Deathball

aka Death Ball · deathball slider · gyro slider (as used in this context)

The Deathball is a nickname pitch labs hung on a slider with the horizontal sweep wrung out of it — it falls almost straight down. Throw it from way up over the top and to a hitter it looks like a screwball ducking back across the plate.

Schematic baseball cover. This pitch has no filed seam geometry yet — the grip and shape below are sourced in words, not measured here.

The grip

There is no proprietary grip — it is a slider or gyro grip thrown from a high over-the-top slot, and the steep release plus near-pure gyro spin, not the fingers, is what makes the shape.

Reputable analysisAZ Snake Pit (SB Nation): "The Deathball: An Important Pitch to the Dbacks in 2025 That You've Likely Never Heard Of" (Jeff Irving, Jan 2025)

The cited analysis attributes the pitch to mechanics and arm slot, not a documented grip variant; pitching labs build it via Rapsodo/Trackman feedback rather than a fixed finger set.

What it does

It carries almost no horizontal break and drops nearly straight down, so off a tall over-the-top slot it reads to the hitter like a screwball or splitter diving arm-side.

Reputable analysisAZ Snake Pit (SB Nation): "The Deathball: An Important Pitch to the Dbacks in 2025 That You've Likely Never Heard Of" (Jeff Irving, Jan 2025)

The cited piece describes a flat vertical shape with little side movement and relays a Tread Athletics teaching read that pitches shaped this way can miss bats; the shape is described in words only, never as a measured gauge.

What it really is

The same source calls it "the gyro slider" — it is a vertical, near-zero-horizontal gyro slider tuned to a specific movement window and given a pitch-lab coinage; it resolves to the atlas's existing gyro-slider/bullet slider, distinguished by the high over-the-top slot that creates a screwball-like arm-side illusion.

Reputable analysisAZ Snake Pit (SB Nation): "The Deathball: An Important Pitch to the Dbacks in 2025 That You've Likely Never Heard Of" (Jeff Irving, Jan 2025)

Who throws itRyne Nelson and Yilber Diaz (Arizona Diamondbacks); Jordan Montgomery throws a slower curve-graded version. Popularized in pitch-lab and Tread Athletics circles.

Basic file

This pitch has a sourced one-line grip and movement and an honest explanation — not yet a filed specimen with authored grip geometry and a full craft chapter. A fuller breakdown is coming. Sourced, not corrected.