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Nelson Figueroa
Nelson Figueroa (born May 18, 1974) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current pitching coach in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Mets, and Houston Astros. Figueroa also played for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. He featured a fastball topping out at 91 mph, slider, curveball, changeup, and a splitter. He has also worked as a post-game studio analyst for New York Mets broadcasts. Early career Figueroa attended Brandeis University from 1992 to 1995, where he pitched for three years and earned a bachelor's degree in American Studies. In 1994, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named a league all-star. He was drafted 833rd overall by the New York Mets in the 30th round of the 1995 Major ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uni-Lions
The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, stylized as Uni-President 7-ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇn Lions, also known as Uni-Lions (), are a professional baseball team playing in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The Lions are based in Tainan City, Taiwan, and homefielded primary at Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium. The organization is owned by Uni-President Corporation, one of Taiwan's largest conglomerates, whose subsidiary Uni-President Baseball Team Company oversees operations of the team. The Lions are the only CPBL team owned by the same parent company and played continuously since CPBL's founding season in 1990. History Amateur era The team was first established as amateur Uni-President Baseball Team () in 1989 for the purpose of training and preparation for eventual professionalization in the next year. The corporation originally intended to recruit players from Taipower Baseball Team, an amateur baseball team based in nearby Kaohsiung, but faced many difficulties in the pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2013 World Baseball Classic
The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to March 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009. Unlike the two previous WBCs, which consisted of the same sixteen countries, only the twelve countries that won at least one game in the 2009 WBC were guaranteed a berth in the main tournament. The automatic qualifiers were Australia, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, South Korea, the United States, and Venezuela. Four qualification brackets were held in late 2012 and respectively won by Canada, Taiwan, Spain, and Brazil, who joined the WBC as the final four teams (the latter two making their Classic debuts). As in the 2006 tournament, the first round had a round-robin format, which led to South Korea being eliminated on a run difference tiebreaker. Venezuela also failed to advance out of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brandeis University
, mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , provost = Carol Fierke , city = Waltham , state = Massachusetts , country = United States , endowment = $1.07 billion (2019) , students = 5,458 (2021) , undergrad = 3,591 (2021) , postgrad = 1,967 (2021) , faculty = 544 (2021) , administrative_staff = 1,314 (2021) , campus = Small City, , mascot = The Judge and Ollie the Owl (named for Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.) , sports_nickname = Judges , colors = Brandeis Blue , athletics_affiliations = , academic_affiliations = , website = , logo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Split-finger Fastball
A split-finger fastball or splitter is an off-speed pitch in baseball that looks to the batter like a fastball until it drops suddenly. Derived from the forkball, it is so named because the pitcher puts the index and middle finger on different sides of the ball. History The splitter grew out of a much older pitch, the forkball, which was used in the major leagues since the 1920s. The modern splitter is often credited to baseball coach Fred Martin, who threw the pitch in the minor leagues as a changeup of sorts. When a young Bruce Sutter returned from surgery to find his fastball had lost velocity, Martin taught Sutter the pitch. Sutter's success as a closer helped popularize the pitch. Another early proponent of the splitter was Roger Craig, a pitcher-turned-manager, in the 1980s. He taught it to a number of pitchers on the teams he coached, the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants. Longtime player and manager Mike Scioscia called the splitter "the pitch of the '80s." ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Changeup
A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball. The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced speed coupled with its deceptive delivery is meant to confuse the batter's timing. It is meant to be thrown the same as a fastball, but farther back in the hand, which makes it release from the hand slower while still retaining the look of a fastball. A changeup is generally thrown to be 8–15 miles per hour slower than a fastball. If thrown correctly, the changeup will confuse the batter because the human eye cannot discern that the ball is coming significantly slower until it is around 30 feet from the plate. For example, a batter swings at the oncoming ball as if it were a 90 mph fastball, but instead the ball is coming in at 75 mph—this means they will be swinging too early to hit the ball well (also known as being "way out in f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curveball
In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curveball, power curveball, and the knuckle curve. Its close relatives are the slider and the slurve. The "curve" of the ball varies from pitcher to pitcher. The expression "to throw a curveball" essentially translates to introducing a significant deviation to a preceding concept. Grip and action The curveball is gripped much like a cup or drinking glass is held. The pitcher places the middle finger on and parallel to one of the long seams, and the thumb just behind the seam on the opposite side of the ball such that if looking from the top down, the hand should form a "C shape" with the horseshoe pointing in towards the palm following the contour of the thumb. The index finger is placed alongside the middle finger, and the other two extran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slider (baseball)
In baseball, a slider is a breaking ball pitch that tails laterally and down through the batter's hitting zone. It is thrown at a speed that is lower than a fastball, but higher than the pitcher's curveball. The break on the pitch is shorter than that of the curveball, and the release technique is 'between' those of a curveball and a fastball. The slider is similar to the cutter (baseball), cutter, a fastball pitch, but is more of a breaking ball than the cutter. The slider is also known as a yakker or a snapper. Slider continuum Depending on velocity, a pitch can fall anywhere on the continuum from "fastball" to "slider": * fastball » Cutter (baseball), cut fastball » hard slider » slider » slurve ** cut fastball: slower than fastball ** hard slider: slower than fastball ** slider: slower than fastball The difference between a slider and curveball is that the curveball delivery includes a downward yank on the ball as it is released in addition to the lateral spin appli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thrown fastballs at speeds of (officially) and up to (unofficially). Pitchers who throw more slowly can put movement on the ball, or throw it on the outside of home plate where batters can't easily reach it. Fastballs are usually thrown with backspin, so that the Magnus effect 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. A straight pitch is achieved by gripping the ball with the fingers across the wide part o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. The territories controlled by the ROC consist of 168 islands, with a combined area of . The main island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', has an area of , with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its highly urbanised population is concentrated. The capital, Taipei, forms along with New Taipei City and Keelung the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Other major cities include Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung. With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the most densely populated countries in the world. Taiwan has been settled for at least 25,000 years. Ancestors of Taiwanese indigenous peoples settled the isla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Professional Baseball League
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 2003. As of the 2023 season, the CPBL consists of six organizations, all of which have teams in the main league and farm league. The CPBL consists of Major () and, since 2006, Minor () leagues, with the Minor league team rosters consist of developmental and injury-recovering players. CPBL TV is CPBL's official paid live-streaming and video-on-demand platform. It receives signals from each team's broadcasting partners and is available worldwide. History Baseball was first introduced to Taiwan during Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese rule, and gained popularity when the national little league baseball teams won numerous Little League World Series championships in the 1970s and 1980s. The Chinese Taipei national baseball team, national bas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. The NL and AL were formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively. Beginning in 1903, the two leagues signed the National Agreement and cooperated but remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball. MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. It is also included as one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was founded in 1869. Before that, some teams had secretly paid certain players. The first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic League Of Professional Baseball
The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's corporate headquarters is located at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Atlantic League operates in cities not served by Major League Baseball (MLB) or Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams; most of its teams are within suburbs and exurbs too close to other teams in the organized baseball system to have minor league franchises of their own. The Atlantic League requires cities to have the market for a 4,000 to 7,500-seat ballpark and for the facility to be maintained at or above Triple-A standards. When Atlantic League professionals are signed by MLB clubs, they usually start in their Double-A or Triple-A affiliates. The league uses a pitch clock and limits the time between innings in an effort to speed up the game. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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