So idk if you actually wanted an answer to this but I threw together some diagrams!
The real answer is a lot of pitches look the same, and different pitches by different pitchers can be very similar to each other. You just kinda have to know what pitches a particular pitcher throws and at what velocities, so you know what options you have when watching them pitch. Relievers are easiest for this because they usually only throw 2-3 different pitches, while starters throw 4-5, and some real sickos can throw 6+.
The real real answer is just wait for the broadcast to tell you. Or MLB Gameday/Statcast if your broadcast doesn't have live pitch types. Broadcasters also get info on what each pitcher throws and have lots of experience identifying pitches, so what they say is probably right.
That being said. The diagrams. I made an attempt at drawing kinda how the ball moves and average velocity for each pitch type. Example is with a righty pitcher from the traditional center field camera view because that's what we usually see.
Generally, faster pitch types move less and slower pitch types move more. I grouped all the breaking balls together because they kinda blend together on a spectrum and what one pitcher calls a slider another might call a sweeper, etc.
4-seams are the fastest and straight on, might appear to rise because of the camera angle. By far the most common, bread-and-butter pitch.
2-seam/sinkers move arm-side and down, still fairly fast. Fairly common, especially for "ground-ball pitchers", as batters tend to hit it into the ground.
Cutters move glove-side, like a mini fast slider. Less common.
Sliders are kind of the generic breaking ball, anything that's not a slow vertical curveball can reasonably be called a slider. Moves glove-side (as all breaking balls do, which is why they're called "breaking") and down in some combination. Very common.
Sweepers are the hot new term for slower breaking balls that "sweep" across the plate with a lot of horizontal movement.
Curveballs are the old-fashioned breaking ball, slower with mostly vertical movement but can have some horizontal. Common-ish but declining.
Slurves are a real thing. I don't know why. Some guys just classify their breaking ball that way. Slider-curveball hybrid, very rare.
While breaking balls trick the hitter with unexpected movement, offspeed pitches trick the hitter with unexpected timing, like a feint. Usually used against opposite-handed batters, as they have a better view of the pitch being thrown and thus changeups counter that by looking like a fastball when thrown. Some downward movement but that's not really the focus. Fairly common.
Splitters are changeups, not fastballs, despite the colloquial term. Work the same way as changeups but with a very distinct grip that creates a lot of downward movement. Rare, but much more common in Japan.
And yeah, knuckleballs are fucked up and evil.
Ultimately what makes this so hard is the pitch is determined by how it's thrown, not what the ball does afterwards. A pitcher can throw a terrible hanging slider that barely breaks and gets smashed for a home run, but it's still a slider because they held and threw the ball that way.
Like a lot of things about baseball, you just kinda stare at it (and listen to it) until it starts making sense. I would say the vast majority of baseball fans can't identify pitches, beyond maybe "probably a fastball" and "probably not a fastball". But if you (or anyone else) really really want to learn, straight up, look up a specific pitcher on MLB.com video or Baseball Savant and just watch them throw pitches over and over. It's very hard to identify a particular pitch type in general, but you can get a good sense of what it looks like for one specific guy and build from there.
baratheonpilled
andulkaphoto
dededos
