Cutter
Cutter is the variation of fastball sliding towards the glove side when reaching the home plate. The position from the hitter’s side will be away from the right-hand performer or toward the face of the left-handed hitter. Cutter isn’t popular among pitchers but those who throw them make this fastball type their primary pitch.
Some pitchers throw them in addition four-seam balls. The perfect cutter pitch often breaks a bat. That usually happens when the pitcher and batter have opposite hands. Thus, if the righty pitcher sends the ball to the left-hand batter or left-hand pitcher pitches to the right-hand batter, the ball runs towards the batter. If the latter swings, the game shield touches the smaller part of the bat and breaks it.
The grip method of the cutter is similar to the fastball, but the pitcher puts fingers on the ball side, which responds to its dominating hand. Such an approach allows producing cutting trajectory after the release of the pitch. It also creates a critically important deception for success. The role of this element increases because the cutter travels from the opposite side than the two- or four-seamer ball, contrary to the batter’s expectations. The cutter does it too late for hitter, so the pitcher must be sure that the opponent can’t react on the pitch and hit the ball squarely.