$101 million and the giroball?

Question

Whats up with this "Giroball" that Matzuka throws? Is it actually real? What does it do? How do you throw it? Is this man worth $101 million dollars?

Answer 1

Daisuke does not throw the gyroball, he admitted before signing his contract that he does not throw it in games. He's played around with it in practice but he knows he doesn't throw it well enough to use yet in a game. It is believed that he threw one during the WBC by accident, he was trying for a curve and it stayed flat and was faster then he expected. It was thrown for a ball, high out of the zone.

The trick to it is you spin the ball the way a football is thrown, so it spins sideways not forward or back like a normal ball. This makes the ball look very odd to the hitter and it makes the ball speed up as it approaches the plate. It doesn't curve, it doesn't loop, it doesn't even have to move around in the zone at all. A perfect gyroball looks like a normal pitch until it's almost to the plate and by then it's too late to adjust to it's speed. That's all. So many people have claimed so many things about this pitch that it's grown into legend. It's really not that special.

Answer 2

The gyroball is just a changeup with some break like a slider. Dice-K doesn't throw it. You hold the ball like a 4 seamer then as you release the ball turn your wrist 180 degrees away from your shoulder. It's more of a wiffleball pitch than a major league pitch and hitters can tee off on it because the wrist movent tips the batter off.

Answer 3

$103 million is well worth it when you consider the Red Sox will generate more than triple that figure in t-shirt sales alone in Japan by the end of the year. The money means nothing. And if things work out the way they look they will, Dice-K will have been signed on the cheap.

Answer 4

First of all, it is a gyroball. Second of all, it is real. If you go on YouTube.com and type in Daisuke Matsusaka, you can see him throw it. It is like a screwball - just nastier. I doubt that I would have paid 101 mil for him. Kei Igawa is probably better.

Answer 5

one of the first things he said when he got here is that he does NOT throw a "gyroball"

Answer 6

That's nothing, this guy in Nigeria sent me an email and if I help him claim some funds that were left by a guy a passed away I get to keep $200,000.....