Posted by Matt Sisson on Friday, April 10, 2009 at 11:39 am

To follow up with yesterday’s post on C.C. Sabathia’s first start with the Yankees, today we’ll look at his release points from the same games, one in which he was amazing and one in which the opening day jitters may have gotten to him.

A pitchers pitching motion is something in which consistency matters. If something like a sore shoulder, knee, elbow, etc. is bothering a pitcher, it will effect his pitching mechanics thus affecting the pitchers release point. If a pitcher is trying to overthrow a pitch, it may also cause a change in his mechanics. Coming into a new season, pitchers need to get into a rhythm and it may take a few starts for that to happen for some pitches. Take a look at Sabathia’s release point from Mondays game in Baltimore:

Now, take a look at Sabathia’s release point from that start back on May 14th, 2008:

As the charts show, Sabathia’s release points are not the same. The release point during his start during his game on 4/6/09 was generally higher than that of his start back in May of 2008, suggesting that he was doing something different mechanics-wise during these two starts. I don’t think Yankee fans need to worry. The situation should correct itself the more he pitches. If Sabathia can’t learn from his opening day experience, than his Yankee Stadium debut may also cause some concern for fans of the Bronx Bombers but it’s more than likely nothing to worry about.