Matt Long and his cutter

The Newark Advocate:

He now relies on a cutter — the same pitch Long thought led to an arm injury as a sophomore at Miami University — and a curveball, and he’s racked up 11 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings. … Working with Birmingham pitching coach J.R. Perdew, Long quickly found a comfort level. After figuring out his front side was a little flat, he worked with Perdew to create deception by throwing his glove through the arm slot where the ball will come. To get comfortable with that — something Long said was difficult to do at first — Long was put in the outfield during batting practice, going through a series of drills to get rid of the ball as quickly as he could when he caught it. ….

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