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OT Major League Pitching Motion

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SPAMM

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I have been following baseball for almost 70 years. Phillies fan so have followed Robin Roberts, Jim Bunning, Steve Carlton and Roy Halladay. They have always thrown with their motion going towards home plate. Now I see the Dodger pitcher, Clevinger for the Padres, Hand for the Phillies, and others with little movemoent toward the plate and flailing their front leg in all directions. How or why do they do this? It seems that it would reduce their effectiveness and add different torgue forces to the arm. And don't get me started on how Roberts threw 25 complete games in a row and once pitched 15 innings. Thanks for some knowledgable input.
 
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They don’t. Here’s slo-mo of Clevinger:


As for all the complete games, guys back then didn’t throw nearly as hard. Plus the abundance of data available today makes it more advantageous to bring in different types of pitchers for different situations.
 
I could get really technical here. But basically its all about the kinetic chain. But simply put there are check points (and people dont realize how big, strong, and flexible most of these guys are)

How connected and how long is he connected at the rubber. A lot of guys used to be quad dominant. But when you drive your heel and sit back a bit you become glute dominant. He is almost corkscrewing his leg into the ground to load up.
1665664550735.png


Then the drift begins or I like talking about riding down the mound.

1665664615506.png

The longer you can stay closed until foot plant the better...then that front foot plants and all the energy is transferred. Foot down, arm is up and see that back leg is just now coming off the rubber.
1665664724257.png


I look for the Power C at finish...he actually is breaking down a bit so I am wondering if he has lost some strength or he just went off line in this pitch.
1665664871125.png


I have left a lot out but this is in a nutshell we could talk hip hinge, shin angle, etc....we could talk about the head controlling in and out, the glove controlling up and down. Long arm, short arm, etc. The guy I am fascinated with is Graterol. I mean it looks like he is throwing casually and its coming out at 100+ His mechanical efficiency is unreal.

Sorry for the long post...I love this stuff. And Go Phillies!(Rhys Hoskins should have at least smothered that ball last night).
 
Thanks for both thoughtful responses. The last picture goes to my point. He seems to follow through. Whereas some of these weird deliveries seem to leave weight behind, thereby requiring more strain on the throwing arm. As for the Phillies, they won their 10,000th game this year. BIG DEAL NOT! they lost their 10,000th more than a decade ago and require fifteen straight 90 game win seasons to breakeven as a franchise. Finally, I understand the analytics but having no one able to hit is really boring. Schmoltz last night had an interesting discussion about the death of batters adusting to pitchers in the box.
 
HurricanePhilly said:
I could get really technical here. But basically its all about the kinetic chain. But simply put there are check points (and people dont realize how big, strong, and flexible most of these guys are)

How connected and how long is he connected at the rubber. A lot of guys used to be quad dominant. But when you drive your heel and sit back a bit you become glute dominant. He is almost corkscrewing his leg into the ground to load up.
View attachment 211115

Then the drift begins or I like talking about riding down the mound.

View attachment 211116
The longer you can stay closed until foot plant the better...then that front foot plants and all the energy is transferred. Foot down, arm is up and see that back leg is just now coming off the rubber.
View attachment 211117

I look for the Power C at finish...he actually is breaking down a bit so I am wondering if he has lost some strength or he just went off line in this pitch.
View attachment 211118

I have left a lot out but this is in a nutshell we could talk hip hinge, shin angle, etc....we could talk about the head controlling in and out, the glove controlling up and down. Long arm, short arm, etc. The guy I am fascinated with is Graterol. I mean it looks like he is throwing casually and its coming out at 100+ His mechanical efficiency is unreal.

Sorry for the long post...I love this stuff. And Go Phillies!(Rhys Hoskins should have at least smothered that ball last night).
Click to expand...
Thank you for this. Explained what’s actually taking place. I feel like beisbol is the worst when it comes to the experts discussing/describing a player’s action(s). It’s all voodoo @ times…e.g. “Watch him use a nice, level swing,” as the slow mo clearly shows a hitter using a slight uppercut, etc. level to what? The plane of the pitch? The ground? A frog’s ***?
 
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HurricanePhilly said:
The guy I am fascinated with is Graterol. I mean it looks like he is throwing casually and its coming out at 100+ His mechanical efficiency is unreal.
Click to expand...
Yeah, he is fascinating to watch. I can't imagine as a hitter facing a guy with the same motion as the coach tossing BP pregame, only to have the ball get on you at triple digits.
 
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