Agreed. Experimented and saw it!
I often use a 1/2 inch pitch away from the grip center as 1 inch makes the movement too dramatic.
What I like is that if put on the VAL the ball seems to still have midlane combined with backend. If put staight in farther away from the grip center(past the VAL) ball seems to my eyes to have less midlane than the VAL pitched hole and similar backend.
Midlane AND backend.
Luckylikey!