Pitching Mechanics: Homer Bailey (By Request)
by Kyle Boddy on Dec 11, 2008 8:20 PM PST
in Pitching Mechanics
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(Man, the SB Nation templates are so cool. I really need to use them more often.)
Reader justin007000 wanted to know what's up with Homer Bailey and why he just can't hack it anymore. His minor league stats are pretty good, but his major league ones look like this:
Bleh. Here's what his stuff looks like per PITCHf/x Player Cards via Josh Kalk's (dixieflatline) website.
It should be noted that though Homer Bailey struck out a lot of batters in the minors (a little more than 9 per game at all levels), his walk rate was never very good (just over 4 per game at all levels). This could very well be a case of Andy Marte-itis, where yeah, the player competes very well in the minors, but he never really dominates. There's a reason that everyone in the minors is there - they aren't good enough to be in the majors. The difference between AAA and MLB is huge, and to simply compete and be better than most makes you a good-to-great AAA player - and those types of baseball players are journeymen at best, Kansas City Royals starters at worst (just kidding!). Throw in a widely-reported attitude problem and poor work ethic, and you have a recipe for disappointment.
With all that out of the way, let's take a look at his pitching mechanics and see if we can find some red flags that would explain why his fastball went from 96-98 MPH (!) to an average fastball of 92-93 MPH (!!):
I have one word for you: Pain.
I don't know where to begin. Just look at this:
Baseball-intellect.com (a site whose writer is a big fan of Paul Nyman) wrote a bit about Homer Bailey and his mechanics, stating that he liked his scap load and elbow rotation into release (both of which he claimed were better in 2006). Well, the reason that he isn't getting better "scap load" in 2008 could have a lot to do with the fact that it is inherently injurious and it leads to damaged shoulders, so as a result, he's not doing it because he already feels a lot of pain from his mechanics.
Nevertheless, the image above shows that Homer Bailey clings to the only way he knows how to throw a baseball, which involves reverse rotating the shoulders, extreme early pronation, and a severely forced horizontal abduction of the shoulder.
Tempo: Bailey is 21 frames from maximal leg lift to footplant. Average to Below Average.
Arm Action: Horrible. Not only do Homer Bailey's shoulders begin to turn while the ball is below the shoulder line, but he has a forced scapular loading pattern caused by arm drag and he exhibits signs of early pronation. I expect Homer Bailey to experience both shoulder and elbow surgery in the future (but I would bet on shoulder surgery first). Extremely Bad.
Ball Release: Also pretty bad, since he is actively supinating through release to throw his curveball and cut fastball. At least he sticks his pitching arm shoulder into the target reasonably well. Bad.
Followthrough: This is also really bad since he has a lazy glove arm, and instead of continuing his momentum forward, he pivots on his stride leg (watch the full video). Bad.
Homer Bailey is a textbook example of how not to throw a baseball, right up there with Anthony Reyes, B.J. Ryan, and Mark Prior.
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Classic twister.
Reminds me of what Dick Mills used to teach – the spinning and twisting stuff.
Neftali Feliz is not a swimmer.
by NoNameOnCard on Dec 11, 2008 8:52 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
Dick Mills.
Interestingly enough, the beginning of my pitching research started with Dick Mills and his work. I bought his program and some of the cues were actually very helpful – thinking about “lunging” at the plate was one that helped me and the students I now teach. However, he believes that hip/torso separation does not contribute meaningfully towards final velocity, which is silly, considering his favorite example of an “explosive” pitcher is Tim Lincecum; Lincecum is perhaps the best example of someone who has an insane degree of hip/torso separation and thusly his velocity is very high.
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by Kyle Boddy on Dec 11, 2008 8:55 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
I contest that a bit myself.
I think the contribution is exaggerated but not null. My opinion has a lot to with what the hips are doing in a pitcher that demonstrates a large separation. At footplant for the guys with the most separation, their legs and hips have stopped contributing to the pitch and become a passive weight that is dragged behind the body’s center of mass. This is particularly true of Tim Lincecum and Edinson Volquez.
The real benefit, in my mind, is that these pitchers are actively using a large percentage of their cores to focus on shoulder rotation. This eases a lot of the pressure on their arms, so they are able to throw more pitches and recover faster, allowing them to build strength and achieve higher velocities.
Neftali Feliz is not a swimmer.
by NoNameOnCard on Dec 11, 2008 9:09 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Achtung!
My opinion has a lot to with what the hips are doing in a pitcher that demonstrates a large separation. At footplant for the guys with the most separation, their legs and hips have stopped contributing to the pitch and become a passive weight that is dragged behind the body’s center of mass.
This is exactly what Dr. Marshall says is true. However, that’s factually incorrect. The study of the kinetic link and how it operates dictates that hip/torso separation is the cause of velocity, not the effect. Energy is transmitted from larger to smaller and proximal to distal body segments through the conservation of momentum. That the legs and hips are “dead” at the point when the pitcher releases the ball is a good sign – it indicates a very efficient transfer of momentum up through the legs to the arm.
For more information, you can check out Dr. Chris Yeager’s doctoral thesis and the work he did on baseball hitters. He came to the same conclusions, which led to his push-block-push theories on hitting. As such, he is one of the most respected hitting coaches and analysts in the business.
Webmaster of Driveline Mechanics
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com - An Unconventional Look at Scouting
by Kyle Boddy on Dec 11, 2008 9:34 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
That's something of a fallacy in itself.
The energy directed to home plate isn’t all sent up through the core. When the hips are dead, the front leg receives a good chunk of the energy transfer. It’s only efficient because the front leg absorbed the waste.
Neftali Feliz is not a swimmer.
by NoNameOnCard on Dec 11, 2008 10:10 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Front leg?
Some of it is, of course – energy is transferred from proximal to distal, which means the front leg will necessarily absorb some energy. However, Dr. Marshall’s drop step and his insistence that the body should continue to move forward while the ball is launched does not match up with how any other biomechanist/kinesiologist describes a mature and efficient throw or swing.
He is simply incorrect when he says that only continuous forward momentum counts towards release velocity.
Webmaster of Driveline Mechanics
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com - An Unconventional Look at Scouting
by Kyle Boddy on Dec 11, 2008 10:15 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
I'm not advocating Marshall's ideals.
I’m merely pointing out that a large portion of pitchers with large hip/shoulder separation aren’t really using their legs as well as they could be.
I think this really comes down to an individual’s genetics and core training techniques. The real difference is going to be whether a specific pitcher can rotate his shoulders faster or slower than his hips.
Since the two are connected, the hips effectively anchor the shoulders. If they are dead, the shoulders can only do so much.
Neftali Feliz is not a swimmer.
by NoNameOnCard on Dec 11, 2008 10:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
In other words...
I’m a big fan of a pitcher’s drive foot firmly touching the ground – not dragging or turning/turned over – when he releases the ball. The base remains firm. It reduces recoil. Best of all, it doesn’t preclude hip/shoulder separation.
Neftali Feliz is not a swimmer.
by NoNameOnCard on Dec 11, 2008 10:30 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
We agree
I think this really comes down to an individual’s genetics and core training techniques. The real difference is going to be whether a specific pitcher can rotate his shoulders faster or slower than his hips.
I agree completely. Genetics plays a huge role in this regard, especially the “setting” of the ppar-delta gene that dictates the type of muscle fibers the athlete is prone to developing.
Webmaster of Driveline Mechanics
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com - An Unconventional Look at Scouting
by Kyle Boddy on Dec 11, 2008 10:35 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
One more point...
I contend that a lot of pitchers (amateurs, of course) will never have the core strength to make use of hip/shoulder separation. For these people, I believe they would be considerably better off if they focused on core stability (rotating the hips and shoulders together) rather than flexibility and power. Typically, this doesn’t apply to Major League pitchers.
Neftali Feliz is not a swimmer.
by NoNameOnCard on Dec 11, 2008 10:41 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
I think I disagree.
I’ve worked closely with a few local kinesiologists who strongly disagree with that notion due to the practical concepts of the kinetic link. The core pulls the shoulders through; it would only stand to reason that separation would increase the power and velocity that the shoulders can turn.
I’ll see if I can find Dr. Chris Yeager’s work on the kinetic link and reproduce it here.
Webmaster of Driveline Mechanics
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com - An Unconventional Look at Scouting
by Kyle Boddy on Dec 11, 2008 10:45 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
That would be appreciated.
If it’s not in a medical journal, I should be able to find it myself.
I was referring mostly to less athletically gifted pitchers. This comes from my time spent with 10-12 year old pitchers, a large number of whom were playing select baseball for the first time. Higher levels of play tend to weed out this type of pitcher – so practical use of this idea isn’t very common.
Neftali Feliz is not a swimmer.
by NoNameOnCard on Dec 11, 2008 10:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Basically...
I wouldn’t approach this concept at all with any pitcher that doesn’t look like a complete fool when he tries to throw hard.
Neftali Feliz is not a swimmer.
by NoNameOnCard on Dec 11, 2008 10:55 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
insn't a large degree of
hip/torso separation simply an indication of an efficient transfer of energy? Ideally you’d want one body part to transfer its energy to the next body part just as it’s reaching its maximum movement velocity. In the case of the hips, this occurs just as they become fully opened. I don’t think this contradicts what Mills teaches. He teaches late arm action. And since the arm follows the torso….
Mass X Acceleration = Force
by SteveP on Dec 15, 2008 4:17 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
thanks
that was really informative.
"It is a damn poor mind indeed which can’t think of at least two ways to spell any word."-Andy Jack
by justin007000 on Dec 12, 2008 5:31 AM PST reply actions 0 recs
Something tells me...
Something tells me that Dusty Baker is going to get “credit” for trashing another pitcher’s arm. Now, I don’t like Dusty in the least, but the fact that Wood and Prior’s arm actions were so risky had to have contributed just as much as Baker over-using them to their demise as starting pitchers. I can see this happening with Bailey, too.
by Dalkowski110 on Dec 12, 2008 12:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
Bailey is going to have to stick at the big league level before that can happen.
With a fastball in the low 90s and dropping I don’t know if Bailey will last long enough in the Big Leagues, especially with a front four of Volquez, Harang, Cueto, and Arroyo, plus Darryl Thompson, Matt Maloney, Ramon Ramirez, and Micah Owings all vying for the 5th spot along with Bailey. The Reds have depth in their rotation and in order for Bailey will have to out pitch those 4 in order to garner a long major league stint.
"It is a damn poor mind indeed which can’t think of at least two ways to spell any word."-Andy Jack
by justin007000 on Dec 12, 2008 4:33 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
that was almost english
"It is a damn poor mind indeed which can’t think of at least two ways to spell any word."-Andy Jack
by justin007000 on Dec 12, 2008 4:34 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
Kyle Bobby,
basically what you are saying in layman’s terms is that Bailey is slowing shedding his arm, causing him to lose arm action, velocity, and extension, and if that is the most that happens to Bailey that will be positive news, because he is probably heading towards tearing a labrum, rotatorcuff, and/or capsule, and perhaps also destroying his elbow.
If you advised the Reds would you suggest trading Bailey before he blows out his arm, or at least further proves that he will not be the power pitcher that he was supposed to be?
"It is a damn poor mind indeed which can’t think of at least two ways to spell any word."-Andy Jack
by justin007000 on Dec 12, 2008 4:38 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
The name's Kyle Boddy
But yes, that’s what I’m saying.
If they can trade him for anything useful (Jermaine Dye does not fall under this category), that would be a good idea.
Webmaster of Driveline Mechanics
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com - An Unconventional Look at Scouting
by Kyle Boddy on Dec 12, 2008 4:50 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs
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