The Hardball Times/Driveline Baseball

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Nerds........

[Cerebral_DownTime]

I got my own chart.

[dmiles]

Most extra-base hits were to oppo field now that outside corner is back in play.

Which could be a function of hand position and approach. Or where the right fielder (if he's a righty) is playing.

Gotta get the foot down and hips through regardless.

(sorry for the thread jack).... True often times they see a big swing and miss and rotate the OF around and at least one or two of the extra base hits were probably due to right swing at right time. Also mostly RCF not RF and his one homer was to dead center. (homers down massively this year in HS with BBCOR). We'll see today he was 0-2 with a walk against kids throwing around 88 MPH. Both solid grounder outs but a tad faster than we see day in day out but it looks like he'll adjust since this was the first scrimmage.

Foot down , that's the one thing we never talk about (getting the foot down) and we in fact do a hitting drill where we just move the front leg out of the way. Just my pet peeve heck our kids' coach says it all the time too and even though I don't teach it, my kids apparently doing it right since coach leaves him alone. Like most things people take a basic thing like you just said about getting foot down and turn a whole cottage industry into it and you see the high school kids reach out with the front foot put it down while pulling the hands back (some guys consider that separation) and it just looks so robotic. Too many kids setting the foot down flat and then swing. Guys get a hold of a Rudy Jaramillo CD and take it to the extreme I guess. The process of the hips clearing should be underway before the foot gets down as we see in two of the greatest below. You can download and watch frame-by-frame in quicktime, with your arrow keys. This is why all focus for us is that the beck leg must start to turn before you know if you are swinging, and well before the foot is weighted. Look I am not saying the front foot doesn't get weighted, I am saying your initial back leg turn should ideally be going before it weights. I say Shift as you swing, do not Shift then swing.



You can really see it in this clip of Bonds, and a Hamilton clip as well. If you notice the back leg knee in Bonds going down and in, that's evidence the rear leg has started to turn and thus the critical start in the swing. Otherwise his handpath would go out and around more and not stay inside the baseball.

[skatingtripods]

That is a ridiculous graph. Is it accurate?

If it is, it clearly shows the front side opening up too fast. His arm hasn't caught up and his release point is up and away. Masterson is taller, with an incredibly jerky delivery, and he appears to be much more consistent.

I imagine it's as accurate as the Pitch F/X software can get.

The site is literally overwhelming. It has trajectory data inning by inning, by pitch type, all the release point graphs, all kinds of shit. I don't really know how the Pitch F/X system works and gathers data, but I trust it.

[peeker643]

So.... anything else out there we find that illustrates maybe Ubaldo isn't the same guy today he was in 2010?

[skatingtripods]

So.... anything else out there we find that illustrates maybe Ubaldo isn't the same guy today he was in 2010?

Why, yes. There is.

Ubaldo release point graph 5/31/2010:



Ubaldo release point graph 4/15/2012:

[Jumbo]

That is a ridiculous graph. Is it accurate?

If it is, it clearly shows the front side opening up too fast. His arm hasn't caught up and his release point is up and away. Masterson is taller, with an incredibly jerky delivery, and he appears to be much more consistent.

I imagine it's as accurate as the Pitch F/X software can get.

The site is literally overwhelming. It has trajectory data inning by inning, by pitch type, all the release point graphs, all kinds of shit. I don't really know how the Pitch F/X system works and gathers data, but I trust it.

Several months ago, during one of the "Stats vs. Eyes" threads, I tried to make the point that the whole "debate" is going to become irrelevant, as over time the statistical will merge with the visual.

The kind of charting above is what I'm talking about.

[peeker643]

That is a ridiculous graph. Is it accurate?

If it is, it clearly shows the front side opening up too fast. His arm hasn't caught up and his release point is up and away. Masterson is taller, with an incredibly jerky delivery, and he appears to be much more consistent.

I imagine it's as accurate as the Pitch F/X software can get.

The site is literally overwhelming. It has trajectory data inning by inning, by pitch type, all the release point graphs, all kinds of shit. I don't really know how the Pitch F/X system works and gathers data, but I trust it.

Several months ago, during one of the "Stats vs. Eyes" threads, I tried to make the point that the whole "debate" is going to become irrelevant, as over time the statistical will merge with the visual.

The kind of charting above is what I'm talking about.

Probably true. The issue being you need only watch Jimenez and see what the stats tell you. Every time he takes the mound it's obvious. You may have to slow down the delivery to see it but you certainly don't the stats to see that. They just confirm what's obvious.

Same with no stats being needed on Shelly Duncan or Matt LaPorta or Johnny Damon's defensive abilities. They may confirm what you see but you don't need them to know the first two can't hit an offspeed pitch or anything on the outer half and Damon's defensive 'abilities' are on display nightly