eephus pitch

or e·phus pitch

[ ee-fuhs pich ]

noun

, Baseball.

1. a junk pitch of extremely low speed and with a characteristically high arc:

   He baffled many a hitter with his eephus pitch.

Word History and Origins

Origin of eephus pitch¹

First recorded in 1940–45; name attributed to Maurice Van Robays (1914–65), outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, for a kind of junk pitch developed in the early 1940s by Truett “Rip” Sewell (1907–89), pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates; further origin uncertain. The proposed derivation from Hebrew efeṣ “nothing, zero” is considered unlikely

Example Sentences

He struck out Ohtani looking with a 68 mph eephus pitch.

From Seattle Times

One day after Phillips offered hilarious moments for baseball fans — including a funny pitching delivery, a sliding catch coming off the mound and his 43-mph eephus pitch that was smacked for a grand slam — videos of Phillips made their way around the internet on Tuesday for a more serious and wholesome reason.

From Washington Times

Lee, an All-Star as a left-handed pitcher in 1973 and a Red Sox Hall of Famer, warmed up to thunderous applause before using an eephus pitch to record the strikeout.

From Washington Times

That’s a nice change to these negotiations, which have proceeded at the speed of a Zack Greinke eephus pitch.

From New York Times

Instead, the rookie drove the 47-mph eephus pitch deep to center for his sixth homer — and touched off yet another debate about baseball's unwritten rules.

From Fox News