Baseball Ground Ball Pitcher

• Outline
  • Rules
  • Baseball field
  • Equipment
  • Player rosters
  • Non players
  • Distinctive elements
  • Defensive Players
    • Pitcher (P)
    • Catcher (C)
    • First Baseman (1B)
    • Second Baseman (2B)
    • Third Baseman (3B)
    • Shortstop (SS)
    • Left Fielder (LF)
    • Center Fielder (CF)
    • Right Fielder (RF)
  • Offensive Players
    • Batter
    • Runner
    • Designated Hitter
    • Pinch Hitter
    • Pinch Runner
    • Lead Off
    • Lead Off Hitter
    • Cleanup Hitter
• Gameplay
  • Defensive Play
  • Offensive Play
  • Batting order (1-9)
  • Strategy and tactics
  • Game progress
  • Batting
  • Pitching
  • Base running
  • Fielding

In baseball, a ground ball pitcher (also ground-ball pitcher or groundball pitcher) is a type of pitcher that has a tendency to induce ground balls from opposing batters. The average ground ball pitcher has a ground ball rate of at least 50% with extreme ground ball pitchers maintaining a ground ball rate of around 55%. Pitchers with a ground ball rate lower than 50% may be classified as flyball pitchers or as pitchers who exhibit the tendencies of both ground ball and fly ball pitchers. Ground ball pitchers rely on pitches that are low in the strike zone with substantial downward movement, such as splitters and sinker balls.

Batted ball tendencies

Against a ground ball pitcher, batters tend to ground out rather than fly out. A ground ball pitcher’s ability to keep balls in the infield in turn keeps balls from resulting in home runs which, according to Hardball Times writer David Gassko, is the strongest benefit of a ground ball pitcher. When a ground ball pitcher does allow a pitch to be bat into the air, it is likely to result in a line drive.

Compared to fly ball pitchers, ground ball pitchers generally allow fewer extra base hits yet more total hits. Likewise, ground ball pitchers tend to give up fewer home runs than fly ball pitchers. Ground ball pitchers tend to perform better against ground ball hitters than they perform against fly ball hitters.

Relationship with defense

Compared to fly ball pitchers, ground ball pitchers are more likely to allow unearned runs. David Gassko notes that 2.23% of ground balls result in an error, and these errors account for 85% of all errors. Accordingly, as Gassko argues, the susceptibility of ground balls to errors results in more unearned runs.

With runners on base, ground ball pitchers often force double plays because the weak contact batters make with a ground ball pitcher’s pitches prevents the ball from passing the infield defense.

Ground ball rate

Ground ball rate, or ground ball percentage, is the percentage of batted balls that are hit as ground balls against a pitcher. A typical ground ball pitcher has a ground ball rate over 50% while an extreme ground ball pitcher maintains a ground ball rate of 55% or higher. Pitchers with high ground ball rates sustain lower BABIP, or Batting Average against Balls in Play (Hardball), on ground balls than those with low ground ball rates.

Nature of pitches

Ground ball pitchers rely on pitches that are likely to induce weak contact from the batter, thus resulting in a ground ball. Pitches that are low in the strike zone with high negative horizontal or vertical movement and high velocity, such as splitters, sinkers, curveballs, and two-seam fastballs, result in the highest percentage of ground balls. According to data from the 2012 major league season, splitters and sinker balls result in the highest percentages of ground balls compared to other pitches, with 50.3% and 49.8%, respectively.

Sinker ball

The sinker ball has an ability to “dive” at the plate, often resulting in ground balls. Several ground ball pitchers such as Tim Hudson, Greg Maddux, Derek Lowe, Chien-Ming Wang, Brandon Webb, and Jake Westbrook rely heavily on their sinker pitches and may often be considered sinkerballers. Tim Hudson notes that he transformed from a strikeout pitcher to a ground ball pitcher because of the capabilities of his sinker ball. He also notes that he feels double plays are easy to force with a ground ball.

As of 1998, 72% of balls put in play against Greg Maddux resulted in ground balls, who often relies on a sinker ball. In June 2002, Lowe allowed eleven fly balls to 129 batters, relying on his sinker to induce ground balls. According to a scouting report by Lewis Shaw, Brandon Webb’s sinker possesses heavy downward movement and high velocity, and one of his notable tendencies is to induce ground balls from right-handed hitters.

• Outline
  

  SPORTS WORLD

  Baseball

  Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each who take turns batting and fielding. The batting team attempts to score runs by hitting a ball that is thrown by the pitcher with a bat swung by the batter, then running counter-clockwise around a series of four bases: first, second, third, and home plate.

  Rules and gameplay: A game is played between two teams, each comprising nine players, that take turns playing offense (batting and baserunning) and defense (pitching and fielding).

  Baseball field: A baseball field, also called a ball field or a baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played.

  Equipment: A rounded, solid wooden or hollow aluminum bat. Wooden bats are traditionally made from ash wood, though maple and bamboo is also sometimes used.

  Player rosters: Roster, or squad, sizes differ between different leagues and different levels of organized play. Major League Baseball teams maintain 25-player active rosters.

  Non players: In the game of baseball, the official scorer is a person appointed by the league to record the events on the field, and to send the official scoring record of the game back to the league offices.

  Distinctive elements: Baseball has certain attributes that set it apart from the other popular team sports in the countries where it has a following, including American and Canadian football, basketball, ice hockey, and soccer.

  Defensive Play: Baseball is unlike most other competitive sports in that the defense is given control of the ball.

  Offensive Play: Batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher.

  Batting order (1-9): The batting order or batting lineup is the sequence in which the members of the offense take their turns in batting against the pitcher.

  Strategy and tactics: Many of the pre-game and in-game strategic decisions in baseball revolve around a fundamental fact: in general, right-handed batters tend to be more successful against left-handed pitchers and, to an even greater degree, left-handed batters tend to be more successful against right-handed pitchers.

• Baseball Positions
  

  SPORTS WORLD

  Baseball Positions

  At the beginning of each half-inning, the nine players on the fielding team arrange themselves around the field. One of them, the pitcher, stands on the pitcher's mound.

  Defensive Players

  Pitcher (P): The pitcher is the player who throws the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk.

  Catcher (C): When a batter takes his/her turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher.

  First Baseman (1B): First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team.

  Second Baseman (2B): The second baseman often possesses quick hands and feet, needs the ability to get rid of the ball quickly, and must be able to make the pivot on a double play.

  Third Baseman (3B): The third baseman requires good reflexes in reacting to batted balls, as he or she is often the closest infielder (roughly 90–120 feet) to the batter.

  Shortstop (SS): The position is mostly filled by defensive specialists, so shortstops are generally relatively poor batters who bat later in the batting order, with some exceptions.

  Left Fielder (LF): Outfielders must cover large distances - speed, instincts, and quickness in reacting to the ball are key. They must be able to catch fly balls above their head and on the run.

  Center Fielder (CF): A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball fielding position between left field and right field.

  Right Fielder (RF): Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound.

   

  Offensive Players

  Batter: A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, drive runners home, or advance runners along the bases for others to drive home.

  Runner: In general, base running is a tactical part of the game with the goal of eventually reaching home to score a run.

  Designated Hitter: The rule allows teams to have one player, known as the designated hitter (abbreviated DH), to bat in place of the pitcher.

  Pinch Hitter: Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute.

  Pinch Runner: The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been substituted.

  Lead Off: A lead or lead off is the short distance that a player stands away from their current base.

  Lead Off Hitter: Leadoff hitters must possess certain traits to be successful: they must reach base at a proficient on-base percentage rate and be able to steal bases.

  Cleanup Hitter: Cleanup hitters often have the most power on the team and are typically the team's best power hitter; their job is to "clean up the bases", hence the name.

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia articles "Baseball", "Pitcher" and "Ground ball pitcher", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.