Cutter (baseball)

In baseball, a cutter, or cut fastball, is a type of fastball which breaks slightly toward the pitcher's glove side as it reaches home plate. This pitch is somewhere between a slider and a fastball, as it is usually thrown faster than a slider but with more motion than a typical fastball. Some pitchers use a cutter as a way to prevent hitters from expecting their regular fastballs. A common technique used to throw a cutter is to use a four-seam fastball grip with the baseball set slightly off center in the hand. When a batter is able to hit a cutter pitch, it often results in soft contact and an easy out, due to the pitch's movement keeping the ball away from the bat's sweet spot. The cutter is typically 2–5 mph slower than a pitcher's four-seam fastball. In 2010, the average pitch classified as a cutter by PITCHf/x thrown by a right-handed pitcher was 88.6 mph; the average four-seamer was 92.1 mph.

Professional practitioners

The New York Yankees' former closer Mariano Rivera, one of the foremost practitioners of the cutter, made the pitch famous though the pitch itself has been around since at least the 1950s.

Cutter

Cutter may refer to:

Tools

People with the surname

Companies

Sport

Fictional characters

Other uses

Cutter (G.I. Joe)

Cutter is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series. He is the G.I. Joe Team's hovercraft pilot and debuted in 1984.

Profile

His real name is Skip A. Stone, and his rank is that of Coast Guard lieutenant junior grade O-2. Cutter was born in Kinsley, Kansas.

Cutter's primary military specialty is hovercraft captain and his secondary military specialty is special services (he coached the women's swimming team at Annapolis). After trying unsuccessfully to get into Annapolis for two years, Cutter opted for the Coast Guard Academy at New London, Connecticut instead. Although his home town is in the central United States, Cutter always wanted a life at sea. When he found out the Joe Team had no members from the Coast Guard, he pressured the Coast Guard, until they pulled strings to get him on the team and out of their hair.

Cutter wears a cap similar to the one worn by the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

Toys

Cutter was first released as an action figure in 1984, packaged with the W.H.A.L.E. hovercraft. His hat sports the Red Sox logo. A new version of Cutter was released as an action figure in 1992, as part of the D.E.F. (Drug Elimination Force) line. The figure was repainted and released as part of the Battle Corps line in 1993, packaged with the "Shark 9000".

Cutter (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a cutter is a three-quarter facelock front face bulldog maneuver. This move sees an attacking wrestler first apply a three-quarter facelock (reaching back and grabbing the head of an opponent, thus pulling the opponent's jaw above the wrestler's shoulder) before falling backwards (sometimes after running forwards first) to force the opponent face-first to the mat below.

The cutter was innovated by Johnny Ace, who called it the Ace Crusher. It was later popularized by Diamond Dallas Page, who called it the Diamond Cutter, which is where the move got its name. The cutter also formed the base for the later development of another professional wrestling move known as the stunner.

Variations

Argentine cutter

The attacking wrestler gets his opponent in the Argentine backbreaker position as to execute the Argentine Backbreaker drop. The attacking wrestler then pushes his opponents legs so that he flips horizontally 180 degrees. As his opponents weight is being shifted to one side, the attacking wrestler applies the three-quarter facelock and drops his opponent.

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. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases and returns to home plate.

Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates' turns batting, such as on a hit or by other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the visiting team, constitutes an inning. A game comprises nine innings, and the team with the greater number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball is the only major team sport in America with no game clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning.

Baseball (ball)

A baseball is a ball used in the sport of the same name, baseball. The ball features a rubber or cork center, wrapped in yarn, and covered, in the words of the Official Baseball Rules "with two strips of white horsehide or cowhide, tightly stitched together." It is 9.00–9.25 inches (228.60–234.95 mm) in circumference, (2.86–2.94 in or 72.64–74.68 mm in diameter), and masses from 5.00 to 5.25 ounces (141.75 to 148.83 g). The yarn or string used to wrap the baseball can be up to one mile (1.6 km) in length. Some are wrapped in a plastic-like covering.

A significant characteristic of the baseball is the stitching that holds together the covering of the ball. After a ball has been pitched, these raised stitches act like wings on a plane, catching the wind and causing the ball to swerve slightly on its way to the catcher. Whether the ball swerves to the right, to the left, downward, or a combination thereof, and whether it swerves sharply or gradually, depends on which direction, and how fast, the stitches have been made to spin by the pitcher. See, for example, curveball, slider, two-seam fastball, four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter.

Baseball: An Album by Sayanything

Baseball: An Album By Say Anything is the debut album from the American band Say Anything.

History

At the time of the album's release, the band was known as Sayanything, which is the name that appears on the album. During the time of recording in 2001, the band consisted of Max Bemis on vocals, guitar, and keyboard, Coby Linder on drums, and Michael Levin on bass. Although the album was recorded in 2001, most copies were not sold until May 2003 when 200 copies were pressed and sold on Say Anything's website. Thus, some sources cite the album's release year as 2003.

The album has never attained any commercial success, though it has remained a consistent cult favorite. However, in a move reminiscent of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's rejection of his band's Pinkerton album, Say Anything frontman Max Bemis has all but disowned the recording, until 2009 refusing to play any of its songs live. At an acoustic show on May 11, 2008 at the Chain Reaction, after a fan requested he play "Into the Night," Max stated "I promise we will start playing Baseball songs again. Some day. However, today is not that day."