SB Nation User Blog: Kyle Boddy

News: Biomechanics Lab Status Update (and Thank Yous)

Kyle Boddy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:55:21 -0000

For readers unaware, I've been planning on building a biomechanics lab in the Seattle, WA area for some time now. The steps to get there have included purchasing a high-speed video camera, reading a ton of books on biomechanics/anatomy/geometry/physics, and finding a software package that can digitize the video to give me numbers that I can work with.

I'm happy to say that I'm armed with my high-speed camera (Casio Exilim EX-FH20), I've read tons of source material published by ASMI doctors and various professors in the aforementioned subjects, and with the gracious help of blog reader gorilla_baller, I've found a software package that is affordable and will do all the complex math (Direct Linear Transformation, for those interested) to build 3D models of ballistic activity.

Driveline Baseball, Inc. has been founded with my business partner Jacob Staff, and we've been in talks with various wholesalers about designing training products for our clients.

While we have so far to go, it's nice to look back and see how much groundwork has been laid. It seems like just a month ago that I put this blog up on WordPress with a few of my initial articles - I was thrilled to get 20 hits a day from people who were genuinely interested in pitching mechanics and injuries. Now, with the help of people like Tyler Bleszinski (better known as Blez), I'm sharing this blog with you all on the SB Nation platform and getting over 500 unique hits a day. Of course, it's not all my work - without the help of my former and current writers authoring great work when I'm too lazy (or too dense to figure out the PITCHf/x stuff), this blog would have died months ago.

Of course, the readers who bombard me with questions and requests and who come here daily to see if their pitcher is being written about - invariably disappointed that I chose to write about Chris Perez rather than someone notable - deserve most of the credit. Without the traffic I get here, I'd feel that the market I'm trying to break into really is worthless - but knowing that so many people out there are interested in this type of research does fuel my desire to learn and make something happen.

And last, but not least, I have to thank Trip Somers (NoNameOnCard) for late-night discussions about esoteric issues like forward trunk tilt, trunk flexion, horizontal shoulder abduction, and countless stories from his labrum rehab. Without him, my wife would be even more inundated by talks about anatomy and biomechanical jargon.

Here's to looking forward!

A Mechanical Look at Chris Perez

Kyle Boddy — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:50:30 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

Chris Perez probably needs to improve his control to become a legitimate major league closer.

Browse more photos »

(Yes, that is really Chris Perez pitching in the image above.)

The SB Nation blogosphere is rife with stories about the first big MLB "deadline trade" in 2009.

Let's Go Tribe: Mark DeRosa has been traded to St. Louis
Viva El Birdos: Cardinals acquire Mark DeRosa for Chris Perez, PTBNL
Bleed Cubbie Blue: Cardinals Acquire Mark DeRosa ~~JESUS GOD WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW~~

Here at Driveline Mechanics, we'll be running three stories about the trade - Jeff Zimmerman has already taken a quick PITCHf/x look at Chris Perez, while devil_fingers will be looking at the trade from a "sabermetric" approach.

Since this is as good a time as any to update my own site (boy, it's been awhile), I'll be taking a look at Chris Perez from a mechanical standpoint. First, as an Indians fan, I have to say that I'm enthused with the trade - while flipping Mark DeRosa means that Mark Shapiro has given up on the 2009 season, that was a reality that was worth embracing to get a guy with big-league stuff, if not big-league control. Oh, and a PTBNL, too! A friend of mine who posts on another sports forum made this interesting (and humorous, if you're not a Cubs fan) comment:

...if you combine this year's deal with last year's deadline trade, Shapiro has essentially swapped five months of a versatile .270/.340/.455 rental player in exchange for Carlos Santana, Chris Perez, Jonathan Meloan, and a fourth player. In comparison, Jim Hendry dealt six months of that same player for two old, generic relief prospects and a young one with poor control.

Ba-zing!

Less talk, more video after the break...

Chris Perez is a fireballing RHP with an average velocity of 94.0 MPH on his fastball. That's good for 33rd hardest in the majors amongst relievers. (source: Fangraphs) As a fun note, Joel Zumaya's average fastball is 99.2 MPH. That's absurd.

Perez mainly relies on his fastball/slider combo to get hitters out. Here's what the split looks like:

As you can see, Perez has pretty good movement on his fastball that tails in to a right-handed batter. In the image above, he throws it for a backdoor strike three. His slider is pretty devastating, as he buries it in the dirt to get the hitter to chase on 0-2.

We'll use this fastball image to take a look at his mechanics at a more manageable pace:

Tempo: 17-18 frames from maximal leg lift to footplant, which is excellent. Anything equal to or under 20 frames is ideal. Chris Perez really gets to the plate quickly.

Arm Action: While not a classic "elbow lifter," he still has an arm action that can be called the "Lateral V." The Lateral V occurs when a pitcher creates a V with his pitching arm as viewed from above and raises it to driveline height in this crooked position. In the following still photo, you can see Perez at the approximate maximum lateral displacement of his pitching elbow beyond his acromial line:

Needless to say, I'm not enthused with this arm action. It often causes lateral displacement of the pitching arm and subsequently represents a timing flaw, since the arm needs to get from this displaced position to the high-cocked position quickly. In doing so, this causes the pitching forearm to lay back violently in shoulder external rotation, and while the result may create a higher value of Maximum External Rotation (MER) and thusly higher velocity, it is also the cause of "Late Forearm Turnover" which places a significantly high load on the ulnar collateral ligament.

As an aside, ASMI concluded the following (emphasis mine):

A pitcher with increased shoulder external rotation, faster pelvis and upper trunk rotation, and greater front knee stabilization and extension will throw with greater ball velocity. Source: ASMI

Many pitching analysts/gurus will tell you that you need to increase MER to increase velocity. However, while high values of MER correlates well with release velocity, it also correlates well with injury. This is not surprising, as you can find many studies talking about harder throwers being more likely to suffer arm injuries, but advocating that pitchers should focus on increasing MER as a way to increase release velocity is dangerous. (I will have a more lengthy article on this in the near future.)

Ball Release: In general, I prefer high three-quarters to near overhead releases, as it eliminates side-to-side movement of the baseball and thus avoids "Pitching Forearm Flyout." The further the arm nears a sidearm release, the less possible it becomes to pronate through release on any given pitch. As a result, this causes the elbow to "slam closed" and causes the olecranon process to slam into its fossa. This in turn causes the ulna bone to elongate (loss of flexion in the pitching elbow) and can break off pieces of the hyaline cartilage, which causes bone spurs. So, when you see a ball release like this:

You start to cringe. It reminds me a lot of J.J. Putz:

Followthrough: Perez uses the glove arm well to mirror his pitching arm and finishes with the glove near his shoulder, which I really like. Unfortunately, with a near-sidearm release, the high glove finish can't help him pronate through release. You can see that Perez tries to keep his eye on the target for as long as possible, probably because Dave Duncan or another pitching coach told him that this would improve his control. The fact is that this isn't true - ASMI has been unable to correlate head pitch/yaw with the ability to throw strikes. Common sense would tell you that the plate isn't moving, so there's no reason to look at it the entire time. For an outside example, golfers are often instructed to keep the head down and to not pull off the ball, yet no professional golfer actually has their vision locked on the ball at impact. It simply does not happen.

Perhaps as a result of Perez locking eyes with the catcher's glove, he has below-average shoulder rotation through release. While he has significant forward trunk tilt, he does not complete rotation to help relieve strain on his pitching arm. This abrupt stop of the shoulders causes the pitching arm to decelerate across his body and to recoil, stressing the posterior muscles of his shoulder.

Overall, I'm not terribly enthused with what I see from Chris Perez. As an Indians fan, I hope that Chris Perez can avoid the disabled list if he's used as a reliever, but I forsee elbow strain/inflammation on the horizon for him, with possible bone spurs and UCL tears/rupture.

Everything you wanted to know about labrums [but were afraid to ask]

Kyle Boddy — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:10:54 -0000

Everything you wanted to know about labrums [but were afraid to ask]

Pretty great article. Title sums it up.

(It's about Brandon Webb.)

Moneyball Script Available!

Kyle Boddy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:56:56 -0000

Moneyball Script Available!

Though you'll just have to imagine Brad Pitt channeling Billy Beane, you can read through one of the first drafts of the Moneyball script - gratuitous 80's chain-restaurant sex scene included.

You can't make this stuff up.

Driveline Mechanics in the NY Times

Kyle Boddy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:19:08 -0000

Driveline Mechanics in the NY Times

We're mentioned in the NY Times regarding Tim Lincecum / Randy Johnson. The interview went on for what felt like 45 minutes, yet they used just a little blurb of the conversation. This was probably due to the interviewer quoting Dr. Fleisig and saying "Do you agree with this," and finding myself repeating "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes but [minor detail here], and certainly yes."

It's still pretty cool to me, anyway. Thanks for Greg Bishop for running the piece and setting up the interview.

LC: How's Kerry Wood Working Out?

Kyle Boddy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:39:55 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

Kerry Wood reflects on why he can't throw his slider for a strike and why hitters can send his fastball over the fences with regularity.

Browse more photos »

Long time, readers. Soon I'll have a full update, but I'd like to toot my own horn a bit about Kerry Wood. You see, I wrote a much-lambasted article that essentially said that Kerry Wood was the following:

A significant injury risk
A relief pitcher coming off a "career" year (as a reliever, anyway)
Not worth $10M/year for 2 years
Not worth signing compared to Rafael Furcal (and in hindsight, Orlando Hudson)

Let's take a look at their stats, shall we?

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Kerry Wood	2-3	28	0	0	0	8	4	24.2	23	15	15	5	14	28	5.47	1.50

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Orlando Hudson	67	269	45	85	21	2	5	36	34	45	5	0	.316	.391	.465

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Rafael Furcal	60	238	33	59	12	0	3	16	25	40	4	4	.248	.319	.336

And for fun, their WARs:

Kerry Wood: -0.1
Orlando Hudson: +2.1
Rafael Furcal: +0.7

Eric Seidman said this about the deal:

My evaluation yesterday suggested Kerry Wood is a +1.4 win player for 2009, factoring in his run prevention skills as well as the leverage of the innings he will pitch in a new, and offensively superior, league. This would place his fair market value in the vicinity of $6-8 mil. A 2-yr deal in this regard should have been worth $14 mil. It is now being reported that his deal with the Indians is closer to 2-yr/$20 mil, meaning the Indians will be paying him over $7 mil/win relative to the average annual value. Wood will provide stability at the position given the revolving closers door for the Indians this past season, but he will have to vastly outdo his projection to merit being paid that much per win. Not even the overvalued K-Rod is receiving that much per win with his new deal.

Sounds about right.

If what we wanted was a guy who can throw in the mid-high 90's without the ability to locate his secondary pitch, I'm pretty sure David Aardsma was available for nothing.

Oh, Indians Redux. (Low Content)

Kyle Boddy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:08:15 -0000

Anthony Reyes to have UCL-related surgery

Kyle Boddy — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:57:59 -0000

Anthony Reyes to have UCL-related surgery

Anthony Reyes has elbow reconstructive surgery on his pitching elbow. In other news, man lands on the moon.

Abolish the Draft

Kyle Boddy — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:41:41 -0000

Abolish the Draft

Colin Wyers lays out a convincing argument (as usual) that advocates the abolition of the MLB amateur draft. I strongly agree with him for various reasons, but he does a much better job than I at explaining why.

We've Hired!

Kyle Boddy — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:48:48 -0000

I'd like to take a short post to introduce two of the writers we've accepted to write for Driveline Mechanics:

vivaelpujols
TucsonRoyal

As an Indians' fan, it pains me to accept yet another Royals' fan to my website, but that is a testament to how much I like TucsonRoyal's work.

vivaelpujols should be no stranger to anyone who reads Beyond the Boxscore or Viva El Birdos - a big time Cardinals fan (who could have guessed?), he has done some great work in both communities, and we look forward to having him here.

That brings our staff to:

Kyle Boddy - Webmaster and guy in charge of mechanics-based analysis
David Golebiewski - when he's not slaving away at Fangraphs, he works on transactions-based analysis
~~Josh Kalk~~ - now with the Rays, previously our PITCHf/x guru
devil_fingers - Resident Royals fan and self-promoter on Tango's blog, he is in charge of sabermetrics
TucsonRoyal - Yet another Royals' fan, Jeff will be primarily working on PITCHf/x data
vivaelpujols - Our sabermetrics/PITCHf/x/other stuff guy

Please welcome our new writers!