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Today the weather finally held out (for awhile, anyway) and we played our first scrimmage against the PSSBL Bulls (formerly the Sox). They are a bit of a rivalry for us, since the commissioner plays for their team and is a friend of a few of the people on our squad. I had some negative experiences against their team when I played for the Mariners in the Rocky division, so I was pretty amped up to pitch and step into the batter’s box against them.

Jacob got the start and went 2 IP, allowing two runs, of which one was unearned (I believe). I came in to pitch in the third and went two innings, allowing no runs, one walk and no strikeouts. Both Jacob and I threw only fastball/changeup/gyroball combinations, saving our breaking balls for the regular season. The truth is that I have little faith in my pronation curve at this point, but feel it should be ready by the season opener. I had decent control but below-average command of my changeup, but when I threw it where I wanted, the hitters were completely thrown off. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t thrown it, since it’s my best pitch and we play the Bulls four times this year, but hopefully I’ll have developed the pronation curve by the next time we play them.

At the plate I went 1-for-2 with a strikeout (swinging and missing middle-out) and a double. I also picked up a very easy infield assist at second base to close out our game as the rain started in on us. We ended the game after 5.5 innings with the scored tied up at 2-2.

All in all, it was a very good day for me, and everyone seemed positive about our chances going forward. I think it’s clear that our pitching is going to be pretty good. I’ll have tough competition for the #2 spot, as Roger came on in the fifth and pitched two excellent innings, recording a few strikeouts. As I’ve said before, I definitely don’t mind the competition - I thrive on it!

Today was also the first game where I threw from the Marshall windup and the modified set position. It felt great - way better than throwing from the traditional windup. I will continue to use these mechanics until I run into an overzealous ump. I think I should keep a copy of the MLB rules regarding the windup/set positions on me at all times just to prove that they are in fact legal throwing positions. For those of you who aren’t aware what Marshall pitchers look like, here’s a clip of Jeff Sparks throwing the pronation curve (large file - 13.5 MB):

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Here’s what my swing looks like these days:

The image below shows my greatest weakness; it occurs right after front leg block:

As you can see in the video, the frame after I pause for front leg block, my body still carries forward. This is known as “leaking” and is caused by a weak front leg block. I have fixed this in the past, but I get lazy and tend to forget that I need to land with a strong, yet flexed front leg.

Due to this flaw, my hands move in a linear fashion for too long, hence the term “bat drag.” You want the hands to cut across the chest and in a circular motion around the body to produce a short swing to contact. “Short to it and long through it.”

However, because of my aforementioned hand-eye coordination, I am able to get away with it against inferior (sub-85 mph) pitching and get into this position, which is a thing of beauty:

Now this is good form! Proof?

You’ll notice that Pujols front leg is completely locked out in a strong position; mine isn’t. Again, this is due to poor front leg block mechanics, which is something that is somewhat easily fixed. I am convinced that another month of hitting in a cage with video will fix this problem and give me an excellent power swing. After that, it’s all up to me in the batter’s box to identify and hit pitches, something I’ve fortunately been pretty good at my whole life.

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A short pitching post: One of my major arm action flaws is not driving to the target with my elbow. Though this is less important than my timing issues at footstrike, this is something I’d still like to work on. Check out this awesome slow-mo clip of K-Rod throwing his out pitch, the infamous power curve (yes, it’s a curve, NOT a slider):

Nasty.

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I gotta be honest, I don’t really hate this swing (despite not-great contact)! I was practicing Dr. Yeager’s walk-up drills to help translate linear momentum into rotational momentum, and I learned a lot in doing so.

What I don’t like are my hands being lazy, trying to wrap around the ball, and poor uncocking of the wrists at the point of contact.

After looking at a bunch of video, I think I realized a big problem of mine is “drifting” forward after lead footplant. To stop that, I need to push against the ground more. That should stop the drifting, the poor contact, and should increase power. We’ll see tomorrow - hopefully more video to follow!

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I probably have posted this before, but I can’t help it. This is what I want my changeup to look like, and for what it’s worth, most people who have seen it say it has plus-rated depth for the league I’m in. Most of my catchers don’t want me to throw it to same-side hitters, but I’m going to work it in there more often this year because it’s definitely my best pitch.

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Courtesy of my friend Carlos Gomez over at Bullpen Mechanics (check the blogroll), here’s Clay Buchholz throwing a fastball and a changeup:

You will notice that he doesn’t change his delivery whatsoever when throwing both pitches. This is what we’re looking for. Look harder, though, and see how late the changeup (78-79 mph) arrives compared to his fastball (90-93 mph).

That’s just wrong.

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Here’s a clip of one of my students:

This is excellent connection through the ball. He opens his hips early and gets the bat down and across the chest in the slot position, ready to unload. The only big thing he needs to work on is better hip/torso separation. Otherwise, I am thrilled with this swing - he’s come a long way, and he works extremely hard. I’m proud to be his coach, but not too proud to say that his swing is probably better than mine at this point!

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Here’s a still frame from live batting practice in a cage:

There’s a lot of ugly stuff going on in the video I took, so I don’t want to totally embarrass myself, but this is a major problem in my swing. It’s called “bat drag,” and it occurs when the swing gets too long or when the elbows get out in front of the bat. The malfunction in the swing is caused by torquing the hands/arms too early, rather than getting the bat out in front by cutting it across your chest. I hate the phrase “take the knob of the bat to the ball,” since it defeats a ton of rotational hitting theory (which is what I subscribe to and see in most good MLB hitters), but nevertheless it is applicable here.

Other flaws in my swing include hip slide after footplan. This will cause lost power and poor perception of the baseball in flight.
But enough with the bad (for now), on with the good! I have been trying to change a lot of my pitching mechanics for the past few weeks to help my control and my velocity, and I finally have clicked a bit on both issues. I’ll post a detailed gamelog later, but I went two innings the other day, striking out one, walking two, and allowing no hits while throwing almost all fastballs. The hitters were telling me that they were behind the fastball because all of my outs occurred on weak popups to the infield or short outfield. It was a real good shot to my confidence.

Without further ado, here’s a clip that I liked that showed improved velocity:

This clip is slowed down to 1/10 seconds per frame (I think). Here’s what I changed:

• Carry more momentum from leg kick apex to footplant
• Drift through the balance point
• Delay the arm and feel the disconnection between the body and the arm to produce the “whip” effect

Now, is this image perfect? Definitely not. My long, loopy arm action sucks, and I’m still getting into the high cocked position too early. However, the improvements are significant - I’m throwing much harder and my curveball grip is coming along nicely. What I need to work on in the future is breaking the hands later, speeding up the body more, drifting through the balance point more, and developing a more “elbowy” arm action instead of taking it straight back.

After studying this animated image sequence, it’s also very evident that I pronate extremely well after throwing the ball, which is really good news for my elbow. I’m happy I don’t have to teach myself this.

Here’s the full side session video. I think the increase in velocity on the fastball is markedly improved. Yes, I am telegraphing the off-speed pitches, but that’s the least of my concerns at this point.Pitches in order:

1. Four-seam fastball
2. Overhand curveball
3. Two-seam gyroball

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My thoughts on Barry Bonds can be summed up as follows:

• He is the owner of a perfect power stroke.
• He is one of the best baseball players of all time.
• His disciplined batting approach throughout his life was unbelievably impressive.
• His transformation from youthful, high-average toolsy outfielder to older, powerful, more disciplined slugger is a common career path amongst all baseball players - not just the elite ones.
• He has been branded with many others with the scarlet S for steroids.

The steroids issue is something I won’t go on about in this blog, but suffice to say that he’s never failed an MLB drug test and that I don’t see the media scrutiny over the players that have (Ryan Franklin, Juan Rincon, Rafael Betancourt, etc).

Beautiful.

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