I have wondered why it is that I have never seen an MLB pitcher who changes his delivery occasionally during the game. I don’t mean changing to pitching from the stretch when runners are on base, of course. Or even slightly dropping down from, say, a direct overhand release to a three-quarters one. Although even this is not done very often.
What I am mainly asking about is: why doesn’t a LH pitcher with a standard delivery sometimes change into a sidewinder or even submarine delivery when facing a LH batter? And of course why doesn’t a righty pitcher do the same when facing a RH hitter? I did this in high school and had great success with it.
…I used to move to the extreme side of the rubber, with just my heel touching, to the side the hitter was one. and then drop into a sidewinder delivery if he was a lefty. Since I was a lefty. For this reason lefties during my three years of pitching in h.s hit less than .250 against me.
Of course I realize that big league hitters are several orders of magnitude more skilled than varsity h.s. hitter. But it still seems to me that dropping into a submarine or sidewinder throwing motion against a hitter on that same side of the plate.
Thanks for your thoughts on this question, baseball fans!
My suspicion is that mastering a pitching delivery at the major-league level is extremely complex, and that switching back and forth during a game would, for most pitchers, lead to both deliveries being inaccurate.
Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez would use different arm angles, including dropping all the way down to sidearm once in awhile He did it because he was a junkballer, basically, without overpowering velocity or a single, devastating pitch with break. He also changed speeds and rhythm…anything he could do to get a hitter off balance.
I suspect that most pitchers don’t do it because it wouldn’t work for them. Having a repeatable delivery not only helps control (throwing strikes) but also helps avoid “tipping” pitches and thus giving the batter an advantage. Unless a sidearm pitch has filthy movement, you might fool a hitter once in awhile but they would look for it if you featured it. Those guys can hit anything.
Thanks, Blankey…yeah, now that you mention it, I do recall el Duke dropping down to sidewinder now and again. And I think the old A’s reliever Dennis Eckersley did as well. Makes sense about the junkballers doing it too; that’s mainly what I was. So I had to mix it up a bit too compensate for a so-so fastball. I even dabbled in the knuckler once in awhile, after being obsessed with it after reading Jim Bouton’s “Ball Four.” LOL.
The idea that more pitcher do not alter their delivery because they don’t want to risk messing up their mechanics on their bread-and-butter style also makes sense, I guess. And indeed that is the answer I have gotten more than any other. Still, if you practice BOTH styles equally, it still seems that it could be done.
I suspect that the answer, for most pitchers, is that it takes all of their practice time to perfect a single throwing motion. Pitchers’ practice time and pitch counts are tightly monitored these days, and unless the different styles were an important part of that pitcher’s arsenal (i.e., the junkball pitchers mentioned already), I guess I don’t see a pitcher’s coaches being willing to have him spend a significant amount of time on the alternate delivery.
There’s also each person’s physical structure. I throw from a low 3/4 angle. Throwing straight overhand is actually uncomfortable and feels “forced” like my shoulder joint doesn’t want to do that.
Spot on, coach. I always felt like that throwing from straight over the top. Even back in Little League. I began to wonder if it was a “lefty” thing, since if memory serves, most of those sidewinders you see ARE southpaws. I do admit that I could always get more velocity when coming from over the top. But my command was better when going sidewinder. I swear: I hardly EVER threw a ball when doing that, unless I was intentionally trying to make a pitcher chase one. Or backing a lefty off the plate, so I then could come at him over the top and to the outside on the next pitch. I also had to come over the top when throwing my screwball, since it was pure hell on my shoulder to try the screwgie from sidewinder style. And of course a knuckler is IMPOSSIBLE to throw from the side.