A split-finger fastball or splitter, is a pitch in baseball and a variant of the straight fastball. It is named after the technique of putting the index and middle finger on different sides of the ball, or "splitting" them. When thrown hard, it appears to be a fastball to the batter, but suddenly "drops off the table" towards home plate—that is, it suddenly moves down, towards the batter's knees.
A related pitch is the forkball, which has more of a tumbling action.
A split finger fastball is more of a hard breaking pitch than a fastball.
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