[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]Maiden3.16 wrote:
[quote]on edge wrote:
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]on edge wrote:
[quote]Maiden3.16 wrote:
There are plenty people that throw 85+ with a less than “mechanically-sound” delivery. Tim Lincecum and Kevin Appier to name a few. Teams care more about results than whether someone is “mechanically-sound.” No way would a team want someone with Lincecum’s build and delivery if he didn’t have 95mph heat to back it up. I believe the claim Sheen threw 85.
[/quote]
Off the top of my head I would say Tim Lincecum has the BEST mechanics I have ever seen. Regardless of weather there are a few others out there with better mechanics, everyone who knows baseball would describe his delivery as fantastic. [/quote]
Lincecum does indeed have good mechanics. I think it’s a stretch to say that he has the BEST mechanics (I think Cliff Lee and Matt Cain have some of the best mechanics in the game), but they are very good. Even when his landing foot comes down, technically he isn’t really in a great position to throw, regarding his throwing arm, but he compensates with his huge stride toward the plate and the fact that he can keep his lead shoulder pointed toward the hitter for so long. So even though his arm is “late” the rest of his body allows for it to drag a little behind by providing extra torque that helps pull the arm through with less strain than it would otherwise.
[/quote]
The only thing I’d like to see different from Lincecum is a little shorter stride but with still having the excessive jump he has off the rubber. This would allow him to have a little more rotational force around a stiffer front leg. I think his is bent a little too much (Professor X, this is a baseball discussion if you’re starting to get a little uncomfortable hearing words like ‘bent’ and ‘stiffer’ being use together) but what the hell do I know I’m sitting at this desk and he’s Tim Fucking Lincecum.
I checked a video of Matt Cain. His delivery is a carbon copy of TL except his stride is a normal length and he doesn’t leap off the rubber.
[/quote]
I never said Lincecum did not have the best machanics. For someone of his size ans stature to throw a 95+ heater you have to have mechanics that allow you tt transfer nearly every ouce of weight into the baseball. Is that regard, yes he may well have the best mechanics.
What I said was that he is not “mechanically sound” in the way coaches teach mechanics. VERY few coaches actually teach someone to counter-rotate as far as Lincecum and begin opening up the hips before footplant. My point was that someone saying that Sheen can’t throw 85 because they are not “mechanically sound” is bullshit, because mechanics are justified by the result, and mechanics are subjective for most.[/quote]
You have no clue what you are talking about.
Lincecum’s hips open up at the right time and pitching coaches teach to lead with the hip as you drive down the mound and toward the plate. If you do this, when the hips open up doesn’t matter that much as long as it isn’t super early or super late, neither of which Lincecum is. As far as counter-rotation, pitching coaches don’t teach that because of the extreme athletic ability required to do so, and if you CAN do so, then you should, because it is mechanically-sound.
There are plenty of pitcher out there with good mechanics that aren’t taught. Kevin Brown, Lincecum and Appier all had/have unorthodox mechanics that aren’t taught because most people don’t have the natural throwing motion to match that sort of motion. Pitching coaches teach certain cues and so forth that fit within the framework of a pitcher’s natural throwing motion.
If you look at virtually every pitcher in the bigs who has had some sustained success and an injury-free career, they may all have different motions, but there are certain things that are common amongst them all, and these are sound mechanics. They may execute them differently, but they all have balance during their legkick, they all separate their hands at a time and in a position that allows them to make their natural arm circle and get into the proper throwing slot in a natural way. Their strides are all typically about their body length and they all typically lead with the front hip. Some stand pretty upright and other really drop and drive toward the plate, but they all use this motion to generate momentum toward the plate.
As far as your comment about getting drafted on results, you’re an idiot. Of course a team is going to draft a guy throwing 95 with poor mechanics rather than a guy with good mechanics who throws 85. 85 isn’t even going to get you drafted and the only guy with an 80mph fastball who I can think of who was ever drafted high in recent memory is Noah Lowry, who I played with in college. If you throw 95 with bad mechanics and someone else throws 95 but with good mechanics, a team is going to take the guy with good mechanics every time and not put a whole lot of focus on results. That’s why Gerritt Cole was drafted first this year despite having a mediocre season at UCLA. He throws hard, but he also has great mechanics. Strasburg was an iffy pick in the sense that he had flawed mechanics that the Washington Nationals should have fixed much earlier. They didn’t and now their investment is tenuous. After guys like Kerry Wood and Mark Prior and now Strasburg, there is a renewed focus on mechanics and when Strasburg comes back you’ll see that his mechanics will be noticeably different.[/quote]
Ofcoerse the Nationals aren’t going to fuck with Strasburgs mechanics. BECAUSE OF THE FUCKING RESULTS HE GOT. Did the RedSox fuck with Pedro’s or the Giants fuck with Lincecum’s? No, becuase they get the desired results, enough said. I guarantee a most scouts would rather have a guy with a bad ass heater, who gets fucking results, whether or not he had “good Mechanics” than guy with a 95 heater that doesn’t get results but has “good mechanics.” Doesn’t matter anyway, because both will get drafted. If you throw 95 and can locate and get guys out, THERE IS NO WAY a scout can justify to the team not to draft you because of your “bad” machanics.
