Pitching Mechanics Update: Homer Bailey
by Kyle Boddy on Sep 20, 2009 10:32 PM PDT
in Pitching Mechanics
17 comments
While checking the usual baseball-related sites today, I noticed a very interesting article: Bailey locates his missing velocity. In it, the author states:
CINCINNATI — From 98 to 94 and back to 98 in one easy lesson — only it was slightly more than one lesson.
Homer Bailey, though, said it was an easy process relocating his misplaced 98-mph fastball, but he couldn’t do it himself.
"Last offseason, when I first started to get on the mound, my agent told me, ‘Go see Skip Johnson, he is the pitching coach at the University of Texas,’ " Bailey said. "I thought, ‘I ain’t got nothing to lose, because things aren’t looking so good.’ "...
"So I went for one bullpen (session) and he was telling me try this and try that," said Bailey, who tossed eight scoreless innings Friday, Aug. 28, in beating the Dodgers. "The whole time I’m kind of like, ‘All right, Homer, keep doing it. It feels funny and it feels different.’ So he told me to come back in a couple of days and throw another bullpen.
"And he gave me some drills to do at home before I went back and I kept doing them," Bailey continued. "I went back for the next bullpen and the ball just jumped out of my hand and I just stared at it. I threw three pitches and said to myself, ‘It’s back.’ "And what happened before, when he threw 98 and it sunk to 94?
"I have no clue where it went," he said. "I thought there was something wrong with my shoulder or elbow. My groin bugged me and I thought maybe that was it. But it really wasn’t. Just a little mechanical change. If you look at it on video it’s not that different. You have to have somebody who is there right on you to see the difference.
"It’s the tempo, the way everything loads," Bailey said. "I knew after that second bullpen and said to myself, ‘This is going to be fun again.’ After that, I had eight or nine sessions before spring training and every time it got just a little better and a little better."
(Emphasis is mine.)
Well, first of all, we know that slow motion video is going to be better than anyone's trained eye - no matter how good of a coach they are. If we're talking very minute differences, that's nothing something the human eye is going to be able to pick up immediately - or possibly ever. Regardless, let's take a look from old video from May and video from September to see if there's any meaningful difference between the two sets of mechanics...
Old is on the left, new is on the right.
And the answer is....?
Well, I'd like your opinion. Personally, I see a significant change (or possibly more than one change) between the two videos - but to foster some debate and get more audience participation, I'd like you to weigh in. If there's not sufficient interest, I'll let the story fall by the wayside.
So chime in!
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Hrm, well...
It looks like his glove-arm finish is a lot cleaner. Not that that alone would account for a four mph difference in velocity…
Based on the results of the second pitch, can we infer that he’s pronating through release on his fastball? I’m going out on a limb and guessing that the old pitch isn’t a fastball, and something in the cutter/slider arena instead, but…
Finally (and maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me — it’s hard to tell with at the framerate on those animations), but has he changed his arm angle ever-so-slightly?
As far as I can tell, his pickup, leg kick, sweeping foot motion, and absurd leg kick complete with leg hop are the exact same.
by jwiscarson on Sep 20, 2009 10:48 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
The gloveside finish is what I noticed first as well.
Beyond that, I can’t pick up on the differences.
by JonBBT on Sep 20, 2009 11:46 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Glove
Seems to me his glove side finish is closer to his body and that when he threw the glove out and down previously he was putting some of his momentum in those directions instead of directly at the plate. If those are both fastballs it looks like the new one tails better for the above reason. But are those both fastballs for sure?
by willkoky on Sep 21, 2009 7:47 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Yes
on glove-side finish. Most noticeable thing to my untrained eye. I’ve seen a couple of video comps and his tweaked motion always seem tighter, more under control. Over-all it’s pretty subtle though. And as someone who lives in Cincy and watches him, I can tell you that he was rarely at 94-mph as that article states. He was much more 90-92. This is signficant a (re)gain in velocity as I can remember. Anyone know of similar instances of this in recent years?
by blackoutyears on Sep 21, 2009 8:08 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Similar story happened with Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman in 2008.
One of them ironed out his mechanics and got it back. One not so much.
"Of course Kolby Rasmus was going deep! That’s what Kolby Rasmus does! You don’t give Kolby Rasmus second chances!" -Kolby Rasmus
by hazel on Sep 21, 2009 8:45 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
His arm action seems mostly the same,
the main changes appear to be in his landing foot and followthrough. Perhaps he read the Rick Porcello article and decided he wanted to look even more like him?
Oddly, he isn’t tucking his glove and pulling his glove arm back up behind his body, but instead appears to be tucking it and driving it down into his hip or holding it against his abdomen.
"Of course Kolby Rasmus was going deep! That’s what Kolby Rasmus does! You don’t give Kolby Rasmus second chances!" -Kolby Rasmus
by hazel on Sep 21, 2009 8:53 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Front Leg Foot
Another change I noticed was his left foot. Instead of being flexed in the leg kick, the toe is pointing down allowing him to land more on the ball of his foot instead of the heel. Also, because of landing on his heel, he spins out of the pitch on his landing with less balance, particularly when mixed with his weaker front side mechanics. With the cleaned up front side and increased balance from landing on the ball of his front foot, he has increased the momentum he can generate towards the plate and truly “get through” the pitch.
by nuhusky41 on Sep 21, 2009 9:52 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
What I see...
The glove side arm is an obvious difference. It appears to be contributing to “pitching taller” as well, which usually lends itself to better shoulder rotation and follow-through.
This part is hard to see… He keeps his weight over his back leg longer in the newer clip. His landing is softer, and the transfer from his legs to his core is more compact as a result. This is a good use of the stretch-shortening cycle through the core.
Arm action is mostly the same, aside from the obvious differences between a slider (old footage) and a change-up (new footage).
by NoNameOnCard on Sep 21, 2009 4:55 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Glove is tucked against this side, plant leg is bent instead of straight, hands come up with leg on loading phase, when he takes his arm back from the glove on the video on the right he hyper extends elbow on the right he does not come flat but come with out full extension. Hips stay more square as he delivers the pitch.( the the left his hips dip to the 1st base side and on the right they are more square which leads to a higher elbow and taller deliver and lower follow thought leg.
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by E5 on Sep 21, 2009 8:29 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
when he takes his arm back from the glove on the video on the right he hyper extends elbow on the right he does not come flat but come with out full extension
This should say
On the left he hyper extends his elbow and on the right he does not even come to full extension before starting his elbow up.
All Truth Goes Through Three Stages 1.It is ridiculed 2.It is violently opposed 3.Finally, it is accepted as self-evident. kinesiologist
Baseball’s biggest busts Andy Marte.
by E5 on Sep 21, 2009 8:35 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
One is the glove side, but I don’t think that accounts for the velocity increase. Lots of hard throwers don’t firm up the glove side. I guess it could help health-wise but who knows.
Another thing is that he’s bringing his hands higher up in the delivery. In the first gif his hands go chest high and in the second they go up his neck. That’s sort of what they had changed in his delivery in the first place, removing the upward extension in his delivery. When he was in the minors he had a very exaggerated full windup with his hands touching the bottom of his neck—sort of like what Takashi Saito used to do when he was with the Dodgers. But throwing that way he was able to repeatedly touch the high-nineties.
I suppose the theory behind having him starting his hands lower was to make him more compact and improve his control. But it removed the momentum into his arm drop and caused him to lose his timing somewhat.
by Galeto on Sep 21, 2009 11:43 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Glove side mechanics
Are typically associated with control and command in scouting reports I read, so I think you’re right that it doesn’t necessarily contribute to increased velocity. I’d be interested if anyone believes otherwise.
by blackoutyears on Sep 22, 2009 8:30 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
The GS shoulder requires a moment from the trunk to keep it from flying open. By reaction, the trunk receives a torque from the shoulder in the opposite direction. Viewed from above, the shoulder—>trunk moment is counterclockwise for a RHP. This would speed up the rotation of the trunk. Depending on some coordinative issues with the throwing arm, this could be a good or bad thing as it could a) increase the rotational speed of the throwing arm in the xy plane, provided the shoulder is strong enough, or b) cause a large stress on the anterior shoulder musculature. There are probably other outcomes I’m not thinking of at the moment. These same coordinative issues could manifest themselves as control problems, I suppose.
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by gorilla_baller on Sep 22, 2009 2:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
It must have also effected his overhand curve
That bad boy was pretty much gone in 2007-8. Interesting that at the same time his velocity returns, so does the overhand curve.
by Johnnypronto on Sep 22, 2009 7:18 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oh, I don’t know if it’s appropriate to request it here but could you do a side by side comparison of Chamberlain during his good stretch after the all-star break and his delivery during his recent struggles? My theory is that he’s breaking his hands differently. In the earlier part of the year, he was breaking his hands and pausing with the ball out of the glove and then revving into his motion. It was similar to Rodrigo Lopez’s delivery. After the break, he talked about fixing a hitch and he was smoother out of his break. Then after the Yankees gave him extra days off, it appeared to me that he’s bringing his hands up higher and to make sure he doesn’t pause out of his break, he’s wrapping his glove over the ball, which I don’t recall him doing.
by Galeto on Sep 21, 2009 11:50 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I see that his glove action changed, he seems to be keeping it closer to his chest more. The other thing I see (May not be true the angles aren’t the same) but it seems like he is more linear with his stride, in the old one he seems to be sweeping his leg more and in the new one he seems to be going straight towards home more. He also seems to have better control over his body in the new one. He seems off balance in the old one.
(Maybe its the hair :D)
by Priceless on Sep 23, 2009 2:19 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
The hair
That’s true! Longhair Bailey was decidedly inferior to the cropped version.
by blackoutyears on Sep 24, 2009 10:58 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
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