Matusz article and chart

[mikegallo]

Interesting chart/data. I don't think too many people are surprised by this. But good command at 91 is better than good command at 87/88 mph. Matusz nailing that outside corner the other day in the first inning at 91 was a good sign. Also, in Matusz's case it was pretty obvious that his secondaries weren't there last year as well. That'll be something else we'll need to watch for. I'm not the biggest Matusz fan and think he's way overhyped, but not much doubt he can be a good pitcher and is head and shoulders above Tillman imo.

When he was able to do this his delievery was not rushed....He had better balance because he took his time (and his pause) stayed on top of the ball better, and allowed his arm to be in the correct postion allowing him to follow through and use his whole body to get explosiveness....As opposed to the second when everything was up and his arm was dragging using mostly shoulder to get explosiveness....He was rushing bad early in the 2nd inning which tells me he was nervous most likely or maybe the coaches messed with him between innings and told him to speed up his delivery....

It was pretty clear to me Monday night the difference in velocity and command/control between the first and second inings.

[Going Underground]

In fact, you could argue that trying to hold runners is part of what screwed up Matusz in the first place. Connor tried to change his delivery last spring to make him quicker to the plate and it threw his mechanics out of whack.

I agree but Buck likes guys who hold runners on.

[CA-ORIOLE]

When he was able to do this his delievery was not rushed....He had better balance because he took his time (and his pause) stayed on top of the ball better, and allowed his arm to be in the correct postion allowing him to follow through and use his whole body to get explosiveness....As opposed to the second when everything was up and his arm was dragging using mostly shoulder to get explosiveness....He was rushing bad early in the 2nd inning which tells me he was nervous most likely or maybe the coaches messed with him between innings and told him to speed up his delivery....

It was pretty clear to me Monday night the difference in velocity and command/control between the first and second inings.

Don't know what happened in the second with his FB velo/command (despite the results), but he made some nice pithces in the first. We'll see where it goes from here.

[mikegallo]

Don't know what happened in the second with his FB velo/command (despite the results), but he made some nice pithces in the first. We'll see where it goes from here.

I've got a pretty good idea why but Im not a scout nor do I own the site so it's not even worth discussion I guess?

[Frobby]

Matsuz was rushing through his deliver on many pitches....Some jitters I suspect and rust still...When he stayed on top of his fastball and slowed down his deliver he got more velocity and better command....The Velocity was better in the first then second where he wasn't finishing his delievery and lost velocity/left the ball up as a result.

His pause gives him a bit of decpetion and helps his arm stay back allowing him to better follow thorough on the ball...His arm was dragging to far behind his body when he was rushing not giving his arm enough time to 'finish' before he hit the ground...Pitches stayed up and he lost 2-3 miles on the fastball....When he stayed back and allowed his arm to get in front he finished his pitches much nicer and was in the lows 90's every time....Also that little pause he uses helps him balance himself before he follows through and releases...

If the staff is trying to get rid of/speed up that pause I would think they would realize how huge it is to Matsuz delievery and not mess with it....Would you rather have command/control and pitch 91/92 with deception or be wild in the strike zone keeping balls up and walking guys with no deception at 86-88 and be slightly faster to the plate? Give me the former all day.

Overall I am excited by what I saw in that his fastball is back if he can repeat his follow through, (which I think was alittle nerves being he has to prove last year was a fluke/OD TV ST game) which allows him to use that change up to K guys....

His slider and curve are still alittle behind but that is to be expected in early ST, but once again when he slowed down/followed through his curve had good spin and was a strike....He needs to pitch through the strike zone better (starts a strike ends a ball) to put hitters away more, something he does brillantly when hes 'ON'.

Guys I really believe if Brian tightens up his deliver a little bit before OD we will see a guy who can throw 91-92 and use all his pitches in any count....A LA 2009-2010...Very encouraged....Some bloop hits made his line look bad but he didnt give up much hard contact and showed the makings of 3 average to above average pitches (FB, CB, CH).

No one commented on this is the other thread but it's relevant here....Guys it's clear that is delivery is not as tight as it used to be...He is not repeating it well and trying to be quick to the plate is part of it.

The pause in the begining of his delivery helps give him balance and timing which allows his arm and body to move how there supposed to instead of his arm being so far behind that his Fastball loses velocity his pitches our up and he's wild......When he uses that pause he has balance and command...He is more on 'top' of the all allowing for a better 'plane' on his fastball while being able to throw his offspeed stuff for strikes......

Just watch the first spring training game and youll see when he took his time and his arm wasn't trying to catch up to the rest off his body then his CB was for strikes, his FB is in the 90's and where he wants it, and he was k'ing guys with his ch.....

This is legit anaylsis and for it to be ignored makes me think OH is more of a soap opera then a Orioles discussion board, maybe you don't agree but for it to be ignored would be a real shame...If stotle allstar or tony wrote this it would be praised (I love there stuff and know I haven't earned there credibility but ignored? really?)

What kind of a complex do you have, anyway? You post some mechanical observations and in the same post start worrying that it will be ignored?

Speaking for myself, I am not a student of pitchers' mechanics and I didn't notice the things you pointed out, but I am not disagreeing with them. I will let others who watch those things more closely give their opinions.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I've got a pretty good idea why but Im not a scout nor do I own the site so it's not even worth discussion I guess?

Not sure what to say to that. I really don't know what happened to his FB in the second. I've said that before in other posts. I think SG (OH legend and we're good buds) asked me and I really didn't have a reply to him. Maybe you're right that "he was nervous/rushing and the coaches may have messed with him". I didn't notice him rushing and I have no idea if the coaches messed with him between innings. Other than his FB velo was good, I thought he commanded his FB well in the first inning nailing the outside corner on several pitches. I honestly don't have much else to add from that performance. Are we ok?

[CA-ORIOLE]

What kind of a complex do you have, anyway?

Isn't it obvious. He's under 30. Too many video games.

[mikegallo]

Whatever man this is the second time this was posted and similar posts about Bundy and tillman no were responded to at all yet SG calling something idiotic gets 12 pages....Its not a complex but a desire to talk about baseball on a baseball message board....Guess what? That is baseball right there pitching mechanics....Thats baseball excuse me for wanted to discuss why our pitchers struggle instead of just saying 1000 times to many that they sucked but who Knows why? Of course they did so why not discuss possible reasons why?

But according to Frobby I must have some mental complex.....Give me a break, first time I have ever seen you dish out a personal attack....Its really not needed but thanks anyway for your diagonsis of my mental state.

[Frobby]

Whatever man this is the second time this was posted and similar posts about Bundy and tillman no were responded to at all yet SG calling something idiotic gets 12 pages....Its not a complex but a desire to talk about baseball on a baseball message board....Guess what? That is baseball right there pitching mechanics....Thats baseball excuse me for wanted to discuss why our pitchers struggle instead of just saying 1000 times to many that they sucked but who Knows why? Of course they did so why not discuss possible reasons why?

But according to Frobby I must have some mental complex.....Give me a break, first time I have ever seen you dish out a personal attack....Its really not needed but thanks anyway for your diagonsis of my mental state.

I am not meaning to pick a fight with you. But I think you could have simply posted your observations about Matusz's mechanics and asked if others agreed, and probably some people would have responded. Hopefully, they still will. Your talking about being ignored is only likely to distract from the substantive part of your post and start a side-show.

FWIW, I appreciated your substantive observations, and if Matusz pitches on TV again this spring, I will try to look for what you pointed out.

[DrungoHazewood]

In fact, you could argue that trying to hold runners is part of what screwed up Matusz in the first place. Connor tried to change his delivery last spring to make him quicker to the plate and it threw his mechanics out of whack.

Not only that, but let's assume Matusz goes from his current rate of runners stealing to being so good no one ever attempts to steal off of him. That would mean about a 5% reduction in runs he allows, or less than 10 runs over his 52 career starts. Being quick to the plate should be about 14th on his list of things to work on.

[Sports Guy]

Whatever man this is the second time this was posted and similar posts about Bundy and tillman no were responded to at all yet SG calling something idiotic gets 12 pages....Its not a complex but a desire to talk about baseball on a baseball message board....Guess what? That is baseball right there pitching mechanics....Thats baseball excuse me for wanted to discuss why our pitchers struggle instead of just saying 1000 times to many that they sucked but who Knows why? Of course they did so why not discuss possible reasons why?

But according to Frobby I must have some mental complex.....Give me a break, first time I have ever seen you dish out a personal attack....Its really not needed but thanks anyway for your diagonsis of my mental state.

So, you post a thought and in that thought, you cry that no one will respond to it before you even give people a chance to respond to it and you wonder why Frobby would say you have a complex?

To me, that's not an insult, its an intelligent and well reasoned response by Frobby.

I also love how you are telling everyone how legit your analysis is.

BTW, pointing out him trying to be quicker to the plate and thus his mechanics being screwed up because of it is hardly some new thought...that's why no one said anything before, because it has been discussed a lot on here, so not everyone is always going to respond.

[mikegallo]

Not only that, but let's assume Matusz goes from his current rate of runners stealing to being so good no one ever attempts to steal off of him. That would mean about a 5% reduction in runs he allows, or less than 10 runs over his 52 career starts. Being quick to the plate should be about 14th on his list of things to work on.

Agree completely.

[Sports Guy]

Not only that, but let's assume Matusz goes from his current rate of runners stealing to being so good no one ever attempts to steal off of him. That would mean about a 5% reduction in runs he allows, or less than 10 runs over his 52 career starts. Being quick to the plate should be about 14th on his list of things to work on.

What I don't get is how something this freaking obvious has flown over the head of a supposed great baseball mind in Showalter?

They talked about it on the broadcast the other night...Thorne said that Buck feels if you are going to be a successful ML pitcher, that you have to hold runners well.

That is such a crock of poop. I mean, you talk about how great your catcher is and how great of an arm he has, so he can make up for some of those issues anyway.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Agree completely.

I really don't know how much this affected Matusz's mechanics. It didn't seem to affect others. At least by them complaining about it. It seems fundamental. I think Palmer referred to it as that, so it's apparently nothing new. That said, these types of things need to be instituted at the Minor League level and it is kinda ridiculous to be calling this stuff out after the pitcher reaches the majors.

[Sports Guy]

I really don't know how much this affected Matusz's mechanics. It didn't seem to affect others. At least by them complaining about it. It seems fundamental. I think Palmer referred to it as that, so it's apparently nothing new. That said, these types of things need to be instituted at the Minor League level and it is kinda ridiculous to be calling this stuff out after the pitcher reaches the majors.

Whatever delivery BMat used up until last year is the one he should use.

Same thing with Tillman. What was his delivery when he was a top 30 prospect and why have you moved him away from that?

Let these guys work with what they are comfortable with.

I think there were many things that messed BMat last year..some were physical, some were mental.

He appears to be healthier, is in better shape and mentally seems to be fine.

So, now he has to go out and perform. Just let him do it in a way he feels comfortable and stop trying to have him "hurry up".