LOS ANGELES — This is how the most devastating pitch in baseball was born.
It starts with the perfect physical specimen: 6-foot-6, 242-pound Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard.
Add the willingness to not only try something new, but embrace change and immediately apply it. Find the perfect grip that does not overstress the elbow, just the right placement of fingers on baseball.
When that’s done, loosen the grip a bit, enough to let the ball fly.
Do all that and the hitter is doomed. How can anyone possibly hit that perfect 91-95 mph slider?
“I’ve never seen anything like it,’’ Padres left fielder Melvin Upton Jr.