By having your middle finger on the inside of the seam, it allows you to flick downwards later on when you release the ball. This is what actually creates the spin. Your thumb and other fingers should be on the bottom of the ball and from the side your hand will look like a horseshoe around the ball.

These instructions are for a right-handed pitcher. If you’re a left-handed pitcher, lean back on your left leg and raise your right leg instead.

This process incorporates your entire body into the pitch. When you’re throwing at game speed, every pitch should have maximum effort in it. The only difference between a fastball and a curveball is where you are applying the spin. Try practicing this chain of motion at a reduced speed before you work up to full pace.

It takes a lot of practice to get this motion right but once you get it, the results will be very clear.

This is something that obviously takes a lot of practice to master but before you throw at full speed, aim to be able to do this with about 80% accuracy.

Swinging your arms horizontally and vertically for 30 seconds each way. Using an elastic exercise band to stretch your throwing arm. Gently moving through the throwing motion 20 times.

When doing this, really try to emphasize the flick in your fingers as you drag them down over the front of the ball. The goal of this is to maximize the revolutions you can get on the ball but start out by just mastering the direction of the spin and then working towards full revolutions.

This is also a great way to build muscle memory and minimize the number of factors involved in your throwing action.

If you feel like you want to start at lower than half your regular speed then that is absolutely fine, the key is that you don’t jump straight into 100% and sacrifice your accuracy. Don’t be too concerned if you aren’t seeing too much curve from the ball here. Everything you’re doing at the moment is working to maximize the efficacy of the throw when you move to 100% effort.

You don’t need to start out at full effort level here, the most important thing is that you are standing up and preparing to use your lower body.

Sometimes videoing yourself pitching can help as you can pick up on errors you are making that you don’t realize you are.