Why Not Throw Curveballs Right Away?
The first reason to avoid throwing curveballs early in your pitching development is that the spin needed to make pitches curve decreases the speed of your pitches. The off-center push of the fingers on the ball to make spin, comes at a cost of ball speed. A typical major league curveball is thrown at 80 to 85% of the speed of the fastball. The slower speed of the curveball makes it easier to hit if the batter is not fooled (is expecting a curveball). The second reason is related to the lost ball speed because it is important for young pitchers to realize that curveballs do not always work (break and fool a hitter). It only looks that way when some very young pitchers have a good curveball and strike out batters who have not seen curves and are easily fooled. Most of your early curveball pitches will not have enough topspin and will be very easy to hit. If the pros occasionally “hang” a curveball, imagine how many cream puffs you will be throwing over the plate for batters to crunch. Re
