This is C.J. Wilson’s gyroball, striking out Eric Chavez in the process. He confirmed that this pitch was indeed a gyroball, so there’s no conjecture here. Here’s the video in slow-motion:
You can definitely tell there is pronation of the arm, and the hand is on the outside of the baseball, so it’s thrown like I’ve been taught how to throw the pitch.
As you can see, there’s nothing magical about the pitch. It’s just a good semi-offspeed pitch.
Here’s me hitting off a tee today at the park (30 frames/sec):
Boy, that swing is long. It would explain the trouble with above-average fastballs in the games and my sudden ability to crush curveballs. Most of my extra-base hits have been against off-speed pitches.
Well, something else to look at. (Like there wasn’t enough already)
This motion here was stolen from Carlos Gomez’s blog. It’s David Price, first pick overall in the 2007 MLB draft by the Devil Rays. The importance of this clip is to show exactly what I am trying to do with my new pitching mechanics - lead with the hip and the butt in order to stay closed and keep the throwing-arm shoulder over the rubber as long as possible.
Here’s Casey Weathers, 8th pick overall. You can see the ability to “drift through the balance point,” another part I am working on.
The two biggest problems I have with my delivery are:
I believe if I work hard over the summer on just these two things that I can get my velocity in the mid 80’s consistently.
Proof? You got it.
Peavy’s 4-seam fastball - outstanding late life (92-95 mph):
Peavy’s 2-seam fastball - gets ridiculous bore on it, insane cutter movement (84-88 mph):
Peavy’s slider - good luck hitting this (78-86 mph):
I know these images kind of mess up the stylesheet, but they are too sick not to post.
On June 16th the Pirates hosted the White Sox. In the third inning, John Van Benschoten struck out Tadahito Iguchi looking on a 1-2 count with an offspeed pitch. The announcers couldn’t tell what kind of pitch it was - the slow motion video and grip clearly show a grip that is the exact same thing as the two-seam gyroball grip from Himeno and Tezuka’s book.
The action on the pitch is extremely similar to video of known pitchers who throw the gyroball. Was Van Benschoten taught how to throw the gyroball, or is this a variant of the slider (think Matsuzaka’s pronation slider)?
