How to Use off-speed in a Sentence
off-speed
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Had good off-speed pitches as well.
—Kansas City Star, 18 Apr. 2026
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All off-speed stuff was working well.
—Dan Hayes, New York Times, 7 May 2026
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Not every great defense requires an off-speed pitch — far from it, in fact.
—Jim Root, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
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Signal for a fastball or something off-speed?
—Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2026
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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
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The Brewers didn’t chase much when Avila threw his off-speed pitches.
—Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 4 Apr. 2026
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Dorsey’s off-speed stuff matched his fastball to keep Virginia batters off-balance.
—Brady Oltmans, Orlando Sentinel, 17 June 2024
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The fact that Chapman’s secondary off-speed pitch runs that fast is impressive enough, though.
—Shawn McFarland, Dallas News, 18 July 2023
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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
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Part of that growth is Pallante’s learning how to better utilize his off-speed pitches.
—Katie Woo, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025
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When needed, Luzardo was also able to pull out his four-seam fastball or off-speed changeup.
—Kansas City Star, 5 July 2026
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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
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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
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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
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Voegele’s command of his off-speed pitches held West Aurora up throughout the game.
—Paul Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 25 May 2024
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Mixing in off-speed, curveballs, that feels less stressful than constantly ripping the fastball.
—Larry Fleisher, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025
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The Red Devils didn’t do much with Umbright’s off-speed pitches, either.
—Matt Le Cren, Chicago Tribune, 4 June 2026
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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
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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
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His changeup and mix of off-speed pitches were especially effective.
—Kansas City Star, 27 June 2026
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In particular, Giolito likes where his off-speed pitches are.
—Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 23 Mar. 2023
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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
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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
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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
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Tracy said the Red Sox want Bello to continue attacking with his off-speed stuff.
—Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 1 July 2026
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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