Daisuke Matsuzaka in the World Baseball Classic (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) An impossibly good baseball pitch created in a laboratory. A record-shattering price tag for the rights to even negotiate with a hotshot pitcher. It sounds like the plot of a movie starring Kevin Costner (or maybe an "Air Bud" sequel), but it's actually the stranger-than-fiction story of Daisuke Matsuzaka. If the Japanese pitcher actually throws the gyroball, it could be the first new pitch since Bruce Sutter's split-fingered fastball in the late '70s. So what the heck is a gyroball, and is it worth $100 million? Assuming it really exists, it's sort of like a slider, only nastier. The pitcher grips the ball like a fastball and throws with the arm speed of a fastball... but then he snaps his wrist and turns his palm away from his body, giving the ball a spin like a spiraling football or a bullet. The pitch breaks sharply as it approaches the batter, moving down and away from right-handed hitters at the last second and leaving them baffled. At least that's what the Red Sox are betting big money on. But what if there is no gyroball? Well, at worst, Matsuzaka could just be a really good pitcher. Suggested Sites... Matsuzaka Watch - all eyes are on the hotshot hurler. Searching for Baseball's Bigfoot - Jeff Passan tries to track down the mythical pitch at Spring Training 2006. A New Spin? - a illustrated guide to the gyroball and how it compares to other pitches (PDF). Matsuzaka's Gyroball - is it really a gyroball? See for yourself.

Directory categories: Gyroball, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Science of Baseball, Baseball in Japan

Archived under: Baseball, Gyroball, Japan, Sports

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