After setting a record with four consecutive pitchers atop the 2011 draft board, the next group of teams chilled out on the arms and went searching for bats, with just one of the next seven picks hailing from the mound. The light switched back on with pick #12, and a total of 13 pitchers were chosen in a 17-pick span from the mid to late first round.

The second set of four pitchers from the 2011 draft represented numbers 7, 12, 14, and 15 overall. The cuatro featured a blend of high school and college players, yet they all fit the mold of the “ideal” pitcher’s frame, ranging from 6′3” to 6′6” and weighing in around 220 pounds. In fact, these four hurlers were all within 5 pounds of the 220 mark, and within 10 pounds of each other.

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#7 Archie Bradley, RHP, High School

Bradley was the D’Backs’ second pick of the first round, due to the compensation for failing to sign last year’s #6 pick, pitcher Barett Loux. Arizona double-dipped pitchers by following the choice of Trevor Bauer with the selection of Bradley, and though the D’Backs went both barrels on the mound, the players that they selected differ in age, experience, size, and approach. Similar to fellow high school hurler Dylan Bundy, Bradley is considered “polished” for his age and a “projectable arm” from the high school ranks given his ideal frame, whereas Bauer is a mini-“Freak” with an unorthodox style and a UCLA pedigree.

The mlb.com footage for Bradley is similar to the clips on MLB Network, with in-game video that includes warm-up tosses in addition to a couple of full speed deliveries. His postural stabilization appears to be solid at first glance, as Bradley finishes in a strong position, but freezing the video reveals a considerable spine tilt just prior to release point. The movement is subtle, and serves as an example of how our eyes can sometimes fool us when watching the game at full speed. The other aspects of Bradley’s delivery are just as difficult to grade, based on the apparent difference between his fastball mechanics and those of his breaking ball.

The video from mlb.com includes a set of pitches from an angle behind home plate, followed by a set of pitches from the first base side. All of the front-view pitches are curveballs, on which Bradley displays modest momentum and stride; yet the side-view clips appear to be fastballs based on the arm speed, exaggerated momentum and increase in stride length. The discrepancy is blatant, such that his in-game breaking ball mechanics were even slower than his fastball delivery on warmup pitches. It is not uncommon for a young pitcher to have off-speed body language when throwing off-speed pitches, but it is an issue that will need to be remedied long before Bradley reaches the majors.

On the plus side, Bradley exhibits consistent timing of the rotational elements of the delivery, and his strong balance and high leg lift provide the basis for high future grades with respect to posture and stride, each of which has a ripple effect on release point distance. Archie also has a closed stride that acts as another obstacle in achieving optimal extension at release point, and he struggles to “finish” a pitch due to releasing the baseball before his shoulders have squared up to the target.

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#12 Taylor Jungmann, RHP, Texas

The Brewers had two of the next four picks, with the second selection coming as compensation for their failure to sign last year’s 14^th overall pick, Dylan Covey. Their first choice was Texas right-hander Taylor Jungmann, whose mlb.com “video” resorts back to the panning picture technique, with the unwelcome addition of a running commentary that amounts to little more than a chain of pitching cliches. The pictures are minimally informative, giving us a glance at a couple of pitch grips and then topping it off with an intimidation shot of Jungmann that was taken just after release point. MLB Network makes up the difference with a trio of pitches from his game action at Texas, though the fact that all three offerings were curveballs opens up a box of caveats, (exemplified by Archie Bradley).

Jungman is tall at 6′6”, and he remains upright to the point of being a bit stiff through much of the delivery. He also features a late posture change that is subtle, like that of Bradley, though not as extreme. The Texas righty has a “smooth” but slow delivery from first movement to foot strike, with little momentum resulting in a very short stride for a pitcher of his size. He displays excellent hip-shoulder separation that is the direct result of his delay of upper body rotation after foot strike, which allows the hips to rotate and further increases torque.

Jungmann takes some advantage of his height with respect to creating downward plane, though he exhibits a trade off by sacrificing some posture to create an artificially high arm slot. The strategy helps to add depth to the curveball, but it also limits the right-hander’s extension at release point. One potential red flag is that Jungmann appears to spin the curveball with a twist of the wrist near release point, and though it is impossible to determine with any certainty on a 32 fps video feed, there is certainly some type of manipulation of the pitch beyond typical supination. I would need to see some fastballs to make a fair comparison, but I can’t imagine that his heater involves the same arm action.

Twister curves are lethal to a pitcher’s arm, as plenty of unknowing Little Leaguers have learned over the last couple decades. Further, a manipulated curve ball is typically easy to read, as it often traces a different trajectory out of hand than a supinated curve, and is also easy to distinguish from a fastball flight path. Jungmann appears to avoid the latter issue, as his curve does not follow the typical path of a twister, but the injury risk remains when throwing a twisted pitch. The Brewers better hope that the kid can make some adjustments without sacrificing the effectiveness of his most potent weapon.

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#14 Jose Fernandez, RHP, High School

The Marlins have a geographical advantage with respect to scouting Fernandez, who has been pitching in Tampa since his arrival from Cuba two years ago. MLB Network’s coverage swung and missed on the footage for Fernandez, as the only available clips involved warmup tosses with the right-hander playing catch on flat ground, so it was refreshing to find that mlb.com had some in-game video. Fernandez is raw, with shaky balance throughout the delivery that results in rough posture and inconsistency at release point. He exhibits some “violence” in the pitching motion, to the point that some pitches look like he is just rearing back and throwing rocks, foregoing accuracy for the sake of velocity.

Fernandez starts off slowly, but it is a point in his favor that first movement is directed toward the target. He points the glove toward the sky and rears back as he approaches foot strike, and the delivery explodes from its slumber after the front foot hits the ground. When comparing the warmup footage on the MLB Network with the in-game clips from mlb.com, Fernandez stands out as a poignant example of a pitcher that can put together an efficient delivery in the bullpen, but who struggles to harness his mechanics when playing at full speed, which tends to become a problem when the adrenaline is pumping and the game is on the line.

There were four pitches from a live game, and Fernandez’s posture was brutal on three of them. The only decent delivery came on a breaking ball, which had much slower body language and arm speed than the hard stuff, effectively telegraphing the pitch with a greater discrepancy than Archie Bradley. I predict that Fernandez will profile best in the bullpen unless he can make a drastic change to his mechanical repertoire.

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#15 Jed Bradley, LHP, Georgia Tech

Milwaukee found themselves in a similar position as Arizona, possessing two picks in the top 15 and having already selected a moundsman with their top selection, and the Brew Crew continued the mimicry by taking their second arm of the draft. The Brewers hammered the point home by selecting a player with the exact same surname as the #2 choice of the D’Backs, thus erasing any doubts that GM Doug Melvin was sneaking a peak at Kevin Towers’ notes during class. Jed Bradley is distinguished by his left-handedness as well as his college pedigree, not to mention an extremely high intrinsic arm slot that allows the southpaw to generate heavy downward plane without sacrificing posture.

The picture collage at mlb.com shows a few aspects, such as height of leg lift and a solid glove position, but the MLB Network provided the precious in-game footage from Bradley’s time at Georgia Tech. JB has average momentum in the early phases of the delivery, despite a “stop at the top” of his motion in which he pauses as the lift leg reaches its apex. The momentum never really gets going beyond cruise control, and the resulting stride is mediocre at best. He has good posture that is above average for a lefty; many portsiders develop bad habits due to coaches that try to minimize platoon splits with an unnatural elevation of arm slot, but such an adjustment is unnecessary in his case.

Bradley’s balance is hampered by some early head drift, followed by a “drop and drive” delivery in which he lowers his center of gravity between maximum leg lift and foot strike. He also likes to “tuck the glove” by pulling the mitt into the body as he goes from maximum external rotation of the throwing arm into release point, underscoring the level of conventional coaching wisdom that Bradley has received throughout his baseball life. He and the rest of the pitchers in this particular Four of a Kind share the mechanical trait of superior timing with respect to shoulder rotation, though the warning lights are flashing due to a slight “inverted W” and an associated scapular load, as he tests the boundary between form and function.

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(Author’s Note: I hate typing the line, “compensation for failure,” but MLB has created a system that rewards teams for wasting a draft pick, and opens the window for some clubs to abuse that system. It’s no wonder that the agents wait until the final weekend to squeeze every last bit of leverage that remains in their power to negotiate.)

The 2011 Draft was absolutely loaded with pitching, and for the first time in the history of the event, each of the top four selections were moundsmen. As a group, the 2011 draftees had unparalleled depth with regard to upside, stuff, and mechanics. The first three choices were of the college variety, while #4 Dylan Bundy was tabbed by some as “the most polished high school pitcher in years.” Of course, “polished” is another one of those scout-speak terms with a loose definition, but the implication is that Bundy’s delivery is very advanced for a pitcher his age.

Last year, I broke down the top drafted pitchers by utilizing the excellent scouting videos at mlb.com, which included in-game footage from the athletes’ amateur ballgames, including radar gun readings for velocity. The videos at mlb.com have taken a severe hit in quality this year, and very few of the clips contain game footage; many of the clips are nothing more than a handful of pictures that are slow-panned for dramatic effect. The few videos that contain actual footage are mostly taken from bullpen sessions, and many pitchers look great in the ‘pen only to see the wheels come off when they get on the big bump at center stage. It requires real game footage to assess a player’s true momentum, balance, posture, stride, and more.

With mlb.com falling short this season, I had to look elsewhere, and the MLB Network was happy to oblige. The televised draft coverage had game clips for high school pitchers as well as collegians, providing the opportunity for a more thorough analysis, despite having just a couple of pitches to study. Unfortunately, the TV footage is not available online, which makes it tougher for my loyal readers to follow along. With this in mind, each pitcher’s breakdowns will reference the mlb.com videos (available here) in addition to the live coverage on MLB network.

Given the lack of resources, I’m offering a quicker rundown of the top drafted pitchers, with some notes on what I saw in that limited exposure. Drink it up with large grains of salt, and you will notice that the grades for mechanics are missing, as the footage was too limited for me to do much better than a dart-throw on the grades for each hurler.

I figure there’s no better place to start than at the top, so let’s begin by taking a look at the four pitchers that made history last week.

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#1 Gerrit Cole, RHP, UCLA

The video on mlb.com is just about worthless, as ¾ of the airtime is consumed by his rubberband workout regimen and his slow walk off the field before a game for Team USA. We do get two pitches from the bullpen at 80% effort, but I’ve seen plenty of players that could put on a mechanics clinic in the ‘pen, only to watch everything fall apart once the ump yells, “play ball!” It’s like the hitter that puts on a power display in batting practice, but fails to coordinate his swing against live pitching. 

The Draft coverage on MLB Network was much more informative, and the game footage supported all of the positive points from his bullpen session. Cole has decent momentum and he strides directly toward the target, but the part of his delivery that caught my attention occurs during the second half of the motion. After foot strike, Cole generates tremendous rotational velocities that result in a lightning-quick arm, thanks to a strong delay of shoulder rotation combined with a huge upper body load prior to firing his bullets. He finishes with excellent posture and a ¾ arm slot, which is a vast improvement over his delivery when he was first drafted by the Yankees in the first round of 2008. During the telecast, Harold Reynolds pointed out the improvement, though he took it from an angle that is rarely heard around the halls of Baseball University; he claimed that the lower arm slot helped Cole’s stuff and effectiveness. Shockingly, Reynolds was not referring to improved control, and video footage underscored his point with the devastating arm-side run of his fastball being put on full display. The analysts kept saying that Cole had the “best stuff in the draft,” but the early returns suggest that he might have the best mechanics, as well.

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#2 Danny Hultzen, LHP, Virginia

The mlb.com footage is limited to snapshots of the left-handed Hultzen, and the close zoom angle prevents the viewer from seeing more than just a couple of minor details. They do allow us to see that Hultzen has balanced arm angles as he approaches foot strike, and that he uses more of his hips than his shoulders in order to to create torque, indicated by a belt buckle that is turning toward the plate long before the start of upper-body rotation. The final picture shows Hultzen during the later phases of the delivery, just before he reaches maximum external rotation of the throwing arm, which is a long way of mentioning the point at which the forearm appears to lay back before snapping forward into release point. It’s too bad that the dramatic zoom-and-pan technique prevents us from seeing more of his throwing arm on what appears to be a heavily-pronated changeup.

The MLB Network coverage showed that Hultzen directs his momentum straight at the target, though the magnitude of that momentum is just mediocre, resulting in a relatively short stride. The southpaw has very solid posture, which is rare for a lefty, as well as a strong glove position near release point. His delivery fits the “smooth, clean” mold that makes scouting directors drool like a Pavlovian dog. However, it appears that Hultzen fails to get extension on his release point, due to a relatively early release in addition to the modest stride and momentum. His hip-shoulder separation is far from elite, and he uses a sharp hip-turn to trigger much of his rotational velocity. Hultzen is also one of those closed-striding left-handers that appear to pitch around a corner, similar to the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner, and he creates a fierce angle on left-handed batters.

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#3 Trevor Bauer, RHP, UCLA

Bauer’s mlb.com “video” is another slide show of pictures, the first of which looks like a yearbook photo. The other pictures are actually informative, and the first real photo provides a great look at his outstanding momentum, which is indicated by the distance that his center-of-mass has traveled toward the plate. The distance is considerable for this early phase of the delivery (just after leg lift and the breaking of the hands), and this heavy momentum is at the center of the Tim Lincecum comparisons that have been showered on the Bruin right-hander. One can also see that Bauer maintains his balance as he generates momentum, which can be viewed by watching how his head is centered above the navel, which serves as an approximation for his center of mass. The next picture displays his early upper-body load, as he rotates the shoulder-axis clockwise prior to reaching foot strike. The pictures that follow include one taken after foot strike, and another in which the comparisons to Tim Lincecum come full circle thanks to a huge posture change that Bauer uses to “get on top of the ball.” The poor posture is a potential injury risk as well as an obstacle to achieving consistency at release point, particularly for a pitcher that generates such a vast amount of kinetic energy. The later pictures demonstrate an enormous stride, and a hip-shoulder separation that is heavy on the shoulders and light on the hips, though the result is a ton of torque.

The draft coverage hammered home the Tim Lincecum comparisons, and Peter Gammons provided the added background detail that Bauer is a huge fan of the Giant CY winner. Bauer’s motion is clearly influenced by the Linecum model, with the same clockwise hip-turn as he reaches maximum leg lift, followed by Timmy’s trademark stride and momentum and finishing with the same approach of “get on top.” However, Bauer’s strengths are less exaggerated than those of Timmy, while his postural weakness is worse than that of his long-haired predecessor. I am not yet ready to crown him as the second coming of “the Freak,” but his aggressive delivery and unique workout regimen have certainly put Bauer on the radar.

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#4 Dylan Bundy, RHP, High School

Bundy’s mlb.com video was the first of the top four picks that included actual game footage, which was a welcome sigh of relief from the rusty bells and whistles that comprised the other selections. The first thing I noticed was a high leg kick that was pulled straight from Trevor Hoffman’s storage closet, right down to the exaggerated toe point. Bundy doesn’t reach the lift height of Hoffman, but he could get there with a couple years of professional conditioning to amp up his functional strength and flexibility. Bundy does not have great momentum, but he does a good job of initiating movement toward the plate, so there is much room for improvement. The right-hander has a very upright spine during the early phases of his delivery, and though strong posture is an asset, Bundy appears to be very stiff prior to foot strike. Of course, the key is to have strong posture near release point, but Bundy’s spine angle goes to hell after foot strike, which places a big question mark on the legitimacy of his “polish.” Granted, it was only a couple pitches, but one would think that a pitcher with such “polish” would be able to hit the catcher’s target during warm-ups.

The Draft coverage further substantiated the fact that Bundy has a ways to go before catching up to his top-4 contemporaries. The analysts claimed that “everyone loves his mechanics,” but at least one skeptic is sitting here typing with doubt. His release point consistency is hampered by a late posture change, with considerable head movement to the glove side. What is deceiving to the eye is that Bundy finishes without any spin-off to the glove side, and he appears to tighten up and pause during the follow-through in order to keep himself from “falling off the mound.” While visually pleasing, this strategy acts to functionally halt his natural progression. One incredibly strong asset is Bundy’s hip-shoulder separation, which helps him to crank triple-digit heaters thanks to well-delayed shoulder rotation and a huge upper-body load. He also has great glove stabilization, but the positive points are overshadowed by poor dynamic balance and shady posture, with a head that trails his center-of-mass and jerks to the glove side near the end of the delivery. His stuff is impressive, and nobody will doubt the fastball, but his manipulated curveball has a huge hump that batters can pick up early in the flight path, and the pitch will likely be crushed at the upper levels. Bundy does have a rhythmic swaying motion to his delivery, which lends to the “polished” label, but I have to disagree with Peter Gammons’ assertion that the kid “repeats his delivery.”

Ole Miss left-hander Drew Pomeranz was anointed the title of “top college arm” in a draft that was shallow in southpaws, landing him in Cleveland at #5 overall as the second pitcher off the board. Solid and projectable, Pomeranz was seen as a safe choice that could reach the majors quickly, in contrast to the risk/reward of a younger player like Jameson Taillon. In fact, the pre-draft profiles for these two hurlers could not be much more different.

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Drew Pomeranz

LHP, 6’5”, 235 lbs, Ole Miss

Pick #5 overall, Cleveland Indians

The disparity extends to mechanics, as Taillon and Pomeranz are night and day when it comes to how they deliver a baseball. We get some different angles for the scouting video of Pomeranz at mlb.com (found here), with a camera behind the plate and some views from each baseline. There are also a few warm-up pitches to dodge before getting to the good stuff.

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First Movement to Foot Strike

Pomeranz has a motion that starts out polished, with steady balance as he gets into max leg lift. The left-hander also does a great job of directing his linear momentum toward the plate immediately from the setup position, which can be seen with the side view starting at 0:17 into the clip. Everything from first movement to maximum leg lift is mechanically sound.    

The delivery begins to unravel as Pomeranz approaches foot strike. His momentum takes a hit after max leg lift, and the lefty fails to capitalize on the strong elements earlier in the kinetic chain. The result is a stride that is shorter than one would expect from a pitcher with such impressive early momentum. The progression for Pomeranz is the exact opposite of Jameson Taillon, who starts off shaky before gathering balance and momentum as he hits his stride.

Pomeranz does exhibit good tightrope balance with opposite and equal arm angles into foot strike, though his method of finding opposite-and-equal is unique.

I rarely focus on arm action, given an adherence to the concept of, “the arm belongs to the pitcher.” It is also very difficult to assess the throwing arm using standard video, because the arm is moving much too fast for the eyes to catch up. That said, Pomeranz’s arm action is such that it needs to be addressed, with a funky PS arm that looks like something straight out of a George Clinton video.

Pomeranz pronates his throwing arm extremely early in the pitch sequence, beginning when the hands separate after max leg lift. Pronation refers to how the arm rotates or twists. To see for yourself, hold out your arms with palms facing downward, and then rotate the forearms so that the thumbs point toward the ground (like turning a doorknob).

Every pitcher experiences pronation at some point in the delivery. It’s a biomechanical inevitability that a pitcher’s arm will pronate after release point on every pitch, as a safety mechanism. The opposite of pronation is supination (rotate thumbs toward the sky), a karate chop motion that is a key component of most breaking pitches. 

Early pronation is common on changeups, and is necessary for a pitcher that throws a circle change. Pomeranz does have an effective circle change in his arsenal, but nearly every pitch that he throws features early pronation, and the degree of pronation varies based on pitch type.

The unusual technique could be a natural aspect of Pomeranz’s signature, though it is difficult to ascertain from a handful of pitches on 32 fps video, and in the footage it appears that he is manipulating the early pronation beyond signature.

The worry here is with the curveball, which requires supination to be executed properly. The curveball is already a physically demanding pitch, due to the amount of pronation necessary to rotate the arm out of its supinated position after release point. If Pomeranz is beginning with a pronated forearm before supinating the curveball, then the arm is doing a lot of extra work while complicating the pitch sequence.

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Foot Strike to Release Point

Pomeranz uses more of his upper body to generate torque and velocity, creating solid hip-shoulder separation despite a modest hip-turn.

The delivery gets progressively worse as Pomeranz continues down the kinetic chain. The slowed momentum takes away from his ability to track toward the plate after foot strike, and outstanding balance falls apart as Pomeranz tilts his head and spine severely to the glove side.

The posture is of particular concern. The lefty contorts his spine like he’s trying to dodge a bullet in the Matrix, bending like the head of a hockey stick by the time he releases the baseball. Pomeranz has probably been encouraged throughout his career to “get on top of the ball,” and it’s clear that that he is physically altering his natural balance to achieve a higher arm slot.

Many pitching coaches place a heavy emphasis on the angle of an incoming pitch from the point of view of opposing hitters. Pitchers are encouraged to adjust their natural deliveries to create that angle, and the prevailing instruction is to throw over-the-top.

The goal of throwing over-the-top is to generate downhill plane, resulting in more groundballs and minimizing the platoon advantage of off-handed hitters. It’s the corollary to the idea that guys with low arm slots have heavy platoon splits.

Left-handed starters are specifically targeted for downhill plane, due to the preponderance of right-handed hitters they have to face. There are about 65% more right-handed batters in the majors than there are lefties, according to The Book, and opposing managers are notorious for stacking the lineup against left-handed starting pitchers.

In general, breaking balls are tougher on like-sided hitters, while off-speed pitches are more effective when facing bats from the opposite side. The changeup is thus a key pitch for southpaw starters.

There’s not much debate to this concept, but what often gets overlooked is the necessary mechanical tradeoff of creating angle on hitters. Postural stabilization is one of the most critical variables in the mechanical efficiency equation, and sacrificing posture to create angle raises a variety of red flags.

Poor posture is a precursor to injury, which is reason enough to seriously question the balance of pros and cons with an over-the-top delivery. On the mound, an unstable posture typically leads to an inconsistent release point, throwing a wrench into pitch command and control. The inappropriate head movement also costs a pitcher distance on his release point, and spine tilt as extreme as that of Drew Pomeranz can cost the pitcher up to 5 mph of perceived velocity. That’s the brief version, but we go much more in-depth on the issue in “Arm Action” (shameless plug).

The release point distance is restricted due to the combination of poor posture, a moderate stride, and a soft glove. Pomeranz has a funky glove that mimics the throwing arm, pronating the GS arm so that the mitt points toward the ground, rather than swiveling the glove palm-up. Pomeranz stabilizes the glove out in front, though he lets it swing wide compared to an ideal position over the front foot.

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Grades

Balance                                    45

Momentum                               50

Stride                                         50

Hip-Shoulder Separation      55

Posture                                     35                   

Glove Position                         45

Repetition                                 40

GPA: 45.7

The individual grades for Pomeranz reflect a stark contrast from those of Jameson Taillon, despite their similar GPA’s. Pomeranz hovers close to the middle of the bell curve for nearly every measure, whereas Taillon drifts toward the extremes.

Pomeranz does not have anything that grades out as exceptional, and only his hip-shoulder separation appears to be above average. The strongest mechanical points are his balance and momentum during the earliest phase of the delivery, but those grades are tempered due to poor adjustments after max leg lift, resulting in average marks overall.  

The left-hander also struggles with his repetition, with pitch-by-pitch variations in mechanics, timing, and sequencing. For example, the degree of spine tilt differs on every pitch, as does the time that Pomeranz initiates the posture change. In the scouting video, head movement begins prior to foot strike on most of the off-speed pitches, but it doesn’t kick in until after foot strike for the fastballs.

The result is an inconsistent release point, which explains the poor walk rate at Ole Miss this season (4.4 BB/9). The pitch-specific tendencies will also function to tip his pitches against advanced hitters, and Pomeranz will need to improve his timing consistency in order to succeed at the highest level.

Pomeranz has room for improvement across the board, but he lacks the raw components to reach the ceiling of a player like Taillon. Pomeranz is physically more mature, but he has much further to go in order to achieve elite-level mechanics, and will likely never match Taillon’s current grades for hip-shoulder separation or posture. Taillon has a slightly higher mechanics GPA now, and is likely to expand that gap over the next few years.

Taillon is the easier project, from a coach’s standpoint. Improved conditioning and a couple of early mechanical tweaks will shore up his weak links, whereas Pomeranz will need to make more dramatic adjustments to his delivery, even if the arm funk is left untouched. The college product has mechanics that have been hard-wired through experience, and it will be a greater challenge for him to realize improvements.

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The Pomeranz delivery begins as a work of art, but it ends up a dilapidated mess. The arm funk might be the least of his worries, and it’s surprising that his draft stock was not impacted by the odd arm action. Teams typically stray away from anything unorthodox, especially when it comes to pitchers. I am less than optimistic about his chances to quickly climb the minor league ladder, and though he has the potential to make some substantial improvements, there are steep steps to climb before he gets there.