw 90 at 16? What has the world come to.
I think it’s more of an “analytics discouraging curveballs” thing than a “kids don’t throw it in little league” thing. Guessing that curves don’t tunnel with other pitch types as well as horizontal breaking pitches since it has a higher path out of the hand (someone please tell me I don’t know anything)
Gen Z have killed the millennials killing things articles.
Millenials killed the split finger and look where we are now.
I still have memories of our senior ace in high school hanging a curveball to Joey Gallo and him absolutely destroying it
But the 12-6 was my favorite pitch in Ken Griffey Jr Baseball 🙁
Here’s hoping Gen z kills this absolutely braindead article format.
Meanwhile Giants have two prospect pitchers that use the curve heavily (and the pitch is graded highly) – Birdsong and Roupp. Both have featured in the MLB this year (with some ups and downs).
There is hope!
Learn the knuckeball instead. We need more knucklers!!
Don’t worry boys the trends change every 7 years
I used to be a minor league pitcher, I remember throwing a curve through high school and power conference D1 baseball, thinking it was a great pitch. I got to High A ball and realized it’s just too easy to make a mistake with and when you do in the zone the consequences are massive. Sliders are easier to control, still hard enough velo wise that even down the middle a hitter can miss it and has enough downward movement usually that you can get a swing and miss. Unless you have a rare curve the numbers will tell you the slider is a superior pitch (even then it will be close honestly).
Now, this is something I have wondered as a guy who volunteers coaching my kid now, with the rise of robo-umps coming, would a true 12-6 curve be a weapon again? If you can spot that one that touches the bottom of the zone, it’s basically unhittable. When you get ahead in the count and can afford to bounce one it seems like a no brainer to try and catch that bottom corner of the zone which never and I mean never gets called for a strike by a human ump.
Big Curveball’s arrogance is causing its self-induced decline. Uncle Charlie is now a great-great uncle, surviving off past glories while blaming the young generations.
Someone in the replies pointed out that the older guys on the list have pretty good health histories
30 comments
Those whippersnappers and their profane *sliders*.
We don’t have the same resources as the generations before us to throw a slow breaking pitch. In 2004, Barry Zito could dot those curveballs all he wanted but 20 years later, things have gotten more difficult.
Edit: An article that uses the word Curveballingest has to be taken light.
Welp the curveball had long been the scapegoat for arm injuries at the youth baseball/high school level so I feel like it was discouraged to be taught/thrown
Any young pitchers should establish fastball (2S/4S), changeup, and a knuckle curve (less taxing on the arm) but still limit it as you’re coming up.
Aside from the curveball being the scapegoat and discouraged at the youth level, there was also the rise in travel ball and the boom, so you had kids playing too much baseball and killing their arms super young.
[My favorite video on the topic. ](https://youtu.be/D101xq4N1bE?si=RlGAbSXs1rNJz-5H)
Oh no. It’s no longer just millenials killing off industries. Now Gen Z has a taste for blood. What have we done?!
Kids these days don’t understand the joy of hanging a dog shit curve ball and seeing it get launched into the next county.
I used to hate when people beat up on Millennials but I don’t mind it so much when it happens to Gen Z
I guess as a millennial I’m getting older since these copypasta articles aren’t about us anymore.
They may be killing the curveball but they’re certainly gonna grow the Tommy John replacement industry
So proud of Gen Z growing up. It’s now their turn instead of us crotchety millennials getting blamed for nonsense
They’re gonna be missing those 77 mph hooks when all their arms are falling off.
Knuckleball > curveball. Let the game change.
back in my day pitchers were embarrassed by sliders and only used them in back alleys
The game is going to change, but the author is right that curveballs have a certain elegance that is missed with the slider.
Here this guy is bitching about the curve, and I’m wondering where my boy the knuckle ball went.
It could be because youth baseball coaches are growing more and more hesitant to let their young pitchers throw curveballs. The curveball is like this boogeyman pitch that has to be avoided. Nevermind that an improperly thrown fastball or slider at full strength is far more damaging to a kids elbow than an improperly thrown curve at 60% percent strength. Especially when all they’re throwing is that improper fb. It’s all about good technique and avoiding overusage.
One thing that fascinates me about baseball is pitching fads. It’s all about the sweeper now, but 20 years from now, the hot pitch everyone is using will be something else
Millennials killed the knuckball and Gen Z is killing the curveball. What’s next, Gen Alpha doesn’t want to lose an arm because they can’t throw 90 at 16? What has the world come to.
I think it’s more of an “analytics discouraging curveballs” thing than a “kids don’t throw it in little league” thing. Guessing that curves don’t tunnel with other pitch types as well as horizontal breaking pitches since it has a higher path out of the hand (someone please tell me I don’t know anything)
Gen Z have killed the millennials killing things articles.
Millenials killed the split finger and look where we are now.
I still have memories of our senior ace in high school hanging a curveball to Joey Gallo and him absolutely destroying it
But the 12-6 was my favorite pitch in Ken Griffey Jr Baseball 🙁
Here’s hoping Gen z kills this absolutely braindead article format.
Meanwhile Giants have two prospect pitchers that use the curve heavily (and the pitch is graded highly) – Birdsong and Roupp. Both have featured in the MLB this year (with some ups and downs).
There is hope!
Learn the knuckeball instead. We need more knucklers!!
Don’t worry boys the trends change every 7 years
I used to be a minor league pitcher, I remember throwing a curve through high school and power conference D1 baseball, thinking it was a great pitch. I got to High A ball and realized it’s just too easy to make a mistake with and when you do in the zone the consequences are massive. Sliders are easier to control, still hard enough velo wise that even down the middle a hitter can miss it and has enough downward movement usually that you can get a swing and miss. Unless you have a rare curve the numbers will tell you the slider is a superior pitch (even then it will be close honestly).
Now, this is something I have wondered as a guy who volunteers coaching my kid now, with the rise of robo-umps coming, would a true 12-6 curve be a weapon again? If you can spot that one that touches the bottom of the zone, it’s basically unhittable. When you get ahead in the count and can afford to bounce one it seems like a no brainer to try and catch that bottom corner of the zone which never and I mean never gets called for a strike by a human ump.
Big Curveball’s arrogance is causing its self-induced decline. Uncle Charlie is now a great-great uncle, surviving off past glories while blaming the young generations.
Someone in the replies pointed out that the older guys on the list have pretty good health histories