The Gyroball

In passing conversation, a friend told me that Japanese pitchers invented a new pitch and that it was used to the advantage of 2007 import Daisuke Matsuzaka. I laughed it off at first, since it sounded so silly. My gut reaction was that someone called a splitfinger fastball a new name, a shell game at best.

So I looked online and found any number of believers in this myth. Turns out that there really was a book written by Japanese scientists Ryutaro Himeno and Kazushi Tezuka, called "The Secret of the Miracle Pitch."

This pitch is even demonstrated in a NY Times graphic:

Inventor Tezuka taught Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports the pitch, who writes:

"That was easy. Instead of throwing over the top, I torqued my wrist slightly so the ball would spin sideways. It felt like a fastball, looked like a fastball and moved like a fastball. Apparently, it was a gyroball."

Apparently the scientist's theory is that the ball spinning like a bullet or a football spiral is better than the traditional fastball that rolls like a bowling ball end over end on its way to the plate. Pasan quotes:

"It doesn't move," Tezuka said. "It doesn't move at all."

I pitched in youth leagues; batters loved facing me because my pitches traveled straight and did not move at all (maybe I threw gyroballs). I am at a loss for how a straightball is a good pitch for MLB.

Nevertheless, Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus writes:

"The gyroball is simply another variation of breaking ball... the ball comes at the hitter looking like a hanging curve and then takes a hard, flat turn away from a right-handed batter."

Kyle Boddy claims to throw this sinking gyroball as evidenced by his YouTube video. It gets even better than this, with videos from Japan and of course YouTube videos of Daisuke Matsuzaka throwing gyroballs.

This seems a situation where the facts provided by the pitch's inventor are irrelevant. People find it fascinating that there could be a new pitch with a goofy name that has mysterious, unknown effects. There is the logical excuse of science to support the house of cards. People with no hopes of reaching MLB claim to throw it, of course, but a man with a book to sell claims to hold the key to unlocking it secrets. No one in MLB claims it. Even Daisuke Matsuzaka treats the notion as a joke in interviews, telling reporters to "Ask the batters". I believe much of this is a product of the conspiracy crazed Internet, where anything can be purported as factual no matter the basis and interest generates around the most implausible myths. At least here there is a kernel of truth, but it was twisted and contrived to a conclusion that makes a better story.

The pitch exists. No one claims to throw it professionally (at least intentionally). Even if it were thrown, a perfectly straight ball is not a competitive advantage and if anything should actually be avoided by pitchers. But the myth of the gyroball's value is of course much more interesting.