스위퍼, sweeper

2021년부터 메이저리그에서 서서히 유행중인 횡 슬라이더의 일종. 차이점이라고 하면 팔 각도가 낮은 선수들이 자연스럽게 던지게 되는 횡 슬라이더와는 달리 팔 각도가 높은 투수가 던질 수 있다는 것이다. 특히 구속 열풍이 몰아친 MLB에서는 사이드암 스로와 언더핸드 스로가 힘을 잃고 스리쿼터 스로 투수들의 팔 각도도 예전에 비해 높아진 편인데, 높은 팔 각도에서는 커브나 슬라이더가 모두 종으로 떨어져서 횡 변화를 주기가 힘들다. 그런데 타자들은 홈런 열풍이 불어 어퍼 스윙을 하고 있으니 종 변화구의 위력이 떨어지기 시작했고, 횡 변화구를 던지기 위해 팔 각도를 낮추면 구속이 떨어지는 딜레마가 생긴다. 그래서 높은 팔 각도에서 던질 수 있는 횡 변화구가 필요했고 그 과정에서 각광받은 구종이다.

스위퍼(Sweeper)란 이름은 우타자 기준 바깥쪽으로 크게 휘며 '홈 플레이트 가장자리를 쓸고(Sweep) 간다'고 해서 붙여진 이름이다.

구사하는 방법은 슬라이더 그립을 투심 실밥에 걸치고 공의 측면을 스치듯이 밀어 회전을 주면서 팔 스윙 자체도 좀더 횡적으로 휘둘러 던진다. 이로 인해 탑스핀으로 발생하는 종 변화가 줄어들고 대신 투심 회전으로 인한 횡 변화가 극대화된다. 그립 자체가 다르기 때문에 슬라이더와는 다른 계통으로 분류되는 경우가 많고, 베이스볼 서번트에서도 슬라이더와 스위퍼를 각각 구분해서 기록하고 있다.

횡적인 움직임을 굉장히 강조하는 구종이다 보니 같은 손 타자 기준으로 잘 꺾인 스위퍼는 아예 타자가 커트하기도 힘든 바깥쪽으로 흘러나가버린다. 이 때문에 헛스윙률이 높을 수 밖에 없으며, 스위퍼가 유행하기 시작한 2021년부터 슬라이더와 함께 MLB에서 가장 높은 헛스윙 유도율을 보여주고 있다. 그러나 무적인 구종은 아니고, 기존 횡 슬라이더의 단점도 고스란히 갖고 있다. 그것이 바로 앞에서 언급했듯이 반대손 타자를 상대할 때다. 반대손 타자에게는 몸쪽으로 꺾이는 공이라 헛스윙을 이끌어낼 로케이션을 만들어 내기도 쉽지 않을 뿐더러 잘못 제구될 경우 타자가 몸에 맞을 위험성이 존재한다. 이 때문에 반대손 타자에게는 방심을 틈타 백도어성으로 던지는게 아니라면 사실상 봉인되는 구종이 된다.

스위퍼 구사에 앞서가는 구단은 뉴욕 양키스와 LA 다저스이다. 양키스는 스위퍼를 가장 많이 던지는 구단으로 네스터 코르테스, 클레이 홈즈 등이 있다. 다저스는 에반 필립스와 앤드류 히니에게 스위퍼를 장착하며 고쳐냈다. 시애틀 매리너스도 스위퍼를 많이 던지는 구단이다.

다만 스위퍼가 새롭게 만들어진 구종은 아니다. 특이한 그립으로 화제가 되긴 했지만 이전에도 자신만의 슬라이더 그립이라 칭하며 던지는 선수들이 있었고, 궤적은 과거 서지오 로모, 애덤 오타비노 등 팔 각도가 낮은 선수들이 던졌던 횡 슬라이더와 큰 차이가 없다. 일각에서는 스위퍼라는 단어 사용 빈도가 늘어난 것이 '오타니 스타 만들기'의 일환이라는 시각도 있다. 오타니가 이례적일 정도의 투타겸업 활약을 하며 스타성을 갖춰가자, '특색 있는 횡슬라이더' 정도인 오타니의 슬라이더를 '스타 선수의 특별한 구질'처럼 보이게하기 위해 널리 사용되진 않았던 스위퍼라는 단어를 의도적으로 밀어줬다는 주장이다. 국내에선 김광현 역시 2010시즌과 2012시즌 사이에 간간히 투심 그립으로 슬라이더를 구사한 경험이 있다 당시에 본인은 백도어 슬라이더라 칭했으며 무브먼트 역시 현대에 스위퍼처럼 횡적인 움직임이 강했다 그 이후엔 대부분 전통적인 슬라이더 그립을 사용하였다.

한국에서 이 구종이 유명해진 계기는 2023 WBC 결승전에서 오타니의 마지막 게임 위닝 샷이 스위퍼이기도 한데다, 마침 그 시즌 KBO에서 역대급 활약을 펼쳤던 외국인 투수 前 NC의 에릭 페디의 주 구종이 스위퍼였던 것도 한몫했다, 2024년 KIA 타이거즈의 외국인 투수로 계약한 제임스 네일도 스위퍼를 구사하지만 직접 시연한 그립을 보면 커브에 가까운 슬라이더를 낮은 팔 각도로 던져서 탄생한 구종이다. 같은 해 삼성 라이온즈 소속의 데니 레예스는 종 슬라이더와 스위퍼를 모두 구사하여 컨디션이 좋은 날에는 패스트볼 비중을 30%대로 낮추며 슬라이더와 스위퍼로 삼진을 양산하곤 했으며, 한화의 대체 외인으로 계약한 라이언 와이스도 스위퍼를 미친 수준으로 구사하며 삼진을 양산했다.

 

 

 

 

It is a type of horizontal slider that has been gradually popular in the Major League since 2021. The difference is that unlike horizontal sliders that players with low arm angles throw naturally, pitchers with high arm angles can throw. In particular, in MLB, where the arrest craze is raging, side-arm throw and underhand throw have lost power and the arm angle of pitchers has increased compared to the past, but at high arm angles, both curves and sliders fall vertically, making it difficult to make horizontal changes. However, hitters are taking upper swings due to the home run craze, so the power of the longitudinal breaking ball has begun to decrease, and lowering the arm angle to throw the horizontal breaking ball creates a dilemma that drops the speed of the ball. That's why he needed a horizontal breaking ball that can be thrown at a high arm angle, and he is a pitchman who was in the spotlight in the process.

The name Sweeper is given because it bends greatly outside the right-handed batter's standard and "sweeps the edge of the home plate."

The way to use it is to swing the arm swing itself more horizontally while pushing and rotating the slider grip on the side of the ball. This reduces the species change caused by the top spin, and instead maximizes the lateral change caused by the two-seam rotation. Because the grip itself is different, it is often classified into a different system from the slider, and the baseball servant also records the slider and sweeper separately.

Since it is a pitch that emphasizes horizontal movements very much, the sweeper, which is well bent based on the same-handed batter, flows outwards where it is difficult for the batter to cut it at all. For this reason, the swing rate is inevitably high, and since 2021, when the sweeper began to become popular, it has shown the highest swing induction rate in MLB along with the slider. However, it is not an invincible pitch type, and it also has the disadvantages of existing horizontal sliders. As mentioned earlier, it is time to face the opposite-handed batter. For the opposite-handed batter, it is not easy to create a location that will lead to a swing and miss, and there is a risk that the batter will be hit by the body if the ball is miscontrolled. For this reason, it becomes a game that is effectively sealed if the opposite-handed batter does not throw with his carelessness on the back door.

The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers are leading the sweepers. The Yankees throw the sweepers the most, including Nestor Cortes and Clay Holmes. The Dodgers fixed Evan Phillips and Andrew Heaney by installing sweepers. The Seattle Mariners also throw sweepers a lot.

However, the sweeper is not a new type of pitch. Although it has become a hot topic for its unusual grip, there have been players who have thrown while calling it their own slider grip before, and the trajectory is not much different from the horizontal slider thrown by players with low arm angles such as Sergio Romo and Adam Ottavino in the past. Some say that the increased frequency of using the word sweeper is part of "making Otani stars." As Otani developed his star quality with an unusual amount of pitching and hitting, he intentionally pushed the word sweeper, which was not widely used to make Otani's slider, which is about a "special cross slider of a star player," look like a "special pitch of a star player." In Korea, Kim Kwang-hyun also had the experience of using sliders with two-seam grip between the 2010 and 2012 seasons. At the time, he called himself a backdoor slider, and the movement was also strong like a modern sweeper. Since then, most of them have used traditional slider grip.

The reason why this pitch became famous in Korea was that Ohtani's last game winning shot in the 2023 WBC final was a sweeper, and the main pitch of former NC's Eric Pedi, who played all-time in the KBO that season, was also a sweeper. James Nail, who signed as a foreign pitcher for the KIA Tigers in 2024, also uses a sweeper, but if you look at the grip he demonstrated himself, it is a pitch created by throwing a slider that is close to a curve at a low arm angle. In the same year, Denny Reyes, a member of the Samsung Lions, used both sliders and sweeper to reduce the proportion of fastballs to 30% on good days, and Ryan Weiss, who signed as a substitute for Hanwha, also used sweeper to produce strikeouts.