I confess, I need a Spin Rate for Dummies. It's hard for me to get into weeds in these posts because my knowledge pretty much ends with more spin=good, and as you showed here, that's not the end of the analysis.
Also - I definitely would like to hear more of your thoughts on this: "On the bright side, he did turn things around a bit after a start in Boston when Keller probably said the quiet part out loud and mentioned that Cal Eldred and the Royals pitching staff were able to pinpoint some issues because of the Fenway Park camera."
Spin rate is something that we continue to learn more about, so it's definitely something that's evolving. A few years ago, yeah, it was just that spin is good. Then it sort of changed to you can actually do well with lower spin or higher spin and being in the middle isn't great. And now active spin is being looked at more. So I totally understand the confusion because it's changing all the time as people much smarter than me figure it out.
As far as the comment about Fenway, it bothered me at the time that they openly admitted that they didn't know what to do and it took the luck of a centered camera to be able to spot something. This is all when they have the use of the most advanced cameras in the world. Maybe I'm too hard to Cal Eldred because I think he's terrible at his job, but that just rubbed me the wrong way when they talked about that.
Keller's problem, early in the yr. he was pitching from from the Rt. side of pitching rubber, this was not his natural pitching motion, and when they moved him over to the left to middle side of the pitching rubber is when his progress started on the up swing. In my opinion throwing from the right side of the rubber caused his shoulder strain later in the yr. The shoulder strain caused the lost of velocity on his fastball and location and action on slider. Ben Wierzbicki
You can go back and look at every start just like I did. You’ll see he was on the left side of the rubber from the first pitch of his season all the way to his last. It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact.
I saw him on the right side of the rubber, and right after that they moved him, thanks for all the response, and what was the change that was made public by the Royals to his pitching mechanics?
Every last one of them on the left side of the rubber.
They didn't publicly say what they did, just that they saw something and made a change. What I can promise you is that he didn't move from the right side to the left side due to never being on the right side.
David, I must say I enjoy your articles, you are very good. Just a suggestion, also and was correct Keller was throwing cross body do to location on the rubber, that is why he was hit by pitch was high until the adjustment. This also, did not allow him to get the correct throwing motion to get on top of his slider...my opinion. Again, you are very enjoyable to read. Suggestion: next time the Astros come to town, and Verlander is throwing, go watch him warm up, what a joy, his landing foot lands in the same spot everytime, great mechanics.. Again, I enjoy reading your writings, Thank You. Ben Wierzbicki
Love the title!
I confess, I need a Spin Rate for Dummies. It's hard for me to get into weeds in these posts because my knowledge pretty much ends with more spin=good, and as you showed here, that's not the end of the analysis.
Also - I definitely would like to hear more of your thoughts on this: "On the bright side, he did turn things around a bit after a start in Boston when Keller probably said the quiet part out loud and mentioned that Cal Eldred and the Royals pitching staff were able to pinpoint some issues because of the Fenway Park camera."
Spin rate is something that we continue to learn more about, so it's definitely something that's evolving. A few years ago, yeah, it was just that spin is good. Then it sort of changed to you can actually do well with lower spin or higher spin and being in the middle isn't great. And now active spin is being looked at more. So I totally understand the confusion because it's changing all the time as people much smarter than me figure it out.
As far as the comment about Fenway, it bothered me at the time that they openly admitted that they didn't know what to do and it took the luck of a centered camera to be able to spot something. This is all when they have the use of the most advanced cameras in the world. Maybe I'm too hard to Cal Eldred because I think he's terrible at his job, but that just rubbed me the wrong way when they talked about that.
Keller's problem, early in the yr. he was pitching from from the Rt. side of pitching rubber, this was not his natural pitching motion, and when they moved him over to the left to middle side of the pitching rubber is when his progress started on the up swing. In my opinion throwing from the right side of the rubber caused his shoulder strain later in the yr. The shoulder strain caused the lost of velocity on his fastball and location and action on slider. Ben Wierzbicki
If only it was that easy, but he was on the left side all season just as he was in previous years.
I disagree
You can go back and look at every start just like I did. You’ll see he was on the left side of the rubber from the first pitch of his season all the way to his last. It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact.
I saw him on the right side of the rubber, and right after that they moved him, thanks for all the response, and what was the change that was made public by the Royals to his pitching mechanics?
Here's his first pitch of the season - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=1137b0bc-6c23-49b0-8d6f-7c91b747c9a2
Here's his first pitch of his second start - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=776b1a52-ca25-4ff9-b782-0bbe4d26bd02
Third start - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=567e70cf-5a0d-469d-be99-4502a99c0ea7
Fourth start - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=f8736fd0-3be0-4ff9-8b58-8fd0c7b70be2
Eighth start - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=8d45e675-b787-4f22-8e07-5b00791b5c4f
12th start - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=e37a1679-5b17-41cd-8182-a39a327ad48b
16th start - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=ec440e45-f55b-4103-b4dd-9fa338f6a1f8
Last start - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=418df5ce-675c-4691-930b-02f0039d49f7
Every last one of them on the left side of the rubber.
They didn't publicly say what they did, just that they saw something and made a change. What I can promise you is that he didn't move from the right side to the left side due to never being on the right side.
David, I must say I enjoy your articles, you are very good. Just a suggestion, also and was correct Keller was throwing cross body do to location on the rubber, that is why he was hit by pitch was high until the adjustment. This also, did not allow him to get the correct throwing motion to get on top of his slider...my opinion. Again, you are very enjoyable to read. Suggestion: next time the Astros come to town, and Verlander is throwing, go watch him warm up, what a joy, his landing foot lands in the same spot everytime, great mechanics.. Again, I enjoy reading your writings, Thank You. Ben Wierzbicki