Induced Vertical Break (IVB)

Definition

Induced Vertical Break, or IVB, is the amount of movement a pitcher generates from how he spins the baseball.

IVB removes the effects of gravity, and reports only the amount of "rise" or "drop" the pitcher creates himself based on how he releases the pitch and manipulates the ball.

This differs from the total vertical movement of a pitch, which is simply the amount the baseball drops from the pitcher's hand to the plate, including the amount that is due to gravity. Statcast measures both the overall vertical movement and the induced vertical break for every pitch.

Induced vertical break is reported as either a positive or a negative number. Positive IVB indicates that a pitch has induced "rising" movement -- in other words, it drops less than a pitch would if thrown at the same velocity but without spin. Negative IVB indicates that a pitch has induced "drop" -- in other words, it drops more than a pitch would if thrown at the same velocity but without spin.

Induced Vertical Break by pitch type

Four-seam fastballs are the pitches with the most induced rise (positive IVB). During the 2024 season, for example, MLB four-seamers averaged +16 inches of IVB. Fastballs with more induced rise tend to generate more swings-and-misses, because hitters will swing under the ball. Pitchers like Justin Verlander, Blake Snell and Dylan Cease are known for their high-IVB, rising fastballs.

Curveballs, on the other hand, generate the most induced drop (negative IVB). In 2024, MLB curveballs averaged -10 inches of IVB. Pitchers like Max Fried, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Clayton Kershaw throw curveballs with large amounts of induced drop.

The other two types of fastballs, sinkers and cutters, still have positive IVB, just less than four-seamers.

On a league-wide level, breaking pitches like sliders and sweepers, as well as offspeed pitches like splitters and changeups, tend to have more neutral IVB (closer to the zero mark). For individual players, those pitch types might have either positive or negative IVB depending on the pitcher.

The Statcast leaderboard for IVB and total pitch movement is available here.