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Mark DiFelice gets it done with a cut fastball that tops out at 83 MPH, striking out 5 batters for every one that he walks.

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Mark DiFelice is an anomaly - someone that shouldn't be able to make it in the major leagues. He's a soft-tossing righty whose best pitch tops out at 83 MPH. He's a 33-year old rookie, pitching in the National League, for the Milwaukee Brewers. Clearly there must be some deception or some way to change speeds and really fool the hitters, right? Nope. Mark DiFelice himself says:

"There’s something to say for how slow I throw," DiFelice said. "Guys hate hitting against me, because they wonder if I’m going to throw anything else, if I’ve got something up my sleeve. Nope. Sorry."

And it's true - check out his pitch histogram from May 12th vs. the Florida Marlins, when he pitched the top of the seventh inning in relief, earning himself a hold:

(data courtesy of BrooksBaseball)

Yep, an average velocity of 81-82 MPH on pitches that are classifed as changeups and sliders, but are quite obviously just his cut fastball.

Readers of this blog know that I love statistical anomalies, so Mark DiFelice naturally caught my attention. I pulled video from the May 12th start, so let's take a look...

Unfortunately, the praise for Mark DiFelice stops there - from me, anyway. His tempo is pretty slow to the plate - 21-22 frames from maximal leg lift to footplant - though that probably isn't too surprising given that he maxes out at 83 MPH with his cutter.

He has a slight timing problem due to his arm action; though his pitching style is anything but ordinary, the back of the arm action is quite typical of many pitchers. He lifts the elbow up into a position of near-hyperabduction and the elbow trails the ball as the pitching forearm lays back in external rotation, causing additional stress to the anterior shoulder and the ulnar collateral ligament.

He has significant forearm flyout due to the timing flaw, as his arm flys out laterally away from his body, which will damage the back of his elbow and irritate the ulnar nerve. This is not unique; many pitchers who throw a cutter look like this so they can tilt the ball in their hand and impart better spin through a supinated release.

His followthrough features significant arm recoil, a bad sign for the posterior shoulder structures as the shoulder pulls back the arm after centripetal force carries it across his body, stressing his pectoralis minor.

In short, while Mark DiFelice's career path is anything but ordinary, his pitching mechanics have many of the same troubling flaws that we see in lots of major league pitchers. With any luck, the reduced velocity and workload (as a reliever) will keep him from landing on the disabled list, but I'd expect to see him hit the DL with elbow inflammation.