Smith 1 Weston Smith Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1102 September 22, 2013

The Science behind the Strikes The game of baseball is a very simple game. Throw the ball, catch the ball, and hit the ball. Pitching is also a very simple game as well; throw the ball in the strike zone. The money maker for a pitcher at any level is his throwing arm. Thus, the obvious assumption of the main focal point on what he wants to maintain strong and healthy is, of course, his throwing arm. Unlike softball, where the pitcher delivers the pitch in an underhand motion, baseball pitchers deliver the pitch in an unnatural; which causes a massive amount of torque and stress to the throwing shoulder and elbow, also very detrimental to a pitchers success . Why it is there are so very few major league pitchers in regards to all of the young adults who are a pitchers? Behind the simple fact of just throwing strikes, pitching is a very intricate process that only a select few can handle for the long, grueling one-hundred and sixty two game major league baseball season. That is why, according to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association, only 11.6 percent of all college baseball players go on to play baseball professionally. So that composes another question, what is this difficult and intricate process and why do so few college players make it to the professional level? Physical Specs The actual physique of a pitcher can say a whole lot about what he is capable of. The prototypical height of a pitcher in the major leagues is seventy four and forty six hundredths of an inch (roughly six feet and two inches) and the average weight is around two hundred and

Smith 2 eight pounds (Body Weight, Throwing Velocity, and Pitching Injuries: Interesting Parallels ). Generally speaking, the taller and heavier the pitcher then the harder he will throw. Most cases this is true, however, there are quite a few pitchers that defy that assumption. For an example, Tim The Freak Lincecum is five foot eleven and a generous one hundred and seventy pounds (probably soaking wet after Thanksgiving), his fastball has topped out at ninety nine miles per hour (Tim Lincecum). This is very out of the ordinary for a pitcher with that small of stature. At the other end of the spectrum, Jon Rauch is the biggest pitcher to ever pitch in the major leagues. Standing six foot eleven inches and weighing in at two hundred and ninety pounds only holsters an average fastball speed of ninety two miles per hour in 2008, which was the season where his fastball average was highest. So what explains this unusual phenomenon? Again, Ill tell you. It is a mixture of whose pitching mechanics are sounder and more efficient, and just God-given talent. For starting pitchers, the magic number for the amount of innings thrown over the course of a season is two-hundred. Ben Reiters article in an issue of this years Sports Illustrated Still Kickin It, discusses how long time Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo contrasted with his small, slender stature but still managed to throw two-hundred plus innings repeatedly when it seemed physically impossible. The unfortunate thing about pitching is there is no recipe for success. There is no book that says, if you do this, then you will be guaranteed a mid-nineties fastball. Pitching is one of those things where either you got it, or you dont. There is no two ways about it. Now with that being said, I am writing this paper about those who got it and what they do to aid them in their success as a pitcher. The Basics The art of pitching is not one of those things where you pick up a baseball as a young child and are destined to be a major league pitcher. Many young children you would think have
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Smith 3 a chance to play in the big leagues because they throw so much harder than everyone else in their age group and some older groups do not make it. More often than not, a child with a live arm (a baseball term that refers to a person who has a very strong arm the ball seems to explode out of their hand when released) loses his ability to throw hard because throwing a baseball is such an unnatural motion, the stress becomes more than the arm can handle causing the arm to break down. Big time velocity is often derived from a teen as he is going through puberty. The combination of the growth spurt and the movement of the growth plates somehow cause velocity to jump unusual amounts in just a short amount of time. Ty Buttrey, a Charlotte native and a member of the Boston Red Sox organization, is a prime example for the velocity jump during puberty. As a freshman in high school, Buttreys velocity was around eighty two to eighty six miles per hour. After an unexpected five inch growth spurt, his velocity jumped to ninety six miles per hour in just under two years (Ty Buttrey Is Master of a Rare Pitch). Pitching always begins in the legs and hips. Its science. Most think high velocity comes from a strong and powerful arm. A strong arm will help, but when the pitchers mechanics are smooth and sound the arm is pretty much just there to hold the baseball. Strengthening of the legs comes from intense lower body workouts in the weight room compounded with a variety of conditioning ranging from sprinting and long distance runs. The sprints allow the legs to be quick and explosive while the long distance allows for the legs to maintain the quickness and ability to explode for long periods of time. The stronger a pitchers legs are, the deeper or further into the game he can go into ball games without losing his command of the baseball. The major signs of fatigue in a pitchers legs are loss in fastball velocity and struggle to keep the ball in the lower third of the strike zone. Baseball is considered a year-round sport because of the

Smith 4 harsh punishment being done to the legs in the off season to assure performance and endurance during the season. The next vital point in the delivery is the balance point. The balance point is the point in the windup/stretch where the pitcher lifts his leg and when the leg is at its highest point. Balance is a key point in the delivery because this is where the body changes momentum and starts toward the plate, which requires extreme core strength. That brings me to my next point. A pitcher MUST have a strong core in order to be successful. A strong core allows the pitcher to maximize torque in the body and to increase the ability repeat mechanics from pitch one to pitch one hundred. Greg Maddux is arguably one of the greatest pitchers in major league baseball. You can take video of him from when he was twenty years old and from when he was playing his last year, put them side by side and his mechanics are the exact same every single pitch. Even when the videos are ten plus years different from one another. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte pitching coach, Brandon Hall, said that in a pitchers meeting about two weeks ago to stress the importance of maintaining the same mechanics each pitch. from pitch to pitch. The next stage of the delivery is known as the power position. The power position is when the pitcher comes out of his balance and is when his front foot hits the ground. In this position, the hips should be popped (rotated) so that they are squared up with home plate. The front and back shoulder should remain the same, or as point of reference, there should be a line going from back shoulder to front shoulder to the center of home plate. In this position the body will look like it is being twisted, which is good. This twist of the body is where the majority of the pitchers velocity is generated from during his delivery. Another point of reference pitching coaches across the nation, along with Brandon Hall, like to refer as hip and shoulder

Smith 5 separation. The science of pitching states that the further the hips can get rotated before the shoulders begin to rotate generates torque in the core which magnifies the energy transfer going into the baseball as it is being released. This information was acquired from Bryan Harvey, a retired major league pitcher who was a set-up man for the Anaheim Angels (plus a few other organizations). Every fall after high school football season ended I would get pitching lessons from Harvey once a week. I contribute all of my pitching talents to him for he is the one who molded me into the pitcher I am today. This man knows what he is talking about. He has two sons who pitch for minor league teams currently, the younger of the two was taken twenty second overall to the Baltimore Orioles in the 2013 draft. Remember the name Hunter Harvey, he will be in the big leagues one day. The last step of the delivery remains, which is the actual release of the baseball, the finish of the delivery, and the immediate transition from a pitcher to a fielder. Each pitcher is different in the release of the baseball (along with the whole delivery itself). No two pitchers are identical through the entire delivery. There are numerous amounts of release points (baseball term which refers to the hand/arm positioning once the baseball leaves the pitchers hand) that a pitcher can have, these are more commonly known as an arm slot. The three main arm slots for a pitcher are referred to as: straight over the top, three quarters, and side arm. Each pitcher either naturally develops their own arm slot, or is taught a certain arm slot to better the movement of the different pitches in their arsenal (baseball term referring to the selection/types of pitches the pitcher has to choose from). Each of these arm slots have slight angle variations in which the path the pitchers arm travels. When trying to distinguish what type of arm slot a pitcher throws from, first imagine he

Smith 6 is standing upright with his throwing arm straight out to the side parallel with the ground. The different arm slots are determined based on the angle his arm makes from his elbow to his hand. Straight over the top forms an angle of ninety degrees at the elbow. Three quarters forms a floating angle based at one hundred and thirty five degrees at the elbow. The sidearm angle forms a straight line from the hand to the individuals shoulder. Diversity of Pitchers Straight over the top is pretty self-explanatory and there is not much of a variation to this arm slot. This arm slot makes manipulating the spin of the baseball to alter the flight path and forcing the ball to move in a straight downward movement. Pitchers with this arm slot often have twelve-six curveballs (twelve-six representing numbers on the clock to indicate the start and stop point of the balls movement). This is a very difficult pitch to hit for the reason being the pitch looks identical to a fastball, and the movement is sharp, late, and drops straight down. The twelve-six curveball is a very deceiving pitch due to the fact it causes the batter to think fastball initially, which results in him being off balance and unprepared to hit the slower breaking ball. Another common pitch for pitchers with this arm slot is the sinker. The sinker is a fastball, but the pitcher alters his hand positioning at the very last second to change the rotation of the baseball causing the pitch to sink once it arrives to the plate. This pitch is very successful for a pitcher because the sinker has the same velocity as their fastball, but the ball drops in a ten-four movement pattern.

Smith 7 The three quarters arm slot is the most common arm slot. This arm slot has more variations than the other two. The two variations of this arm slot are known as a high three quarter and a low three quarter arm slot. This arm slot is appealing to pitchers. He has the ability to throw almost any pitch he desires because these slots allow the possibility of a wide variety of pitches to be thrown. Another appealing attribute to these arm slots is, even if the pitcher tips his pitches by releasing them in a slightly different spot from one another, it is almost impossible for the batter to pick it up. If a pitcher did this in an over the top arm slot, the batter would know what pitch is being thrown while the ball is still in the pitchers hand. This is a very bad thing if this happens. The main pitches the pitcher could utilize out of these arm slots would be a slider, cut-fastball, circle changeup, split-finger changeup, and splitter just to name a few. A slider is usually around five to seven miles per hour slower than the pitchers fastball. The movement on this pitch is very late and has a two to-eight angle of movement. The cut-fastball is similar to the slider except the velocity is only around two to three miles per hour off the pitchers fastball. The circle changeup gets its name from the shape of a circle is made with the thumb and index finger when gripping the baseball and has ten-four movement path. The three quarters arm slot is found commonly in starting pitchers and most left-handed pitchers. Countering all of the facts I just rattled out, there is a not stencil on how pitchers are or how they look. Lastly, the most uncommon arm slot in baseball is the sidearm arm slot. This arm slot is not as common as the others because in little league and youth leagues, coaches do not teach this arm slot because this arm slot is unhealthy for a childs arm that is not yet developed. This arm slot is taught to older pitchers typically in

Smith 8 college when the arm is developed to add some diversity in the bullpen. Pitchers with this arm slot mainly have situational or match up roles out of the bullpen. Rarely does a starting pitcher pitch with this arm slot. Randy Johnson is the only one that comes to mind of a starting pitcher having this low of an arm slot. It just so happens that Randy Johnson is also one of the best pitchers to ever play the game of baseball. I know, baseball is an odd game. The only variation of this arm slot is when the pitcher drops his arm under the one hundred and eighty degrees. These pitchers are referred to as submariners or knuckle scrappers. Pitchers with this arm slot are very rare and are prized possessions to any team that has one. From the name knuckle scrapper I can imagine you understand where these pitchers throw from and it actually is not that uncommon for pitchers who throw from down there to scrape their knuckles on the ground from time to time. I personally would not recommend, but if it works then it works.

Enter Sandman The information I just relayed to you is just a star in an entire galaxy called pitching. Although pitching is a simple game within a game, it is very complex at the same time. The expectations of pitchers at the major league level, even the college level are incredibly high. The pitching philosophy and expectation of the Charlotte pitching staff has been stated numerous times be able to hit a gnat on an ass cheek on command. That is a college expectation; the major league level expectations are multiplied compared to the collegiate level. Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing. Warren Spahn, Hall of Fame left handed pitcher.

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Works Cited Cressey, Eric. "Body Weight, Throwing Velocity, and Pitching Injuries: Interesting Parallels." Performance and Health On A Whole New Level. ESPN, 17 Aug. 2012. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. DiMichelle, Frank. "Balance Point." Striding for Perfection. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2013 Lichtman, Mitchel. "Tim Lincecum." FanGraphs. Baseball Info Solutions, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2013. Santoliquito, Joseph. "Ty Buttrey Is Master of a Rare Pitch." Max Preps. CBS Sports, 10 May 2012. Web. 22 Sept. 2013