Lefty Aces

So I'm watching the Yankees, Mets game which promised to be quite the pitchers dual. However, its really becoming a one-sided affair in which Santana is dominating while CC is struggling. Arguably two of the best pitchers in the game matched up tonight, and I was really excited to watch this game considering they are both lefties. Watching the game, I started to wonder what it was that was causing the results for each pitcher. Then I thought it would be a great topic for a blog entry, so here we are.

Santana, clearly having the upper hand in this one, is in complete control of the game. You can just see the confidence he has with every pitch he throws. But what is it exactly that is making him able to silence the formidable Yankee lineup? Well, the main reason is that he is keeping the hitters off balance. This has been mention a few times in the broadcast and it is definitely a good point. Santana doesn’t have that 96mph fastball to blow guys away so he relies on his other pitchers to get guys out. He’s throwing his changeup for strikes and getting hitters to chase his slider out of the zone. He has always had a fantastic changeup and he is using it perfectly tonight. By starting guys off with a changeup for a strike, he is automatically causing them to wonder what’s coming next, and then when it’s the fastball, they can’t catch up to it.

Sabathia, on the otherhand, is not as sharp. His biggest problem, which I’m sure he will describe after the game, is that he is not getting ahead. He is constantly battling back in the counts, and he is forced to come into the zone when he’s behind. He is missing up in the zone with the fastball, and appears to be guiding his breaking ball instead of snapping it off. Against any big league club, this is a bad recipe and proves to end his night after 5 innings giving up 5 earned. When good hitters have an idea of what pitch is coming, its going to be a long night for the pitcher.

If there is one thing you can learn by watching this game, its that if you can keep the hitters of balance, you can beat any team. You don’t need to throw 96mph to get guys out. If you have command of all your pitches, you can be successful. If you can start hitters with an off-speed pitch consistently, you will greatly improve your chance of winning. Most hitters aren’t looking for off-speed on the first pitch, and 90% of the time, they’re going to take it for a strike. This gets you ahead in the count, and shows the batter that you can throw your stuff for strikes.

Muscle Memory

I threw again today. I got out to about 150 feet, not trying to really push it yet. I felt really good, could have definitely gone more. What I really want to talk about is what I tried when I was throwing at shorter distances. I threw an easy flat ground session from about 60 feet. I made sure I took a long, maybe too long stride on every throw. Over exaggerating things is a good way to change muscle memory habits. A pitcher’s mechanics is one of the most difficult things to change because of the amount of times they have done it. So when trying to teach your body something new, you have two options. The first is repeating the same thing over and over again until your body is comfortable with the new motion. This takes an incredible amount of time, which I don’t really have. The second option, the one I am using, is to over exaggerate what you are trying to change. I’m trying to use a longer stride in my delivery, so when I throw now, I take an extra long stride.

This method will work for changing other things in your mechanics as well. Let’s say you normally throw over the top, but you now want to drop your arm angle. An easy way to do this is to drop the angle even more than you wanted to. This way when go up to where you wanted to be, it will feel almost natural. That is what I am hoping for my stride. What I will say about this approach is that you need to take it easy when throwing. If you drastically change something about your delivery, it will affect your arm in some way. If you focus on what you are trying to change, and you just throw easy, you should be fine.

Mechanics

So I have decided that I will never be able to generate the velocity that I want without first changing my mechanics. I have been watching videos of major league pitchers and comparing their mechanics to my own. At certain points, it was pretty clear to see that my mechanics did not match the pro’s. Now I’m not talking about leg kicks and arm angles, but about weight shifts, strides, and release points. Take a look at this video of Tim Lincecum. Try to pause it right when his front foot lands, and then again at release point.

Talk about someone who gets everything from their lower body. For a 5’11, 170 pound pitcher, he has to generate all of his power from his legs. And he does, considering he throws about 97mph. I’m not saying you should try and copy everything that Tim Lincecum does, because I think that would be impossible, but there are a few things about him that I think we should try to emulate. The drive he gets to home plate is incredible. The weight shift from the back leg to the front is perfect, but during that process, the amount of torque in his body almost looks painful. It looks like his arm is forced to move that fast.

The thing I am trying to work on now is my stride. I think sometimes I get lazy and I don’t stride as far as I should. A longer stride does two things for you. The first is that it generates more power from you lower body. The second is that it gives you a lower center of gravity which gives you more control and more consistency. I just started to work on this today and I could already feel the difference in my legs. My hamstring was almost sore after my short throwing session. Also, I felt more in control and it felt much easier to repeat my delivery. So more on this to come after I throw a few more times.