Fans question scoreboard as San Diego Padres pitcher's "slutter" makes a debut: "Slutter???? I hardly know her"

You've heard of a splitter, you've heard of a slider, but have you heard of a slutter? Apparently, neither have a lot of MLB fans, and a recent mention of the vulgar-sounding pitch has people wondering.

While pitches are constantly evolving, there are a few moves that nearly every pitcher has in their arsenal. Split and curve balls involve a downward-breaking motion while sliders attempt to tail away from the batter.

"Slutter" sounds like nothing more than a dirty play on the pre-existing name. However, with more and more pitches making their own debuts every single season, fans can hardly be surprised when they hear of a new move.

In a game at Truist Park in Atlanta between the Braves and the San Diego Padres on April 6, many heard about the pitch for the first time. In the seventh inning, the scoreboard at Truist Park listed Padres' reliever Stephen Wilson's last two pitches as "slutters."

Needless to say, the demonstration of the notably dirty-sounding terms has sparked a cacophony of reactions from online fans. MLB pitching commentator Rob Friedman even commentated that the folks at Truist Park might mean "sweeper."

The inappropriate inumendo from online fans has been nonstop since several outlets expressed their own confusion from the strange-sounding name.

Understandably, a good few fans had also never heard of the term before and it was thought to be an error.

In an effort to clear the confusion, Atlanta Braves analyst Jeff Francoeur admitted that the term was intentional and was meant to describe a cross between a cutter and a slider. Francoeur, a former Braves player himself, admitted that it might not be the best idea to say the name of the pitch on air.

Don't expect to see too many slutters around this season

Although the name is certainly a fun one for fans, the MLB has designated the pitch a "sweeper."

The pitch is meant to possess a hard lateral breaking element, which could even be thought of as a horizontal eephus pitch.

Comical moment in Atlanta aside, the term is not even officially used by the MLB. Moreover, it is exceedingly hard to imagine a pitcher like Shohei Ohtani or Justin Verlander substituting their well-oiled arsenal of pitches for a slutter, or sweeper, or whatever it's meant to be called.

About the author

Adrian Dorney is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda. Having worked over five years in the industry, Adrian strives to combine statistical analysis with the human side of baseball reporting. Since a lot of his briefs involve publishing content with urgency, he has perfected a process involving a combination of trustworthy sources and assessment with intuition.

His lifelong tryst with baseball began with growing up in Toronto and watching the Blue Jays regularly. His favorite player is Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., and Jose Bautista's go-ahead home run in 2015 ALDS Game 5 remains his favorite baseball memory to date.

When not working, Adrian is constantly looking to learn new things and he also loves playing golf and chess.

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