A breaking ball is defined as a pitch that creates movement with sharp spin induced from the wrist. But all of the similarities end there. Almost all breaking balls fall into the slider or curveball, but there is a lot of slurviness in between and each pitcher defines their pitches differently. There are different components to a breaking ball and they parallel those of the fastball. There is velocity or hardness, deception, command, movement, and breaking out from movement, shape. Many of the components of a breaking ball are inherent to a pitcher based on their arm, wrist, and delivery.
Velocity in relation to a breaking ball is not a cut and dry with big velocity equaling success. The most obvious implication of velocity is that the faster the pitch the less time the batter has to adjust to the pitch. The trade off to velocity is that it can often come with less movement. This is due to the physics of a thrown baseball, in order to get sharp movement on a hard breaking ball, the pitcher must impart more rotation on to the pitch.
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