Great stuff, Kyle. I am enjoying a quick poke around the site on my lunch break here; looking forward to reading more when there's time.

It seems like there's been a crop of these sites springing up recently; between Gomez's old stuff for BBTF and THT, Baseball Intellect, Saber Scouting, and now Driveline, we're spoiled for choice! I love it.

And every one of them have considerably different philosophies in certain aspects.

Yes, we do. Saber-Scouting and Baseball-Intellect will agree on most points, as they both follow the footsteps of Carlos Gomez / Paul Nyman. I will disagree with them consistently on arm action, but we do agree on some points (such as tempo into footplant).

I will disagree with them consistently on arm action

How do you disagree?

I remember being concerned about Liriano's violent arm action and CBW said he really liked it because it imparted giddyup. I've always been of the smooth-arm-motion, get-your-speed-from-your-legs type.

Is that what you're talking about? Or arm angle? High arm angle is tough on the elbow when breaking pitches are thrown.

Looks like you are a big fan of Maddux at Driveline. Hard to argue with his results and durability, certainly. I liked Maddux a lot when I was pitching in college, but more from the perspective of pitch selection and using movement/location rather than velocity to get outs (I never threw more than about 88-89mph, usually less).

At the time, the guy I idolized mechanically (despite hating him for being a damn Yankee) was Mariano Rivera. His arm action seemed so clean, almost effortless. As I continue to learn more about mechanics I see different things in Mo, but I would still put him in my mechanics pantheon. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, I notice a few things in common between him and Maddux at certain points in their deliveries.

I remember being concerned about Liriano's violent arm action and CBW said he really liked it because it imparted giddyup. I've always been of the smooth-arm-motion, get-your-speed-from-your-legs type.

I agree with you. As for arm angle, I prefer a high 3/4 delivery, actually, as I think you can get better velocity (and deception) when tilting the shoulder line at the ground. It also helps a lot of people with followthrough.

Looks like you are a big fan of Maddux at Driveline. Hard to argue with his results and durability, certainly. I liked Maddux a lot when I was pitching in college, but more from the perspective of pitch selection and using movement/location rather than velocity to get outs (I never threw more than about 88-89mph, usually less).

I like Maddux for all the reasons you mentioned!

As for Mariano, I haven't formally reviewed his mechanics, but I do believe them to be quite good. I have seen how he releases his cutter, and I am a huge fan of how he does not supinate the wrist and put undue stress on his elbow.

As for Mariano, I haven't formally reviewed his mechanics, but I do believe them to be quite good. I have seen how he releases his cutter, and I am a huge fan of how he does not supinate the wrist and put undue stress on his elbow.

I spent the better part of three seasons trying to teach myself how to throw that pitch like he does. If he really does get all that movement just from grip and finger pressure, it's mind-boggling. It's not that difficult to get a cutter to break by throwing it that way, but I could never figure out how he got it to break so late. He must be able to put like double the rpm on the pitch compared to a schlub like me.

At the time, the guy I idolized mechanically (despite hating him for being a damn Yankee) was Mariano Rivera. His arm action seemed so clean, almost effortless

Funny, Mattbert. I was just thinking about how much I liked Rivera's mechanics last night, and thought I'd come in today and comment on them. but you beat me to it.