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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Dissecting the pitching mechanics of "The Freak"


Given his flexibility and relative strength, some of this is going to be difficult for any other person to execute save an elite athlete. The caveat "Do not try this at home" should be attached to any article describing "The Freak" and his pitching methodology. It is amazing to me that pitching coaches across the country will try to implement some of these methods with kids of all sizes, shapes and conditioning levels. But great results spawn many imitators. I imagined an epidemic of groin pulls among youth pitchers across the nation. I guess you have to start somewhere with a model, but what you see here is the end product of years of development, rather than a starting point.

The Baseball Evolution article I believe is a synopsis of an interview with Timmy's dad, who helped him develop his unique approach.  Hopefully, Timmy will be practicing and perfecting his craft for the Giants for years to come. Like Brian Wilson, he will look strange in another uniform.

Having said that, here it goes:

RHP Tim Lincecum pitching mechanics



from Popular Mechanics:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/sports/baseball/the-physics-of-the-freak

They call him The Freak.


"The ability to throw a 95 mph fastball has to do more with proper mechanics than size," says Alan Nathan, professor emeritus of Physics at the University of Illinois. "It begins with the legs and works its way up in a kinetic chain, transferring energy from big muscles to smaller ones. It's like cracking a whip." 
The most obvious characteristic of Lincecum's motion is his exceptionally long stride toward home plate. Most pitchers around six feet tall will make a stride that's about five feet long. Lincecum's is over seven feet long. A long stride is advantageous because it maximizes the amount of power a pitcher can generate. But it can also be problematical because a pitching motion can get out of sync as the pitcher's upper body moves faster than his lower body. 

Which leads to a less obvious touchstone of Lincecum's motion. He is remarkably flexible in his torso. Just before he releases the ball, Lincecum's hips have already moved to face the hitter. His belt buckle is aimed at home plate while his shoulders are still facing the third baseman. This contortionist-like flexibility allows Lincecum to get more power out of his lower body than just about any other pitcher. 

Just as important, Lincecum is a true master of disguise. Pitch FX data compiled by major league baseball shows that the two-time Cy Young Award winner uses exactly the same release point for all his pitches—his fastball, his knee-buckling curve, his devastating changeup, and his newly revitalized slider. This means that the hitter has to wait until the ball starts moving to identify the pitch. As the Braves proved in that playoff game, that can be almost impossible. 

from baseballevolution.com:
http://baseballevolution.com/richard/chrislincecum.html
Here's a breakdown of Tim's pitches I sent a columnist back in April 2006: 

He throws two, two-seamed fastballs and a four-seamed (averaging between 94 and 98 constantly). 

1.) One of the two-seamed are with his fingers on top or just on the left side of the closest separation of the seams which sinks and fades to the right of the plate (toward a right-handed hitter). 

2.) The other two-seamed fastball is with his finger-tips (index and middle finger) on the top of the top parallel seam (where the seams are closest to each other) which rises when thrown. 

3.) The four seam is where his finger-tips are touching the top of the seam where the seams are farthest apart of the ball. It tales a little left or right but stays on plain parallel to the ground and is easier to control and Tim feels it's what they call a heavy ball. 

He has two hard breaking curve-balls: His bread and butter which he's thrown since he was about 8 years old. His body mechanics are the same with his breaking balls as it is with his fastballs. The key to having a sharp-breaking curve is the amount of spins and always using a fast arm speed created by using total body whipping mechanics (and a soft grip just like he throws every pitch-What I show anybody that wants to know is that when you hold a ball too firmly the wrist tightens up and end of the whip never takes place. This usually causes sore arms in the bicep and elbow). 

The mechanics he uses along with maintaining core muscle strength (and most important the small muscle strength) is why he can throw for so long, while still maintaining his velocity late in his games (even after throwing 125+ pitches). The small muscles are the wrists, elbow, shoulder, lower-back, groin, and around the knee and ankles.... 

1.) The so-called 12/6 curve is held with the index and middle-finger close together with the index touching and on the left part parallel to the seams when they are closest together on the ball. Pulling the ball down on the same plane as his arm (and "letting" the ball release as apposed to forcing the ball with a snapping wrist so the ball rolls off his fingers). The angle of his shoulders is the key to the direction of the break. 

2.) The 2/8 so-called curve has been my favorite and is the first Tim learned and actually breaks twice (over to the left toward a left-handed batter and down). It's held basically the same as the 12/6 but is deeper in his grip (being held with more of his two fingers and thumb as apposed to the holding it between the middle and second joint on the fingers). The angle of the break is again created by the angle of his shoulders which are at a 2/8 angle (as though you are looking at a clock from the mound). 

He has developed a slider this year which we worked on years ago but never needed (because if thrown too often while developing his fastball it can cause lack of velocity with the fastball due to muscle-memory which tends to cause a cutter and that slows the ball down). But this year he worked on holding the ball with his fingers close together, like the 12/6 curve, and throwing it at about 1:30/7:30 angle and rather than getting on top of the ball at release he rolls around it. He throws it about mid-eighties speed. 

He tried different change-ups for the last three years (the circle with the index and thumb basically touching the tips and throws it with his index, four-finger and little finger controlling it). He's experimented with numerous pressures and deeper in his grip or toward the tips or what they refer to as a football grip and has found a comfort zone with a pitch he worked on in the Cape-Cod league. It dies off to the right and down toward a right-handed hitter in the low eighties. 

He throws a splitter (which is nothing more than an abbreviated fork-ball in the upper eighties) and a knuckleball which they don't feel he needs to throw. Some of the players tell me the knuckle is so nasty that nobody would be able to catch it. 

All in all his mechanics are (as some people have referred to as freakish or un-orthodox) like the old-time pitchers in the 30's and 40's and early fifties. Example: Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Satchel Paige, Bob Feller. Carl Hubbell, Juan Marichal... 

Those athletes didn't throw with just there arms and shoulders as probably 70% or more have been doing for the last 40+ years. Those pitchers don't last for more than 4 to 7 years and usually throw their elbows or shoulders out. Sad thing is that they become pitching coaches and open clinics and teach their mechanics to the children (charging ridiculous fees) addressing their mechanics as "the Pro way" of doing it (after all, all you have to do is watch a game on T.V. and see that most major leaguers are using the muscle-method way of throwing, therefore confirming it), thus creating less than efficient throwers, for the next generation, who in turn throw their arms out and usually can't understand why. Just watching these types of poor mechanics makes me cringe with pain. Pitching is a position that can be taught to almost anybody, but throwing properly is an art and needs to be respected and constantly adjusted due to growth and muscle development and aging. I love it the most in all sports. 

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