Can Means become the Orioles’ version of Kuechel?

[7Mo]

15 minutes ago, OrioleDog said:

Having had a night to digest, Means here is really intriguing.  I generally understand a pitcher's spin to be a personal signature, but this make me wonder if Elias/Sig know how to teach it a little.  I know curating better spin efficiency is teachable and part of the current performance frontier.

My understanding, ignoring the idea that the Astros might be using substances, is that they're acquiring guys with high spin rates to begin with and then tweaking the grip to maximize. Seems to fit with the idea of "get better at what you're good at" which fits the Luhnow profile. 

Teams can acquire known high-spin pitchers, but whether individual teams and players can improve their spin ratios is another question. If a team or individual can learn how to alter fastball spin naturally, they would have a major competitive advantage. (Driveline Baseball’s Kyle Boddy wrote on Twitter earlier this year that one way to increase fastball spin without substance would be to throw a hybrid four-seam/cut fastball.)

Eno Sarris found for The Athletic that pitchers joining the Astros have enjoyed small spin gains on average, but not every pitcher has made gains. FanGraphs found that the Blue Jays, Yankees, Rockies, Tigers and Astros added the most spin to new arrivals, often modest gains.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/baseballs-top-staffs-have-come-around-on-the-high-spin-fastball/

[SurhoffRules]

28 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

I have to think it was an intentional adjustment he made, perhaps with help from Holt. 

I'm looking at his FF release point data because I don't know what else to try and grab.

After start the season his vertical release point dropped about an inch around his sixth start and then continued to drop until settling about 2-3 inches lower for the last few months. Horizontally, the sixth games marks the start of a 2.5 inch drift outward over the course of a season.

His first six starts look pretty similar, and then he drifts down and outside for the next month and a half before settling into a reasonable range around June. The spin rate results look much more immediate but maybe he tweaked something and then found his way into a new slot to maintain it.

[OFFNY]

o

 

NEW YORK YANKEES )))))) (JULY 30th)

David John "D.J." LeMahieu - 2B

Aaron James "A.J."Judge - RF

Gleyber David Castro Torres - SS

Giancarlo Cruz Michael Stanton - DH

Aaron Hicks - CF

Louis Linwood Voit III - 1B

Gary Sanchez - C

Giovanny Urshela - 3B

Michael Andujar - LF

James Anthony "J.A." Happ - LHP )) (12-8, 4.91 ERA) 

 

https://www.mlb.com/starting-lineups

 

o