How to Use off-speed in a Sentence

off-speed

adjective
  • Had good off-speed pitches as well.
    Kansas City Star, 18 Apr. 2026
  • All off-speed stuff was working well.
    Dan Hayes, New York Times, 7 May 2026
  • Not every great defense requires an off-speed pitch — far from it, in fact.
    Jim Root, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Signal for a fastball or something off-speed?
    Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Sims is sitting in the low 90s, but is able to keep hitters off balance with his off-speed stuff.
    Tony Catalina, Houston Chronicle, 12 Feb. 2026
  • The Brewers didn’t chase much when Avila threw his off-speed pitches.
    Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 4 Apr. 2026
  • Dorsey’s off-speed stuff matched his fastball to keep Virginia batters off-balance.
    Brady Oltmans, Orlando Sentinel, 17 June 2024
  • The fact that Chapman’s secondary off-speed pitch runs that fast is impressive enough, though.
    Shawn McFarland, Dallas News, 18 July 2023
  • No one has touched his off-speed stuff, either — probably because there’s nothing off-speed about his off-speed stuff.
    Zack Meisel, New York Times, 12 May 2026
  • Part of that growth is Pallante’s learning how to better utilize his off-speed pitches.
    Katie Woo, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025
  • When needed, Luzardo was also able to pull out his four-seam fastball or off-speed changeup.
    Kansas City Star, 5 July 2026
  • There was a time when Buehler wouldn’t have even considered throwing an off-speed pitch in that situation.
    Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2024
  • The putting cups feature a soft-rimmed plastic that rejects off-line or off-speed putts, only accepting perfect shots.
    Rebecca Jones, Southern Living, 7 Dec. 2023
  • The Royals rave about his elite command that features a plus-fastball and two distinct off-speed pitches.
    Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 16 June 2026
  • Voegele’s command of his off-speed pitches held West Aurora up throughout the game.
    Paul Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 25 May 2024
  • Mixing in off-speed, curveballs, that feels less stressful than constantly ripping the fastball.
    Larry Fleisher, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025
  • The Red Devils didn’t do much with Umbright’s off-speed pitches, either.
    Matt Le Cren, Chicago Tribune, 4 June 2026
  • It’s also led to teams attacking Tucker with off-speed pitches, rarely giving him a fastball to hit.
    Paul Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 23 May 2025
  • Snell was one behind and similarly rode his best off-speed offering — the curveball — to swing-and-misses.
    Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2024
  • His changeup and mix of off-speed pitches were especially effective.
    Kansas City Star, 27 June 2026
  • In particular, Giolito likes where his off-speed pitches are.
    Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 23 Mar. 2023
  • Coaches have also praised his secondary stuff, in particular his ability to throw his off-speed pitches for strikes.
    Nick Piecoro, The Arizona Republic, 24 Apr. 2023
  • Culpepper is prone to chasing off-speed pitches out of the zone, but walked more (50) and struck out less (90) than expected.
    Aaron Gleeman, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2026
  • With each pitch, Ohtani is acquiring data — about the break of a particular off-speed pitch, for example.
    Bruce Schoenfeld, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2023
  • Tracy said the Red Sox want Bello to continue attacking with his off-speed stuff.
    Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 1 July 2026
  • Pairing a high-octane fastball with a nasty mix of off-speed pitches, the 25-year-old righty is living up to his top-25 prospect hype.
    Dan Hayes, New York Times, 9 May 2026
  • Now 27, Rice is hoping to build off his 2025 success by hitting more off-speed pitches in the air.
    Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 3 Apr. 2026
  • Walker then sent an off-speed pitch from Andrés Muñoz (5-5) to the train tracks atop left field to give the Astros the win.
    ABC News, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Cole took advantage of the Rays’ aggressiveness, ramping up his off-speed usage the second time through the order.
    Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 23 May 2026
  • Cabrera remains a solid strikeout pitcher, and his changeup is one of the best off-speed pitches in MLB.
    Jon Hoefling, USA TODAY, 18 Jan. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'off-speed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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