SI cover dives into curveball revival in MLB

MLB pitchers are throwing more curveballs than ever.

Throughout the history of MLB, pitchers have taken turns rotating through as the trendy pitch of the hour. The slider, cutter and splitter have all taken turns in recent years. Now, it may be time for the original secondary offering to retake its place as baseball’s most befuddling pitch. The curveball is back.

The curveball has been confusing hitters since Candy Cummings is credited with inventing it in 1867 while pitching for the Brooklyn Excelsiors. The Hall of Famer had reportedly come up with the idea while tossing sea shells by the water.

Cummings would hardly recognize the curveballs being thrown by the best pitchers in the big leagues these days. Harder, faster and with more horizontal and vertical drop, the best curveballs in the game are all but unhittable.

The curveball was given an in-depth look by Sports Illustrated’s senior baseball writer Tom Verducci. Although overall curveball usage is down across all of MLB, pitchers like Lance McCullers, Rich Hill, Drew Pomeranz and Jose Quintana are throwing their curves a majority of the time.

"“It’s easier these days to find guys with good fastballs, because there are a lot of guys who throw in the mid-90s and high 90s,” says Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow. “But finding a guy who can actually spin a ball, it’s a skill teams are looking for more now because it’s a differentiating factor. If you can find a guy that can throw hard and spin a ball, that usually bodes well.”Said one NL general manager, “Three teams have become big, big believers in the combination of high fastballs and curveballs: the Astros, Dodgers and Rays. Those teams are heavy into analytics. The game is changing away from the sinker/cutter/slider guys.”"

McCullers’ curveball has been especially nasty. He has struck out 60 in 54.1 innings while taking a step in the right direction with his command. That has helped him start the year 4-1 for the Houston Astros with a 2.65 ERA.

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The rise of the curveball is not without its drawbacks. Rich Hill has thrown his curveball close to half the time since returning to the major leagues in 2015. While the results have been great, the pressure of constantly spinning the ball off his fingertips has led to repeated trips to the DL with blisters. Aaron Sanchez of the Toronto Blue Jays has also battled blisters all season.

Is this new generation of curveball pitchers destined to change the game of baseball? Only time will tell. For now, it is up to the hitters to make their adjustments in the cat-and-mouse game that has always been an MLB at-bat.