The pitching motion is temperamental. Throwing a baseball is physically similar to swinging a golf club, particularly when it comes to timing and sequencing of movement, and anyone who swings the wrenches knows how difficult it can be to find consistency. The slightest mechanical tweak can throw a pitcher’s delivery completely out of whack.
I submit [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Filed under Archive, Authors A-F, Doug Thorburn, Featured, Main Page, Major League News · Tagged August 10, Busch Stadium, Coach Dave, Cy Young, Cy Young Winner, Dave Righetti, Fastball, Intrinsic Rhythm, Losing Streak, Mechanical Elements, Mike Krukow, Nl Cy Young Winner, Pitching Coach, Ripple Effect, Throwing A Baseball, Tim Lincecum, Timmy, Wild Card, Wrenches, Wrong Direction
Much has been made of Stephen Strasburg’s innings count this season, and the fact that the Nats will not allow the phenom to surpass 160 innings (combined majors and minors). The talk quieted when shoulder inflammation sent Stras to the DL, effectively shaving a couple of starts from his 2010 total. Stras was sitting at [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 7:16 am
Filed under Archive, Authors A-F, Baseball Info, Doug Thorburn · Tagged Absence, Aces, Discipline, Dl, Friars, Hurlers, Ip, Latos, Mad Caps, Major League, Majors And Minors, Mike Leake, Minor League, Mirage, Nats, Ncaa, Pennant Races, Petco Park, Phenom, Pitchers, Shoulder Inflammation, Stint, Strasburg, Timeline, Whip, Workload
All Star festivities get a bad rap these days, but at least one event continues to grab my attention year after year: The Futures Game. The greatest prospects of the minor leagues are put on a single stage, from low-A greenhorns to polished AAA players auditioning for the big show.
The game stats are pretty meaningless, but [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Friday, July 23, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Filed under Authors A-F, Baseball Info, Doug Thorburn, Main Page, Minor League News · Tagged Aces, Added Bonus, Attendance, Bad Rap, Batters, Big Game, Cannon, Caveats, Elite Competition, Exhibition, Farmhand, Festivities, Fielders, Futures Game, Greenhorns, Jeremy Hellickson, Mechanics, Minor Leagues, MLB, Pirate, Pitch, Pitchers, Pitches, Posture, Prospects, Repetition, Rhp, Size Constraints, Sprint, Top Chef, Unparalleled Opportunity, Variance, Windup
The top of this year’s draft was not as arm-centric as 2009, when 9 of the first 12 picks were pitchers, and 19 of 32 overall. This year the top dozen were balanced at six bats and six arms, and the trend continued throughout the first round, finishing with 15 pitchers among the first 32 [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Filed under Amateur Draft - Player Signings, Authors A-F, Baseball Info, Doug Thorburn, Featured · Tagged Aces, Angles, Baseball, Baseline, Bats, Cleveland Indians, Disparity, Dodge, Draft Profiles, Drew Pomeranz, Foot Strike, Good Stuff, Hurlers, Left Hander, Lefty, Linear Momentum, Majors, Mechanics, MLB, Ole Miss, Pitchers, Pitches, Risk Reward, Scouting, Setup Position, Taillon
The Washington Nationals stole the headlines for the second year in a row at the MLB amateur player draft, selecting 17-year old Bryce Harper with the #1 overall pick, a year after tabbing that Strasburg guy in the same slot. LeBryce has been scouted since before he could drive, and the young catcher-turned-outfielder is so [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Filed under Amateur Draft - Player Signings, Authors A-F, Doug Thorburn, Featured, Main Page, Prospects · Tagged Aces, Amateur Career, Amateur Player, Arsenal, Baseball Career, Bryce, Center Of Mass, Draft Boards, Draft Coverage, Elite Level, Foot Strike, Headlines, Josh Beckett, Maximum Height, Mechanical Work, MLB, Mold, Outfielder, Pirates, Pitching Mechanics, Pittsburgh Pirates, Player Draft, Price Tag, Pro Baseball, Raw Components, School Pitcher, Scouting Report, Strasburg, Taillon, Washington Nationals
Stephen Strasburg’s debut was so highly anticipated that the first pitch to Andrew McCutcheon was removed from the game, to be immediately sent to the Hall of Fame. Never before has a ballplayer’s debut attracted such national attention, and the expectations were impossibly high.
Still, the rookie was unflappable. Rather than crumble beneath the Don King-shaped [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 9:44 am
Filed under Doug Thorburn, Main Page, Major League News · Tagged Andrew Mccutcheon, Batters, Blemish, Breaking Ball, Bunches, Don King, Fly Outs, Greatness, Hall Of Fame, Homer, Mechanics, National Attention, Nuke Laloosh, Pitches, Red Flags, Right Hander, S Line, Stras Wars, Strasburg, Strikeout
Our sequel begins where the original left off, with Stephen Strasburg having just completed foot strike …
From Foot Strike to Release Point
The sequence of events is critical after foot strike, with several mechanical elements taking place in the span of about a quarter-second. It’s extremely important that a pitcher waits until after foot strike to begin [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Filed under Doug Thorburn, Featured, Main Page, Major League News · Tagged Belt Buckle, Big Leaguers, Body Trunk, Cc Sabathia, Critical Indicator, Degrees Of Separation, Foot Strike, Hip Rotation, Maximum Angle, Mechanical Elements, Nolan Ryan, Personal Signature, Pitch, Power Hitter, Preternatural, Roger Clemens, Sequel, Sequence Of Events, Shoulder Separation, Shoulders, Significant Impact, Span, Stras Wars, Strasburg, Strikes, Swing
A sold out crowd… in Washington… on a Tuesday night. Such is the impact of one Stephen Strasburg, making perhaps the most anticipated debut in the history of Major League Baseball.
This is just one of a thousand articles that will be written about the rookie right-hander this week, so allow me to differentiate this piece [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Filed under Doug Thorburn, Featured, Main Page, Major League News · Tagged Box Score, Conventional Wisdom, Elite Athletes, Expe, Guinea Pig, Major League Baseball, Motion Analysis Program, National Pitching Association, New Gadgets, Objective Evaluation, One Of A Thousand, Personal Viewpoint, Pitching Coach, Pitching Mechanics, Real Time Data, School Coaches, School Intern, Speed Motion, Stras Wars, Subjective Experiences, Tom House
Monty Hall: “I’m looking for someone with… a shortstop that steals bases!”
Trade season is starting to warm up. The Roy Oswalt soap opera has lit the fuse on the powder keg of Rumor Central, and the suspense will only increase between now and the end of July.
With 30% of the baseball season already in the books, [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Monday, May 31, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Filed under Authors A-F, Doug Thorburn, Main Page, Trades · Tagged Bargain Hunters, Baseball Season, Chaotic Fluctuations, Email Inbox, Fantasy Gm, Fantasy Island, Fantasy Player, Fantasy Players, Franchise Player, League Managers, Monty Hall, Performance Stats, Powder Keg, Roy Oswalt, Small Potatoes, Soap Opera, Sticker Shock, Trade Negotiation, Trade Proposal, Trade Strategy
“OBP is life.”
The phrase has become a mantra for the stat-minded crowd, and it epitomizes an entire generation of sabermetric thinking, one that began long before “Moneyball” hit the shelves. A baseball game is defined by outs, and analysts have long valued on-base percentage for its ability to represent out avoidance.
The vaunted Triple Crown was [...]
Posted by Doug Thorburn on Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Filed under Doug Thorburn, Main Page · Tagged Avoidance, Base Percentage, Baseball Game, Baseball Junkies, Batting Average, Carlos Beltran, Choking On The Dust, Covert Ops, Drawback, Heretic, Horde, Kirby Puckett, Minded Crowd, Mutt, Old Kings, Park Factors, Slg, Stat Sheet, Triple Crown, Woba