How do baseball announcers tell the difference between a slider and a fastball when announcing games?

Joe M: How do baseball announcers tell the difference between a slider and a fastball when announcing games?
How do baseball announcers tell the difference between a slider and a fastball when announcing games?

I can more or less tell a curve ball since it has a looping motion. I’m guessing a change up can be determined by the speedometer. New to baseball. Thanks!

Answers and Views:

Answer by Gyroballer1990
a major league fastball travels at an average of 90-93 mph. A major league slider stays in the 80’s range, and if it has good bite, you will be able to see it move down and away from a right handed batter (from a RHP) and vice versa. Im guessing that they just watch their tv’s while they talk. A lot of announcers have been in the baseball business for a while, so they have a good eye for pitches.

Answer by maximac
By the motion of the pitcher and the speed and movement of the ball.

Answer by Pilgrim P
Experience I think

Answer by HK MP5
Your guess is as good as theirs. Believe me, my uncle is a sound man for Giant games.

Answer by ohshtidfk
By the velocity sometimes a fastball usually in the 90’s sliders are usually between 85 and 90 sometimes less. Also it breaks at the last minute sometimes even the location that its pitched gives it away.

They’ve been calling games their whole life i’m sure its just easy everyday thing for them.

Answer by Joshie
Well lets take the SF Giants announcers… Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper… Krukow is always looking at the catchers signs so he can tip off the listeners before the pitch is thrown…

Answer by richnieh
Most of they cannot get them right all the time. They just say that as their own opinion. A lot of time while I am watching the game, they just said it is a slider because the pitcher has that pitch but most of them I think they are just guessing.

The cleverer commentator just says it is a breaking pitch or the fastball. Judging by speed depends on pitchers. After watching more games you will have your own opinion with what kind of pitches the pitcher is throwing.

Some pitchers are very hard to tell what they are throwing e.g. Jorge Campillo (Braves) can throw any kind of pitches for strike except knuckle ball which is the only pitch he does not use and all his pitching speed are crowded together in 80 to 90 range.

One commentator said that he counted Jorge’s pitches and he has about 14 different kind of pitches. That is just exaggerating but he is a fun pitcher to watch, very enjoyable pitching philosophy from him unlike so many pitchers has only one style of fastball + change-up just plan boring e.g. Johan (the best pitcher in universe) Santana or John Maine or Cole Hamel…

Answer by staggmovie
This is a good question, but I am not a baseball annoucer. So you have to ask a baseball annoucer how they can tell the difference between a slider and a fastball during games, and they might have all different ways to tell. And they might not always tell the difference. And plus they might not all say the same thing, where you might ask one of them, and then another, and then you might be like “well that is not so and so said”, but you can replace so and so with another baseball annoucer’s name.

Answer by Ryan B
Velocity and movement. Sliders don’t move as fast toward the plate, however they break side to side and slightly downward depending on the rotation of the ball. If a righty is throwing a slider it will break away from a right handed batter, and visa versa….a cut fastball is very similar to a slider in that it moves from side to side, however, the velocity is still going to be 5-10 MPH faster than that of a slider, which you will normally seen thrown in the high 80’s, for a guy in the mid to low 90’s with his fastball….mid 80’s for a guy consistently in the low 90’s and high high 80’s low 90’s for a guy like Randy Johnson….however the best pitchers can mix in slower than normal sliders as well, like Randy was a great pitcher b/c he could mix in a nasty 90 MPH slider in with an 83 MPH slider to keep the hitters timing off….ALSO most announcers have been around the game for a long time and can see things like that just in the delivery or the call from the catcher, or just noticing again velocity and how the ball breaks

Answer by Pardeezy
All broadcasters have endless information in front of them and constantly given to them during the game. So they know what pitches a pitcher throws, as well their tendencies they have to throw certain pitches in certain situations. They know between what speeds their fastball is thrown as well as the rest of a pitcher’s pitches. So then by looking at the speed of the pitch, and its movement, they can deduce what pitch was just thrown. Its not quite as easy as looking at what sign the catcher is putting down, since that camera angle isn’t usually the one being shown when the signs are flashed.

Answer by Joel D
A slider has a slight break to the right (if a right-hander) or left (if a lefty). A fastball, regardless of throwing side, usually stays straight or has very little break and is usually faster than the slider.

Answer by Frizzer
Experience in watching many different pitchers.

Answer by tata e
the break of the ball if you watch baseball a lot you can tell

Answer by joemarkley
different speeds and they watch baseball alot

Answer by Bob
good question!