The pitcher starts by attacking the outside corner with a fastball and draws a swing. He tries to mix it up by going inside but misses his target and ends up back outside. The batter swings through it again. The location isn’t perfect, but the results are there. The pitcher keeps working that outside edge, landing another fastball right on the line. Then he switches to a slider. It looks like the fastball at first, but it’s slower and breaks late. The batter swings and misses again.
The real trick comes from how the fastball and slider mirror each other. Both pitches start and finish in almost the same spot, but the speed difference—around 10 miles per hour—throws off the timing. It’s a tough sequence for any hitter to handle. The batter’s frustrated, saying out loud how hard it is. That kind of sequencing, with movement and velocity changes, puts hitters in a bad spot. It’s not just about raw stuff, but how it’s used pitch to pitch.