History
The splitter grew out of a much older pitch known as the forkball, which was used in the major leagues since the 1920s. The modern splitter is often credited to baseball coach Fred Martin, who threw the pitch in the minor leagues as a changeup of sorts. When a young Bruce Sutter returned from surgery to find his fastball had lost velocity, Martin taught Sutter the pitch. Sutter's success as a closer helped popularize the pitch.
Another early proponent of the splitter was Roger Craig, a pitcher-turned-manager in the 1980s. He taught it to a number of pitchers on the teams he coached, the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants. According to Mike Scioscia, the splitter was "the pitch of the '80s."
The splitter eventually lost popularity after concerns arose that extensive use of the pitch could rob pitchers of fastball speed. Several major league teams actively discourage pitching prospects from throwing or learning the pitch. In 2011, only 15 starting pitchers used it as part of their regular repertoire.
Read more about this topic: Split-finger Fastball
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