In baseball, an off-speed pitch is a pitch thrown at a slower speed than a fastball. Collectively, all off-speed pitches are known as junk. Breaking balls and changeups are the two types of off-speed pitches. The goals of off-speed pitches vary. Some are to get the batter off balance, have him swing early, and to make the fastball seem faster to the batter. A majority of pitchers will have at least one off-speed pitch in their repertoire.

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