Editing Fastball (section)

{{Short description|Baseball pitch thrown at a pitcher's top speed}}
{{About||the American band|Fastball (band)| the version of softball|Fastpitch softball}}
{{confuse|speedball (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2011}}
[[File:20070616 Chris Young visits Wrigley (4)-edit3.jpg|thumb|200px|During pregame [[bullpen]] warmup [[Chris Young (baseball pitcher)|Chris Young]] warms up with a [[four-seam fastball]].]]

The '''fastball''' is the most common type of [[pitch (baseball)|pitch]] thrown by [[pitcher]]s in [[baseball]] and [[softball]]. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "[[Power pitcher]]s," such as former major leaguers [[Nolan Ryan]] and [[Roger Clemens]], relied on the speed, often exceeding {{cvt|100|mph|m/s}}, and movement of their fastballs to prevent the ball from being hit.<ref name="Baseball Almanac">{{cite web | url = http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/fastest-pitcher-in-baseball.shtml | title = The Fastest Pitcher in Baseball History | publisher = Baseball Almanac, Inc. | access-date = 2007-08-10 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070812080555/http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/fastest-pitcher-in-baseball.shtml | archive-date = 2007-08-12}}</ref> As an alternative to the fastball, pitchers can put more movement on slower thrown balls, or throw them towards the inside or outside of [[home plate]] where [[batter (baseball)|batters]] cannot easily reach it.

Fastballs are usually thrown with a [[backspin]] so that the [[Magnus effect]] fastball creates an upward force on the ball. This causes it to fall less rapidly than expected, and sometimes causes an [[optical illusion]] often called a '''rising fastball'''. Although it is impossible for a human to throw a baseball fast enough and with enough backspin for the ball to actually rise, to the batter the pitch seems to rise due to the unexpected lack of natural drop on the pitch.

[[Colloquialism|Colloquially]], a fastball pitcher is said to throw "heat" or "high cheese” among many other variants. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Four-Seam Fastball (FA) {{!}} Glossary |url=https://www.mlb.com/glossary/pitch-types/four-seam-fastball |access-date=2024-05-22 |website=MLB.com |language=en}}</ref>