This being the year , it's not news that players born outside of the ol' U. That's something we've been used to for a while. What we're less used to is how easy a couple specific brackets of international players have been making it look recently. One is Asian pitching imports. Hiroki Kuroda arrived from Japan in and quickly found success in MLB without any minor league preparation. In , it's been Masahiro Tanaka's turn. Then there are the Cuban defectors.

A gyroball is a type of baseball pitch used primarily by players in Japan. It is thrown with a spiral-like spin, so that there is no Magnus force on the ball as it arrives at home plate. However, the technique to throwing the gyroball is all in the arms, not in the unique grip of the baseball. According to Tezuka, use of the arms "is the most important part of throwing the gyroball.

The most renowned shuuto pitcher in history was Masaji Hiramatsu , whose famous pitch was dubbed the razor shuuto because it seemed to " cut the air" when thrown. The pitch is mainly designed to break down and in on right-handed batters , to prevent them from making solid contact with the ball. It can be thrown to left-handers to keep them off balance.