Pitching Mechanics: Wade Davis

by Kyle Boddy on Sep 7, 2009 9:49 PM PDT in Pitching Mechanics Comment 19 comments

Reinhold Matay - AP

Wade Davis exhibits significant horizontal shoulder abduction (scapular loading) in his delivery.

Wade Davis certainly made an impression on September 6th vs. the Detroit Tigers - he wasted no time in showing off his excellent fastball that he runs to the inside and outside corners of the plate and flashed his late-breaking curveball and pretty good fade on his changeup. Davis struck out the side in the first inning in his major league debut, ticking his velocity up to 96 mph (per the TV gun - PITCHf/x said 94.4 mph was his max speed) on his heater.

BrooksBaseball gives us this PITCHf/x information on Wade Davis' start:

Pitch Statistics (Velocity Histogram)
Pitch Type	Avg Speed	Max Speed	Avg H-Break	Avg V-Break	Count	Strikes / %	Swinging Strikes / %	Nibbleness	Time to Plate
FA (Fastball)	92.18	94.4	-3.00	12.28	74	50 / 67.57%	10 / 13.51%	5.56	0.410
CH (Changeup)	81.64	82	-7.47	8.03	5	2 / 40.00%	0 / 0.00%	9.98	0.460
SL (Slider)	85.10	86.3	4.47	1.53	9	6 / 66.67%	1 / 11.11%	4.26	0.439
CU (Curveball)	77.92	80.5	6.38	-6.90	13	6 / 46.15%	0 / 0.00%	10.26	0.490
FC (Cutter)	90.83	91.3	-1.18	11.90	3	2 / 66.67%	1 / 33.33%	4.03	0.416
Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and are unfortunately often inaccurate. Clicking individual pitch types will provide individual velocity histograms for each pitch. Nibbleness is the arithmetic mean of the distance of each pitch, in inches, from the edge of a normalized strikezone. Lower indicates "more Nibbley". Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.

Here's a short clip of Wade Davis striking out the first MLB hitter he faced: Curtis Granderson.

My analysis and an excellent slow-motion side view GIF after the break!

Here's the full side view GIF in slow motion:

Tempo: 19-20 frames from maximal leg lift to footplant. Very Good.

Arm Action: Here's a derivative of the side view GIF from above:

I've paused the video in two spots - right in the middle, and the last frame of the image.

1) The middle pause shows that Wade Davis exhibits early pronation, much like his teammate Matt Garza:

Garza2_medium

This typically makes it hard to pronate through release and lends itself to a supinated release of breaking balls. This can cause unnecessary damage to the back of the elbow in the ball release phase of the delivery.

2) The second pause shows that Wade Davis has at least some pronation as he releases his fastball. Watch his elbow "pop up" to some degree - this should help to protect the bones in the back of his elbow.

Wade Davis' arm action is somewhat cause for concern for the above reasons as well as the fact that his pitching arm is late at footstrike. When his shoulders begin to turn and he begins to accelerate the baseball towards home plate, his pitching forearm is slightly below the level of his shoulders while he exhibits a large degree of horizontal shoulder abduction (scapular loading).

Ball Release: I like the position Wade Davis gets into as he releases the baseball, shown below:

Davisrelease_medium

In general, I prefer a higher release and arm slot, and Wade Davis tilts his trunk to the side to achieve his release point. Additionally, he keeps his glove arm tight near his body. Wade Davis minimizes the effect of pulling his arm across his body and engages his latissimus dorsi - this should lessen strain on his anterior shoulder muscles and increase release velocity as a result.

Followthrough: I particularly like Wade Davis' followthrough phase, as he keeps his glove arm tight to his body and has complete shoulder rotation, turning nearly sideways to the batter when he is finished with the pitch. There is no visible arm recoil or signs of active braking by pulling with the posterior shoulder muscles.

Overall, I think Wade Davis has pretty standard traditional pitching mechanics and has some troubling portions in his arm action, but nothing really sticks out to me. I'd expect Davis to experience damage to his elbow, possibly bone chips due to calcified hyaline cartilage. He is certainly at-risk for UCL tears and damage due to some reverse forearm bounce in his delivery (exacerbated by a late pitching arm at footstrike), but the same could be said about nearly every pitcher in the MLB.

0 recs | Comment 19 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Since hitting full-season ball in 2006

Davis has made 27, 27, 28, and 28 starts in the minors(plus one in the majors now, so 20 and counting this season). As far as I remember, he never even missed a start due to injury. He’s been very durable throughout his minor league career.

Vroom vroom party starter
www.raysprospects.com

by Imperialism32 on Sep 7, 2009 10:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

so 29* and counting

Vroom vroom party starter
www.raysprospects.com

by Imperialism32 on Sep 7, 2009 10:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

He's very young.

Calling a 23-year old “durable” is a bit of a misnomer, to say the least.

Webmaster of Driveline Mechanics
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com - An Unconventional Look at Scouting

by Kyle Boddy on Sep 7, 2009 10:49 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, he hasn't missed a start in 5 pro seasons

That’s durable to me.

Vroom vroom party starter
www.raysprospects.com

by Imperialism32 on Sep 8, 2009 3:54 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

He has been durable

That doesn’t mean he’ll continue to be.

Smoltz.

by vivaelpujols on Sep 9, 2009 7:35 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Of course not

but I do think track record matters

Vroom vroom party starter
www.raysprospects.com

by Imperialism32 on Sep 9, 2009 8:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would assume so,

However, as Kyle pointed out, he’s a bit two young to have a “track record” in anything. I’m sure there are a lot of guys who avoid injury for the first few years of their careers and then become like Rich Harden.

Smoltz.

by vivaelpujols on Sep 9, 2009 8:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Track record matters- until it doesn't.

Brandon Webb
2004 35
2005 33
2006 33
2007 34
2008 34
2009 1 (out for the season with a torn labrum)

Jake Peavy
2004 27
2005 30
2006 32
2007 34
2008 27
2009 13 (achilles injury and elbow inflammation)

Johan Santana
2004 34
2005 33
2006 34
2007 33
2008 34
2009 25 (out for the season, bone chips in elbow)

"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 10, 2009 10:01 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jeez Kyle, you really went out on a limb there at the end

He is certainly at-risk for UCL tears and damage due to some reverse forearm bounce in his delivery (exacerbated by a late pitching arm at footstrike), but the same could be said about nearly every pitcher in the MLB.

Embrace Eternity

by Sandy Kazmir on Sep 8, 2009 5:59 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I know.

But at this point, it’s as far as I’m willing to go with predictions.

Webmaster of Driveline Mechanics
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com - An Unconventional Look at Scouting

by Kyle Boddy on Sep 8, 2009 12:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Which is to say you have no idea who may or may not get hurt.

Except that the act of pitching causes injuries.

I would like to point out (as I always seem to do) that I can’t control the fact that 99.9% of pitchers in the major leagues throw at least one breaking ball with a supinated grip. Due to this, they’ll all have inflamed elbows and eventually will suffer elbow damage – regardless of how their mechanics grade out otherwise.

Tools Whore

by Tyler on Sep 8, 2009 2:04 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

That's a logical fallacy.

Kyle has said that basically all major league pitchers will experience injury — this does not indicate that all pitching causes injuries. Supinated grips can lead to elbow injuries, but you can throw breaking pitches with pronated grips.

by jwiscarson on Sep 8, 2009 2:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Certainly false.

Does the “act of pitching” necessitate throwing a breaking ball with a supinated grip? Absolutely not.

Webmaster of Driveline Mechanics
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com - An Unconventional Look at Scouting

by Kyle Boddy on Sep 8, 2009 7:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why then, has there not been a single pitching coach/executive/team doctor/bio mechanic recognized this and corrected this issue?

Tools Whore

by Tyler on Sep 8, 2009 8:07 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Within a professional organization.

Tools Whore

by Tyler on Sep 8, 2009 8:08 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Learning a new way to pitch...

…is going to be nearly impossible to do after the developmental phases of puberty. Replacing already-formed motor pathways is very difficult – something that is evident when coaching any athlete (I see it all the time in my coaching – especially when it comes to weightlifting form).

Meaningful change happens at the HS/College levels, and possibly even at younger stages.

That being said, there are indeed some pitchers who pronate the release of their breaking balls and have changed their arm actions significantly after injury. Roger Clemens is one of them. There are others, but would you be able to see it even if I told you who they were?

Webmaster of Driveline Mechanics
http://www.drivelinemechanics.com - An Unconventional Look at Scouting

by Kyle Boddy on Sep 8, 2009 8:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

No I would not. But you, yourself said 99% of players don't use it.

So what are we predicting? If nearly everyone throws their breaking pitch in a way that causes injury, then nearly everyone is going to get hurt unless, well, their genetics allow them not too. And at this point, predicting failure in soft tissue failure on any reliable level is impossible.

And even Roger Clemens destroyed his shoulder early in his career and was extremely lucky James Andrews amazing.

Tools Whore

by Tyler on Sep 9, 2009 8:23 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, what are we predicting?

If nearly everyone throws their breaking pitch in a way that causes injury, then nearly everyone is going to get hurt…

That’s true – but that’s only one factor of pitching mechanics that involves the elbow. There are other concerns – including the shoulder – that are worth looking into.