Biomechanics can be complex, but it doesn’t have to be.
In honor of
#NationalBiomechanicsDay
I present everything we know about biomechanics in an easily digestible graphic.
This is why everyone throws 100 now FYI so use it wisely.
Enjoy!
You may hear on Twitter to just focusing on throwing your best pitch in the middle of the zone.
Listen to the PitchCom and hear no location calls on the changeup, with Barnes setting up middle & location on fastball calls.
50% CH whiff rate today
This is the way that MLB should lean into marketing.
A pitcher on the mound is going to try and throw the ball as hard as he can past you. A hitter is going to step in the box and swing to hit the ball as far as possible. Who's going to win?
HS Baseball Players
72 hour challenge:
• 5 am alarm
• 20 oz water
• 530 am - workout
• 630 am - full body stretch
• Shower
• Breakfast at school
• School - be alert - learn
• Practice (hit, throw, GBs, bands)
• ZERO gaming
• Bed by 9pm
Do it. Repeat. Win.
So driveline says you absolutely need bat speed. 108 says too much bat speed means you don’t have as much time in the hitting zone. 108 says force production is key. Latta says no shoulders and stay on a line - ignore bat speed. Choose your hitting philosophy wisely.
J.P. France Stuff+ numbers are now out on Fangraphs per
@enosarris
Overall (84 pitches) - 115 Stuff+
4-Seam (31) - 113
Curveball (18) - 127
Cutter (14) - 101
Slider (13) - 132
Changeup (8) - 96
An impressive first career start from the 28 year old righty!
#Astros
Super happy for Lorenzen. He assessed many years ago at Driveline, backed when I marked up athletes.
He ended up buying a bunch of athletes lunch and hanging around answering the questions they had.
Genuinely good guy.
Baseball twitter is great because 4-5 years ago people were arguing you couldn't develop velocity
Now the argument is that velocity development actually doesn't matter but the jokes on them because in 2021 it's illegal to throw slow
Ozzie had a STRONG reaction to Pedro Grifol's comments about "data and analytics"
"Those data/analytic guys, they're a bunch of nerds with computers telling people what to do and say. Those guys never played the game.
"Put the computer down, go downstairs and be a coach."
Smoltz saying 'Believe it or not, a lot of coaches use those numbers (vbreak & hbreak) to judge a pitch' is lowkey hilarious.
Ah, yes, um measuring how a pitch moves is an important quality to know
I haven’t been this fired up in a while. The man himself
@Berticushill
didn’t talk about nothin, just saddled the hell up, did the shit people are to lazy to do, and threw the piss out of some baseballs. From one NAIA guy to another. I’m happy to be your friend, I’m proud of you.
I don’t know if this is the best example but low stuff pitches can play a role in a pitchers arsenal if they’re thrown in the right count (with good command) looking for a take.
The Cubs are calling up LHP Luke Little from the
@IowaCubs
.
Little, a fourth round pick in 2020, went 5-2 with 105 strikeouts in 63.2 innings this season across three different levels.
The Braves have called up right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver, whom they drafted in 2021. He did not start pitching until the summer of 2020.
Now, he’s in the majors.
Ignores Brent Strom, Jerry Weinstein...
It's not old versus new or expertise versus not. It's whether you're willing to use your expertise and still learn new things.
Experienced
#MLB
managers, coaches, execs and scouts wonder why their expertise is no longer wanted while the most revered in other sports are Gregg Popovich, 70, of the
#Spurs
, Bill Belichick,67, of the
#Patriots
and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, 72.
Dave Flemming to Ken Griffey - do you know what your average launch angle was?
Ken Griffey- I don’t know and I don’t care, I just hit line drives that got out sometimes.
Real baseball.
Pretty happy to finally get this bad boy out
Weighted Baseball Training Affects Arm Speed without Increasing Elbow and Shoulder Joint Kinetics
TLDR (you should read it): pitching 3-7 oz results in arm speed changes,no change in elbow/shoulder torques
That last picture you see is a dedicated HP lab. Will have motion capture cameras setup as well as force plates for assessments/testing.
You can also see, we're getting a few more racks
Finally found a full clip.
Really should watch the whole thing but Jake Cave gos off on the first base ump for 10 seconds right after the ball goes out. Incredible energy
Underrated clip of Mike Trout doing this commercial (ya!) is that about 00:15--00:16 he seems to be sprinting with a 135lb (?) barbell on his back.
As one does apparently
Good quotes here from
@ArtOfBaseball
from
@JRFegan
RE: shutdowns. Underrated how much whats considered the consensus ‘safe’ option factors into a training plan, whether there is good evidence for it or not.
Nuance wins
The guy throwing 102. The *other* guy throwing 102. The Rule 5er. The ambidextrous P. The two guys you definitely didn't notice were great. The failed prospects diving into nerd numbers. The big-contract closer.
I am so interested in this
#SFGiants
'pen.
Word going around is that Madison Bumgarner is going to hit or get very close to the supposed $100M target figure. Intangibles over analytics. Many teams in.
"There's no baseball being taught"
A former Yankees prospect leaked some bizarre training methods being used in their minor league hitting approach.
Yankee fans will not be happy.
▶️
My bet is 99% of coaches complaining about bat flips would not give consequences to their best player if he did it.
You aren’t asking them to be respectful to baseball, you’re asking them to be respectful to your whims
Footballs in warmup are 👍 if you want
Funny because footballs weigh ~15 oz, the weight of popular plyoballs.
Also need to throw with a hand position similar to sliders.
Injuries are more intensity/volume than either of the above.
Pre-game show talking about the Dodgers homer surge and saying it's cause they're not "launch angle swings" and are hitting line drives in the air, lol. Uhhh.
For reference, when I started January 2016 Driveline had 8 employees.
8 -> 51 in three years and six months time.
Which doesn't include 10ish employees who worked at Driveline and left for pro ball jobs as coaches/analysts
Pretty simple stuff.
Shouldn’t be controversial (though sometimes might be on here) but the 🔑 is having a system to prioritize and improve them.
Baseball’s constraints can lead to some very straightforward directions on what players need to work on.
Random thoughts from this cool old video of Maddux
- that’s a big looping curve lol
- has a more pronounced hitch with his elbow really low at foot strike
- he’s throwing with some oomph? Got some effort behind it
- 2seam/CH don’t have the depth…yet