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…Billy Wagner threw in the bullpen this morning, and continued to work with Rick Peterson on throwing from a full wind up, not just from the stretch, while mixing in a variety of pitches, including a curve ball…
…the best part was watching peterson stand next to the catcher, fearless, giving the occasional thumbs up to wagner when a pitch would land in their desired spot…
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Love the animated image!
Can some one let those of us who do not know how Matt would get the image to animate? Is it flash or something similar?
it’s simply an animated gif. if you google how to create one, it will tell u what program you need. i am sure adobe has one in their design suite that you can use to make animated gifs.
ImageReady
It’s steady and YouTube can’t take it down!
can someone explain the benefit of Wagner pitching from the wind-up?
Wagner pitches solely with his arm. All pitching coaches try to teach their players to push off with their legs. By doing that, they generate more power, and put less stress on their arm. A young Wagner did not have to worry about fatigue as much as he does now. Pitching from a wind-up will also help mask his new breaking pitches better. Hope this helps.
Wagner has one of the longest strides in MLB despite being less than 6 feet tall. He absolutely does not throw all arm.
Well in some people’s eyes the windup is an unnecessary part of the delivery of a pitch. Just something else that could go wrong in the delivery. In the windup, the ideal is to step straight back lightly, not bringing any weight back, then pivot on your throwing foot. You turn your body as you bring your leg up and at the height of your leg kick you should be able to stop and be balanced, weight should not be going forward or sideward. Then you seperate your hands, kick the foot out while bringing the ball back, land your foot (toe pointing toward your target), bring the ball forwards, transfer the weight, release and follow thru. This of course is just a generalization. Pitching from the stretch, you bring the leg up and at the height of your leg kick you should have balance, and so forth, just as from the windup. So a lot of coaches have looked at this and said that the windup maybe unnecessary. You can end up transfering your weight backwards and need extra to go back forwards, or bring it forward to early. You may transfer it sideways if you dont step back straight and then when you try to go forwards your weight goes sideways and not straight toward the plate. You really want your weight to go in the straight line between second and home. Well anyway I think you get my drift. Now remember I said that only some coaches think this and not all. There are different theories on so many things in baseball. But just from this explanation you’d wonder why a guy who’s pitched from the stretch for years would suddenly decide that a windup would help him. But then again it is from the mind of Billy Wagner.
I know I went a little long on my explanation, but I wanted to say one more thing. Watch the animated gif of Wagner closely, right from the start. You’ll see the small step back with very little weight transfer. Then the turn and leg kick without the weight coming forward, and then so on. But if you look at it you notice that his leg kick is the same as when he throws from the stretch. So as I said, from that point on everything is the same. So what would the reason be for the windup? There’s no deception involved in the windup part. There’s no extra push off since you dont push off until after the leg kick. Doesn’t help the breaking ball since you dont break the hands till the leg kick. There is no advantage that I can think of, only problems that can happen with its use.
It might be to help distract hitters from being able to identify the curve and changeup.
Or it might be to help him actually hit the spots with the offspeed pitches.
im gonna go ahead and say if the jacket thinks its good then i trust his judgement
I like the image. I like that Wagner is trying to improve. Having said that..Is anybody worried that this might make him less effective in his closing role? I just hope he can rear back and bring the heat when needed.
it will probably make him more effective…helps him to mix up his offering a bit, similar to Glavine and his curveball
i agree…it’s not like he’s going to forget how to throw his fastball. the curveball will probably be something he uses seldom to keep hitters even a little more off balance.
Is he supposed to throw at, above, or below the string?
I was under the impression that the string was there to “hit”. If you are throwing at the string, you are hitting a line where hitters’ BA is something A-Hern like–.187 or something.
wagner is very good at pitching one inning at a time without losing a lead of 1, 2, or 3 runs, for most of the year. But i don’t trust him in the postseason or at a yankee mets game with 50,000 in the crowd. but then again who can you trust in those spots, not even that guy on the Pads.
sometimes going to the “closer” is bad news. you’ll have a setup man in control of what he is doing, then you automatically have to bring in your closer and gamble he will hit the strike zone.
i hate the way roles and contracts take away from the gut feeling of managing.
You’re doing great w/ the mixed media, buddy!
Alou is hurt now.