Why the splitter pitch will decide World Series Game 6 for Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blue Jays’ Kevin Gausman
The World Series may all come down to one pitch.
Well, to be more specific, one pitch type: the splitter.
Game 6 is Friday night, and the Toronto Blue Jays have a 3-2 lead. They can take the crown with a victory.
The Los Angeles Dodgers send Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound to try and extend this to a seventh game. He’ll oppose Kevin Gausman.
And both of them throw a splitter a lot.
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Comparing Yamamoto vs. Gausman splitter
Yamamoto and Gausman both throw a lot of splitters. But how much?
Gausman throws his 37% of the time, according to Baseball Savant, while it’s 25% of the time for Yamamoto.
Batters this season hit .181 against Gausman’s splitter with a .294 slugging.
Against Yamamoto’s split, batters were even worse, at .136 with a .242 slug.
Gausman throws his splitter at an average of 84.9 miles per hour with 33.8 inches of vertical drop.
Yamamoto’s splitter averages 90.9 miles per hour with 31.1 inches of vertical drop.
They’ll both be on display plenty on Friday night.
What is a splitter pitch?
A splitter is a baseball pitch that is designed to drop straight down.
It travels most of the way to the plate appearing like a fastball before falling off the table.
It’s usually 5-10 miles per hour slower than a pitcher’s fastball, and if it drops sharply at the right time, it’s hard to make contact with.
How does a pitcher throw a splitter?
A splitter is named that based on the arrangement of a pitcher’s fingers.
The baseball is held between the index and middle finger. In a big enough hand, those two fingers can almost align on the direct outsides of the baseball, split in half by the ball.
When the pitcher throws it, their arm motion should travel almost straight down, as if snapping down that split point.
That creates a limited amount of spin on the pitch and a heck of a lot of downward action.
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