Pitch Design Articles for Pitchers

This compilation of articles on pitch design for pitchers provides an extensive resource for those looking to learn more about this new technology.

1. Pitch Design… Basics

Tomorrow’s elite pitchers have to learn and take advantage of the implications of data analysis.  Advancements in technology have brought data to the doorsteps of commercial baseball facilities and the future will be never be the same.

When pitchers are moving at rapidly increasing speeds, observing and evaluating a pitcher’s movements with high speed data capture can be truly eye opening. The amount information can be overwhelming at first, but as you begin to grasp it, the aha! moments begin to accumulate. We are discovering things about pitchers that were unfathomable just a year ago without this technology.  Pitch Design is here and it will change how tomorrow’s pitchers will be trained… [click here]

2. Relative Ball Movement

How often have we heard so and so throws hard but his ball is flat? They are talking about movement. Velocity is a pre-requisite but movement and relative movement is the other half of the equation.  Let’s quickly review where movement comes from. The diagram further below provides a summary of how velocity, true spin and spin axis determine not only the amount of movement/break but also the direction of movement.  According to Dr. Alan Nathan (University of Illinois: The Physics of Baseball) some of this relationship is linear and some is non-linear.  Nonetheless, putting earthly topics aside these three attributes… 1) velocity, 2) true spin and 3) spin axis… pretty much determine ball movement… and how your pitches move vis-a-vis each other is pretty much all pitching is about (next to velo… lol)… [click here]

3. How is the Baseball Spin Axis Generated

Seams and grips matter, so let’s put that to rest.  But how is spin axis generated?  Before we begin, let’s cover a relevant but important topic.  As it relates to ball movement, there are two different topics that sometimes get thrown in together as simply “movement”.  They are:

• • Amount of movement
  • Direction of movement

Different things impact each of these topics differently.  So, just for clarity’s sake, in this article we are only discussing direction of movement… [click here]

4. Pitchers… Your Eyes Lie (A Comprehensive Report on Rapsodo Data)

This report is a summary of approximately 10,000 pitches thrown by 50 high school-level pitchers, randomly selected from our various winter, spring and summer programs. The new Rapsodo camera system exposes a great deal and explains why “the eyes lie”. We are willing to bet that our findings are not unique but rather common place in youth pitchers everywhere. [Read more…]

5. Total Spin Rate vs. True Spin Rate (simplified)

At any given moment, a baseball is likely spinning along all 3 axes at the same time. We’re talking a little bit of:

• • Left or right
  • Backspin or topspin
  • Spinning around in one, or the other, direction (like a football spiral spin also referred to as gyro spin) [Read more…]

6. Putting Pitching Data Analytics to Work

In today’s article, we’re going to dig a little deeper into:

• • What it (spin) all means
  • How movement is generated
  • Different types of spin and related info
  • Advantages of having access to the data
  • Why it’s important to understand the ramifications
  • How we can use it to our benefit

With that said, let’s go over some basics [Read more…]

7. How We Assess Pitch Movement Patterns w/ New Tech?

The introduction of new tech like Rapsodo cameras is changing the landscape for pitchers at all levels. Until recently, most pitchers would focus on their pitching mechanics and strength training. Now, technology is bringing a whole new realm to pitching at the point of release and we have a third leg on the stool that can’t be ignored:

• • Pitching Mechanics
  • Strength and Conditioning
  • Point of Release [Read more…]

8. The Pursuit of Abnormal Movement

A while back we wrote about a topic titled “What is Relative Movement? And Why is it Important?”.  This article looks to further refine that concept, and it’s a topic that all high-level pitchers should consider at all levels of the game. [Read more…]

 

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