Four-Seam Fastball Pitched Like Two-Seam: Tseng Chia-Hui's Two Special Pitches as His Trump Card

Tseng Chia-Hui's past career in the top league saw him pitch a maximum of 5 innings. This season, his first two appearances have been strong, each going 5 innings with only 1 run allowed, accumulating 13 strikeouts. During the offseason, he sought training in Japan and received advice on raising his release point, correcting the issue of decreased ball velocity and quality caused by a lower release point last year.

Tseng Chia-Hui also regained the late movement on his fastball. During yesterday's appearance, a fastball that drifted to the right as it approached home plate caught attention. He explained that his past fastball characteristics were closer to a sinking splitter, but this year, after raising his release point, this fastball unexpectedly produced a noticeable horizontal movement, escaping to the outside corner for right-handed batters.

"Originally, I exerted more force with my index finger when gripping the ball, so my four-seam fastball would also pitch like a two-seamer." However, Tseng Chia-Hui admitted that he couldn't actually observe the movement from the pitcher's mound and only realized how pronounced it was through video.

This unique fastball that drifts to the right complements Tseng Chia-Hui's other pitch, a "sweeping slider" that moves significantly horizontally to the left. The discrepancy in left-right movement has become his biggest asset this season for disrupting batters' vision.