On May 11, Bauer used the new grip for two innings, the second and third. His slider began to dart horizontally. As he examined the data after the game, he saw that one slider had moved eight inches.

The idea manifested a couple of years ago. Chicago Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon wanted to tweak his slider to create more sweeping action, but abnormal offseasons leading into 2020 and ’21 ...

He found a pitch. “That kind of was something that I didn’t realize that I could do, and then it kind of just happened – with the cutter grip (helping develop) the slider,” he said.

His ERA ballooned from 2.48 to 3.80. The 21-year-old Murphy had been experimenting with different grips for his slider around that time. He then decided to return to his old grip.

So finding a swing-and-miss breaking ball was probably the place to go looking for.” Chicago Cubs pitcher Ethan Roberts shows his slider grip at Coors Field in Denver, April 15, 2022.

Edwin Diaz, who struck out the side in the eighth inning of the Mets' 10-7 loss to the Cubs on Wednesday night, has started to regain the bite on his slider, thanks to a tip he received from Jacob ...