Softball Slider???

[ArmWhip]

Do you know this thru trial and error, or is there a source out there a brother could reference? (serious question, not trying to call you out)

This is a very deep rabbit hole. Here is a link to a series of videos that do a good job of explaining how seams affect ball flight, scroll down to see the videos. The website itself, BaseballAero, has a section on SSW that goes into detail.

Using Baseball Seams to Create Break:Post 54

This is the presentation that I have made to the staff of several Grapefruit-League MLB teams. I wanted to make it easily accessible to the rest of the MLB teams by putting a version here. I try to…

baseballaero.com

 

[El Oso]

If you miss with a rise ball over the plate, you might get a pop out. If you miss with a drop ball over the plate, you might get a ground out. If you miss with a good CU over the plate, you might get a swing and a miss. If you miss with a flat curve ball over the plate (righty vs righty) the ball usually finds the barrel and goes a long ways. That's my experience. I don't care for a flat CB or slider or whatever you want to call it.

It’s been my experience that any of those pitches that you describe get barreled up if they are left over the plate and don’t move. That’s not limited to a curve ball.

 

[ArmWhip]

The wildest thing about SSW pitches is that if you get the spin axis correct you can flip the seams 180 and the ball will break the other way. You get two pitches that break in opposite directions with identical spin. Normally we think of breaking pitches as having horizontal movement, however the spin axis can be shifted in any direction so you can also get vertical movement. In Baseball I think the pitch with the most SSW movement is the circle change up, and it breaks down.