it looks like there’s divided opinion on the subject. the James / Neyer guide to pitchers (2004) does list slider as one of Carpenter’s pitches (distinct from the cutter), but they also note that most sources do not list the slider. the scouting reports on Fox and CBS Sportsline also hedge bets - Sportsline quotes a scout who describes Carpenter’s slider as “more of a cutter.”

on the other hand, this 2005 article by Joe Strauss (probably a P-D story that went out over the wire) listed cutter, slider, and curveball as separate pitches. it might be one of those “eye of the beholder” things.

that’d be boring. . . . if you have access to MLB.tv, cue up the game and watch the break on the pitch to francouer. then watch the standard cutter, which he threw about 15 times. the breaks don’t look the same at all. the pitch to francouer dove down to his ankles; the cutter didn’t have nearly that much downward movement.

as i noted above, there seems to be some confusion about whether carp throws a true slider or not. but if he doesn’t, and the cutter/slider are the same pitch, then i wonder why joe strauss wrote this sentence in the 2005 article i linked above:

“Carpenter’s sinking fastball is his dominant pitch. But lately, his cutter, slider and curveball have been just as effective.”

strauss travels w/ the team and talks regularly to pitchers, catchers, the pitching coach . . . . . . and in 2005, he was under the impression that Carpenter’s cutter and slider were distinct pitches. maybe he was mistaken; i’ll allow that’s a possibility. i think wha’t s more likely is that we’re having a semantic disagreement — he has two ways to keep the ball away from a right-handed hitter, and they’re either two different pitches (w/ distinct grips and distinct action) or they’re variations on a single pitch.