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Bullpen Mechanics — A Scout's View Tuesday, April 10, 2007Bringin’ Some Sidearm Cheese—Pat NeshekAs many of you may know, I have a special place in my heart for sidearmers and submariners. Here’s one of my favorite sidearmers, Pat Neshek, of the Minnesota Twins. Unusual in many ways, especially because he’s one of the few sidearmers that can bring it…. I mean REALLY bring it. For those of you who have never seen Neshek’s delivery, you’re in for a treat. I could watch this clip over and over and over and it would still amaze me. QUICK CAPSULE REVIEW OF HIS DELIVERY He doesn’t exactly follow the “book” on what you’re supposed to do mechanically. No kidding. 1) He doesn’t keep his posture well. Notice how his torso is up, then he bends down like he’s going WAY low, and then pops back up and delivers completely sidearm. 2) Doesn’t exactly close his hips up does he? No leg kick either. 3) His elbow ends up a little lower than his shoulder. Also note the unusual finish. I cut out the final few frames (I shouldn’t have), but when you see him pitch next time, notice the Shooter McGavin finger point at the end of his delivery. It’s hilarious and intimidating at the same time. How does he throw so hard? There’s a few things that he does REALLY well. 1) He maintains a quick tempo. Once he gets going forward, he really picks up speed on the way to release. 2) Here’s where I think the real magic happens. Prepare to be amazed by this next clip….. Call it scap loading, call it hyperflexing, call it whatever you want. I’d like the moderator of this website and former college teammate of Neshek’s, Jeff Albert (aka Marcus Giles 2) to comment on Neshek’s range of motion. I froze the video on frame 5 to illustrate this point where it seems his elbows are about to touch behind his back. WOW, just WOW. The horizontal loading of the arm (the scap load) is a major component of Neshek’s exceptional arm speed. 3) The other thing he does surprisingly well is that he firms up his front side on his way to release. Some more video…. As a general rule, sidearmers tend to open up (their front shoulder) a little sooner than conventional pitchers. I highlighted frame 3 on the above clip because that’s when Neshek seems to start firming up his front side so that he doesn’t “spin out.” As a matter of fact, his glove and elbow move into his body on the few frames before release. IIRC, Tom House used to call that “narrowing the cone of projection.” Neshek firms up his glove, and then really brings his torso into his glove instead of yanking his glove into his hip. Excellent, especially for a sidearmer. FINAL THOUGHTS What about injury issues? I just don’t know. If injury issues are difficult to predict on conventional pitchers, then it is even more difficult to predict unorthodox pitchers. However, I think that Neshek will remain durable for some time. Although quite different, he does some things that tell me that he’ll remain durable and effective. However, even if I’m wrong about his durability, aren’t pitchers like this just fun to watch? It is then our duty as baseball fans to enjoy watching them while they last. Of course, questions/comments/job offers are always appreciated. Also, if anyone can find a still pic of Shooter Neshek that would be great. |
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1. myst333 Posted: April 10, 2007 at 08:49 AM (#2330913)I always wondered how Sid continually threw 85mph 4-seamers by hitters with ease. He'd certainly be an interesting case.
The thing he does with his elbows is crazy. This remains the most consistently entertaining and informative baseball blog I know. Thanks CBW.
He explains on his website that he he used to be a hitter/fielder and then he hurt his arm and couldn't throw overhand anymore. He goes into some detail about his mechanics as he sees it. He says that he has never seen anyone throw like he does.
He's my favourite player.
Well said. I didn't go into hip rotation and separation much in this article, but it is certainly a factor.
Thanks for the props..
and yes, I have seen him touch his elbows together behind his back
great guy and awesome competitor
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=keri/070329&sportCat=mlb
I just have to throw out my request for you to do Prior...I was watching the Bartman inning sometime back and immediately noticed that he was significantly different from what he is now...this at full speed, without a professional eye of any sort.
He's actually next in line. I don't have the greatest clips to work with so it might be somewhat of a challenge, but that said, Prior, like you say, is WAY different nowadays. IF I could get a clip of him pitching during spring training, that would be great.
by the way, if you like hard throwing sidearmers, the Braves have a reliever called Peter Moylan. throws 96 from the side with good sink. Supposedly just got up one day and started throwing from the side with that velocity
Have you had a chance to see Jay Marshall pitch?
He works very quickly. Jeter tried to slow him down with a little extra fidgeting in the box, but once the batter was set, Neshek was moving.
His slider, or whatever it is, tails in on a RH hitter. The unorthodox movement of his pitches reminds me of Byung-Hyun Kim, although Kim's pitches move differently. It's as though the hitter has to take a couple of pitches just to figure out where the ball is going. Damon fanned without ever taking the bat off his shoulder.
I had seen this page before watching him pitch, but decided to follow him before reading the details above. I was also fooled by the shoulder drop into thinking he would come more from underneath. He seems to have a lot of wasted motion (including an odd hitch before stepping into his delivery), but it works well for him.
Thanks, CBW. I always look forward to your contributions.
Haven't yet, but I look forward to it.
I didn't mean that he literally bangs his elbows together, but his scap load is pretty ridiculous by major league standards.
Actually his minor league numbers were stoopid good against righties last summer but were Bonds-making against the lefties until he added something midyear to keep them at bay. At Rochester last year he held RH batters to a .502 OPS in 39 innings.
Lefties killed him for the first half of the year. Plus it's the ultra-conservative Twins and this is fairly weird so he had to proven that the whole show was for real.
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