Joe Morgan Almost Taught Me Something Tonight
Sunday, May 20, 2007
It's crazy to even think it, but I think I almost learned something from Joe Morgan tonight.
A couple of innings ago, he pointed out that on some pitches, New York Yankees rookie Tyler Clippard falls off the mound to the first base side and on some pitches, he falls off the mound to the third base side. Joe said he's never seen anything like that and I believe him because it looked really, really weird.
The thing that bothers me is this: wouldn't such a vast difference at the end of his delivery show up somewhere earlier in the motion and tip the pitch? I will readily admit to not knowing a lot about the mechanics of a major league pitcher, but it's hard to believe that this wouldn't create problems as teams get the opportunity to hit against him more often.
Of course, Joe didn't say much to address that question, noting only that the differentiation in Clippard's motion comes just after the release point and probably won't be an issue. So, even if he didn't actually teach me anything, at least Joe Morgan deserves credit for pointing out something I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.
3 Comments:
The movement itself comes too late, but I don't understand how he can move like that without altering the earlier portion of his motion - maybe not something we can see clearly with just a couple of viewings on television, but something that could be picked up by repeated video analysis.
Joe Morgan sometimes states the obvious and repeats himself, but he's MUCH better than McCarver and he's got good chemistry with Jon Miller, who I think is the best national voice in baseball today.
It's one of the few things Joe was right on -- that movement to either side comes way too late for the hitter to notice, plus, you'll have to guess whether it was the fastball or the off-speed stuff. Not enough of a tell.