In recent seasons the curveball has become a rarity in Major League Baseball, with its overall usage falling by nearly a quarter over the past decade. The few curves that remain tend to be harder and sharper, reflecting a league increasingly obsessed with velocity and spin rate.
A Visual Masterpiece in a Sea of Fastballs
Among the exceptions is Trent Harris, a right‑hander whose high‑arm‑angle release produces a curveball that drops like a stone and twists with extreme verticality. The pitch is often described as the most visually stunning looping offering in the game, drawing gasps from crowds whenever it arcs toward the plate.
What makes Harris’s curveball stand out is not just its look but the numbers behind it. It generates the highest swinging‑strike rate among his repertoire, yet its chase and zone rates are among the lowest because the ball frequently leaves the strike zone due to poor command.
The paradox of such a pitch is clear: it can be devastating when it lands in the zone, but its inconsistency forces managers to limit its usage. Harris throws it about 21 percent of the time in the majors, making it one of his most relied‑upon weapons despite intermittent control problems.
Command Over Glamour
Other arms have attempted similar feats. Alan Rangel’s slow, looping curveball ranks as the second‑best example of a gentle, downward‑breaking pitch, but it has proven ineffective enough to earn multiple demotions to the minors in 2026. Danny Coulombe’s visually appealing curve met the same fate, leading to his release by the Red Sox. Nick Martinez’s curveball, though extremely vertical, is thrown rarely and suffers from poor effectiveness ratings, further illustrating the difficulty of mastering such a pitch.
Even pitchers with large, sweeping curves, such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Nolan McLean, often lack the requisite vertical drop to qualify as true looping curveballs. Their offerings may travel far, but they rarely achieve the dramatic plunge that defines the aesthetic ideal.
The broader trend underscores a paradox in modern baseball: the most eye‑catching pitches are often the hardest to control, and the league’s shift toward high‑velocity arsenals threatens to relegate the looping curveball to a niche curiosity. For now, fans can savor the fleeting moments when a pitcher like Harris unleashes a curve that seems to defy gravity, even as its future remains uncertain.