Definitions for fastball
ˈfæstˌbɔl, ˈfɑst-fast·ball

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fastball, heater, smoke, hummer, bulletnoun

   (baseball) a pitch thrown with maximum velocity

   "he swung late on the fastball"; "he showed batters nothing but smoke"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fastballnoun

   Any of the variations of high speed pitches thrown in baseball

2. fastballnoun

   A four-seam fastball, which is a backspin pitch thrown with a ball gripped in the direction to cause four of the seams of the ball to cross the flight path and released with roughly equal pressure by the index and middle fingers

   The pitcher had a blazing fastball.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Fastball

   The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thrown fastballs at speeds of 95–105 miles per hour (153–169 km/h) (officially) and up to 108.1 miles per hour (174.0 km/h) (unofficially). Pitchers who throw more slowly can put movement on the ball, or throw it on the outside of home plate where batters can't easily reach it. Fastballs are usually thrown with backspin, so that the Magnus effect creates an upward force on the ball. This causes it to fall less rapidly than expected, and sometimes causes an optical illusion often called a rising fastball. Although it is impossible for a human to throw a baseball fast enough and with enough backspin for the ball to actually rise, to the batter the pitch seems to rise due to the unexpected lack of natural drop on the pitch. A straight pitch is achieved by gripping the ball with the fingers across the wide part of the seam (called a "four-seam fastball") so that both the index and middle fingers are touching two seams perpendicularly. A sinking fastball is thrown by gripping it across the narrow part (a "two-seam fastball") so that both the index and middle fingers are along a seam. Lateral motion is achieved by holding a four-seam fastball off-center (a "cut fastball"), and sinking action with a lateral break is thrown by splitting the fingers along the seams (a "split-finger fastball"). Colloquially, a fastball pitcher "throws heat" or "puts cream on it", among many other variants.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fastball

   A fastball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with high velocity and minimal movement, typically intended to overpower a hitter. It is usually the fastest pitch that a pitcher throws and is considered one of the more basic pitches in a pitcher's arsenal.

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Fastball

   The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph, relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit. Others throw more slowly but put movement on the ball or throw it on the outside of the plate where the batter cannot easily reach it. The appearance of a faster pitch to the batter can sometimes be achieved by minimizing the batter's vision of the ball before its release. The result is known as an "exploding fastball": a pitch that seems to arrive at the plate quickly despite its low velocity. Fastballs are usually thrown with backspin, so that the Magnus effect creates an upward force on the ball, causing it to fall less rapidly than might be expected. A pitch on which this effect is most marked is often called a "rising fastball", as the ball appears to rise to the batter. Colloquially, use of the fastball is called throwing heat or putting steam on it, among many other variants. Gripping the ball with the fingers across the wide part of the seam so that both the index finger and middle finger are touching two seams perpendicularly produces a straight pitch, gripping it across the narrow part so that both the index finger and middle finger are along a seam produces a sinking fastball, holding a four-seam fastball off-center imparts lateral movement to the fastball, and splitting the fingers along the seams produces a sinking action with a lateral break.

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fastball

   Song lyrics by fastball -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by fastball on the Lyrics.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Baseball
   • Pitch

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

1. [["1803","1"],["1922","1"],["1924","1"],["1929","1"],["1940","7"],["1941","1"],["1942","1"],["1943","1"],["1944","2"],["1946","8"],["1947","4"],["1948","3"],["1950","9"],["1951","2"],["1952","3"],["1954","2"],["1955","7"],["1956","5"],["1957","2"],["1958","4"],["1959","12"],["1960","10"],["1961","73"],["1962","15"],["1963","9"],["1964","11"],["1965","3"],["1966","20"],["1967","26"],["1968","57"],["1969","132"],["1970","164"],["1971","114"],["1972","181"],["1973","156"],["1974","355"],["1975","192"],["1976","289"],["1977","612"],["1978","265"],["1979","322"],["1980","366"],["1981","231"],["1982","686"],["1983","600"],["1984","1215"],["1985","1106"],["1986","965"],["1987","1540"],["1988","1707"],["1989","1605"],["1990","2416"],["1991","3010"],["1992","2116"],["1993","2262"],["1994","2683"],["1995","1841"],["1996","1894"],["1997","2626"],["1998","2178"],["1999","4845"],["2000","5928"],["2001","3235"],["2002","4213"],["2003","5085"],["2004","6258"],["2005","5744"],["2006","5083"],["2007","4992"],["2008","4710"]]

How to pronounce fastball?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say fastball in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of fastball in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of fastball in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of fastball in a Sentence

1. Anthony Kay:

   When you have a six-run lead after the first inning, you kind of have to be more aggressive with the fastball and hopefully get deeper into games.

2. Curt Simmons:

   Throwing a fastball to Henry Aaron is like trying to sneak the sun past a rooster.

3. Manager David Ross:

   A little bit of command issues, especially fastball command from my view.

4. Preston Wilson:

   I don't know how you guys feel about this, Blummer and Baggy, but for me, it was the slider, i can take the fastball. But I actually had somebody ask me if I could go back in history and change one thing, I skipped right over slavery and went to the slider. That's how I feel about it.

5. New York:

   You have to wait for the mistake fastball but obviously, he had command, he had stuff tonight.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=fastball
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Fastball
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastball
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=fastball
6. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=fastball