John Antonoff/For the Sun-Times
MESA, Ariz. – Pitching trends have a cyclical nature.
Until recently, the splitter was somewhat of an old school pitch. Mark Leiter Jr. was the only Cubs pitcher who featured it in his arsenal last year at the major-league level – although his is more of a fork ball.
“I was lucky,” Leiter said. “My dad pretty much threw the fork ball, and he changed the grip because the hitters were telling him something.