Relievers who throw a lot of sliders, Bannister says, tend to release them with their hands slightly turned to the side, as if they’re throwing a football. That hand position imparts extra spin to the slider compared to holding the hand more square to home plate, which adds extra hop to the fastball. When the season started, Kelly and Hembree had their hands at an angle and threw spin-efficient sliders with less hop on their heaters, but they both began to suffer from the same affliction. “As the year went on, for whatever reason, their hand[s] [were] getting more and more square on their
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