Windup versus stretch
by Brickhaus
on Aug 29, 2008 9:53 AM PDT
Are there any pitchers who have mechanical improvements when they're pitching out of the stretch rather than with a windup?
For instance, look at Edwin Jackson. This year, his performance has greatly exceeded his peripherals, in no small part because guys just aren't hitting the ball well off him with men on base. His OPSA with the bases clear is .833, while his OPSA with men on is .667, leading to an unusually high strand rate. While this might be interpreted as luck, some posters in the Rays blogosphere have posited that Edwin's mechanics are actually better when pitching out of the stretch. On the other hand, only his hit rate is significantly different when men are on, which might suggest that it's the movement of the defense that is leading to this statistical oddity (however, this does not appear to apply to the team as a whole - Shields and Garza do better with the bases empty, Sonnanstine has no split, and Kazmir does better with men on, but has better component ratios when men are on).
Is it plausible that Jackson has better mechanics out of the stretch, or is it hogwash?
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Without having looked at Jackson specifically
It is at least plausible. This Jeff Albert piece on Samardzija from awhile ago demonstrates that it’s possible. I don’t think it’s .160 points of OPS possible but that might be some contributing factor. I’ll see if I can get some video to take a real look.
by nickmueller on Aug 30, 2008 3:51 PM PDT 0 recs
Plausible, but unlikely.
It is entirely possible that someone’s mechanics are better from the stretch (I know mine are), but it’s often going to be noise. You could probably run a two-variable query on the data to determine OBP-A (control) and SLG-A (stuff)from both positions, as I would imagine that’s going to be the best way to see if there’s anything to it.
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by Kyle Boddy on Sep 1, 2008 3:33 AM PDT 0 recs
It's another anecdote, but
Chris Perez, the Cardinals’ new closer started pitching exclusively from the stretch in the minors to improve his control. It probably has to do with the simpler motion required in some cases; In other cases it could be sample size or a change in mindset once runners get on.
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by hazel on Sep 1, 2008 6:41 PM PDT 0 recs
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