Sarris: Finding the best pitches of the year, and exploring why they were so good - The Athletic $

More good stuff from Eno Sarris. He’s worth the subscription to The Athletic all by himself.

Looks kind of like a typical side-arm release. But now listen to both players talk about what they’re doing at release.

“I’m trying to keep my hand vertical through release,” Josh Hader once told me. “Trying to backspin it.”

“I’m trying to be as over-the-top as I can from down there,” Paul Sewald said this past season, showing me more of an extreme ‘v’ than he actually does on the mound. “Imagine I’m an over-the-top pitcher, but I’m leaning towards the ground.”

In effect, by putting release point in the model, Stuff+ is capturing some deception here. Both pitchers throw from sidearm slots, but have unique movement given that slot, and unique is good. It’s hard for a hitter to prepare for movement they see only a few times a year.

“It’s nice to be in the top 10 on lists like these,” said the affable Sewald, whose career really took off at age 31. “After so many years of struggling, I’m just happy people are saying nice things.”

Of course, there’s still room for a plus sinker that just sinks a ton at a high velocity without much trickery.