Righty Luke Bucon, seen here in Thursday's game,
would seem to have elbow flexion at release, one of
the biomechanics markers.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
According to what I'm reading in Baseball Prospectus 2015 (the last several entries), right-hander Luke Bucon of the Vikings would seem to demonstrate visible elbow flexion when he releases the pitch. (See photo above from Thursday's game.)
As we've talked about before, this is one of the contributors to pitch movement, along with shoulder abduction and body tilt, all three playing into delivery angle.
Obviously, I'm writing this at this point for my own enrichment. This is my fifth installment, I think, as I read the Brooks et al article on pitching biomechanics and pitch-tracking.
The authors point out that analysis of a pitcher's biomechanics--the angle of his delivery and other elements--is useful medically to understand "the forces acting on key joints and ligaments". (Witness the rash of Tommy John surgeries on Major League Baseball pitchers in March 2015 alone.) "Tweaks or changes" can be made to a pitcher's delivery to reduce stress on the arm. But this is also going to result in changes in pitch movement by that hurler.
Steve Booth, one of the assistant coaches at La Jolla's baseball team, already does one of the things pointed out in the article. (Steve has nothing to do with the information in these articles, and I have not interviewed him on the subject. It is my product alone.) He talks in terms of "11 o'clock" and "10 o'clock) for arm angle. Brooks and his colleagues in Baseball Prospectus 2015 state that detail like this is much more informing than "3/4" or "overhand".
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
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