Stride Length, release point, and Drag

by Bososx13 on Feb 10, 2012 7:48 PM EST

Two things I've noticed when scouting pitchers is stride length and drag are very important. Stride length is pretty obvious, but a thing a lot of people don't know about is drag. Drag is how much your foot has dragged from the rubber when you're throwing the ball. Look at a video of Greg Maddux pitching and you'll see his foot when he releases the ball has dragged a lot. If he does this, he's releasing the ball closer to the plate, what I've noticed is it can make up for a difference of maybe 3-5 MPH. Also, if a pitcher's release point is closer to the plate, he can gain a lot of velocity. I remember Trackman showed velocity adjusting for release point, and the numbers were much different. I remember when watching Joba Chamberlain pitch, his fastball velocity was overrated because he had almost no drag, so he was releasing the ball farther away from the plate, and his stride was short, so he was also releasing the ball farther from the plate that way too. From my experience as a pitcher, having a shorter stride length also means less control. It's harder to control when your stride is short. Watch Roy Halladay or Greg Maddux pitch, and you can see that these two things can result in a big change in velocity. When I've seen Manny Banuelos pitch, his stride is short and he has no drag. Someone like Brett Marshall has a very good drag and his stride is pretty long too. Though Banuelos throws a bit harder, I think Marshall is actually getting the ball to the plate quicker.

I've seen a lot of pitching prospect busts with a short stride length and no drag, and a release point not that close to the plate. I already mentioned Joba, but Homer Bailey is another one. I think a reason is that a pitcher's velocity can get overrated.

Has anyone else noticed important things in scouting like this?

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Watch this video of Daniel Bard

watch his release point and his drag, his foot drags a lot, and his stride is very long

by Bososx13 on Feb 10, 2012 8:01 PM EST reply actions

oops, I meant Matt Moore, I was going to post something else about Bard in another thread on OTM

here’s the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCmW3rn-8h8&feature=related. Just watch the line that his foot makes

by Bososx13 on Feb 10, 2012 8:08 PM EST up reply actions

Check out some old video of Tom Seaver

Dunno if “drag” is the only way to get closer to the plate, but Tom Terrific sure had some drag in his delivery.

by siddfynch on Feb 11, 2012 12:10 AM EST via mobile reply actions

Extension

I personally prefer to consider it a part of extension- extension having both upper and lower body components. How close is the pitcher’s release point to the plate? SI actually had a really interesting article on Trackman last year (linked at the bottom), citing 2 MPH as the difference between the actual and effective velocity of the guys with the best extension. I think this article is what you were referring to. While not quite the 3-5 MPH you hypothesize, it’s still a very sizeable difference. David Robertson had the most extension by Trackman’s data. As far as a pitcher’s drag foot goes, Lincecum jumps to my mind as someone who basically jumps at the plate.

I’m not sure I’d agree with you on a long strider having better control. I feel (I can’t quantitatively back this up) that a lot of guys with long strides/drags actually have a bit worse command/control, as they often have high effort deliveries. While not universally the case, the extra drive forward they get seems to come at the expense of greater effort.

I also don’t consider Halladay or Maddux to have particularly long strides. While they both get their body and arms out front quickly, I don’t see either having extension or stride length all that far from the mean.

It’s interesting stuff, and I think you make some good observations.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/04/12/fastballs.trackman/index.html

by anjichpa on Feb 11, 2012 12:49 AM EST reply actions