Well if you’re thinking it is your ex-girlfriend who sleeps around, you could be right but this you’re wrong. It is the latest pitch from Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon.
Papelbon has found it easier to save 30-games than to invent a pitch but Papelbon has recently done both. Last night he notched his 30th save becoming the first Red Sox reliever to have two 30-save seasons. Last night he also unveiled a new pitch.
“It’s a cross between a slider and a cutter,” insisted Papelbon. He had been trying to throw a cutter, that was taught to him by Curt Schilling but was having difficulty and he incorporated the cutter with a slider and he got the “slutter”.
“It’s not a true slider. It’s not a true cutter.” Papelbon said. “I leave my palm (up), I kind of cut the ball. That’s the angle it comes out (at).”
Jason Varitek and Kyle Synder say it is a slider but Papelbon will have none of that. Why does a dominating closer like Papelbon need another pitch and how in the heck did he invent it.
“I kind of turned the cutter, because it didn’t work, into the slutter,” said Papelbon, who was only too happy to discuss what he called “the biomechanics of Jonathan Papelbon,” which is something they don’t teach at his alma mater, Mississippi State, never mind MIT. “I consider inventing a pitch a lot harder than saving 30 games back to back.”
If he continues to have success with this pitch, it could be lights out every night for teams.
[Hat tip to Texy for the find since I wasn’t home all day. She also has video of it.]
Update: Super Sexy Texy also has the video from today’s (Wednesday) pregame show with an interview with Paps about this pitch.
[Editor’s Note: Steve also contributed to this post]
