Art Of Baseball
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Sharing Advanced Baseball Content To Develop Amateur Players + Coaches Faster | World Series Champion | By @RealBanny
brianbannister.co
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The Dodgers have far and away the best offense in baseball this year.
Their 122 wRC+ and .342 wOBA are ahead of the next best St. Louis Cardinals by a wide margin.
What do they do better than everybody else?
⚾
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Recreating the Jason Adam changeup grip.
Requires an extreme stretch on the thumb, but leads to helicopter spin at high velos.
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The average MLB fastball usage in 2022 currently stands at 49.0%.
It has taken 120+ years for pitchers to throw their least productive pitch less than their more productive pitches.
But they finally did it.
💪
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Curveballs with a vertical shape work better against opposite handed hitters.
Curveballs with a two-plane shape work well against both handedness.
Curveballs with a horizontal shape work better against same handed hitters.
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A selection of slides from the 2022 Bridge Seminar presentation:
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Command problems are often not solved by practicing more command.
Here are other common solutions to get in the zone more often:
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Make your practice sessions harder and your games will seem easier:
👇
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The same exact pitch shape on a movement plot can be productive for one pitcher and a terrible pitch for another.
Why?
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Simple fastball quality test:
Have a pitcher face live hitters.
25-30 pitches. Fastballs only.
The hitters know it’s coming.
Pitchers with fastball quality will still get consistent whiffs, popups, and groundballs regardless of velo.
Adjust fastball usage accordingly.
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The best coaches can enhance performance while preserving an athlete’s unique:
• Movement Patterns
• Timing Mechanisms
• Motor Preferences
• Learning Style
• Visual Needs
The best coaches don’t sanitize…
They optimize.
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Pitchers with high spin rates (2400+ RPM) on their fastball are often cutting the ball (low spin efficiency) and have less total movement than other pitchers with lower spin rates.
High spin rates + high spin efficiency on the fastball (like Justin Verlander) are extremely rare.
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Brad Ziegler produced a sterling 2.75 career ERA across 11 Major League seasons as a closer for the A's, Dbacks, Red Sox, and Marlins.
But even amongst submarine-style pitchers he was an outlier.
How did he achieve his success? ⚾🧵
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Thousands of pitchers are just one small adjustment away in:
• Pitch usage
• Spin efficiency
• Stride direction
• Visual deception
• Secondary grips
• Delivery tempo/intent
From unlocking a significantly higher level of performance.
The art is in identifying the change.
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@CodifyBaseball
My favorite approach to Ichiro was throwing the slowest curveballs possible.
I hoped he would run out of batter’s box before it got there.
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Great example of a:
• Linear + approach angle pitcher vs.
• Rotational + seam effects pitcher
Both miss barrels in their own style.
One benefits from more velo.
One prioritizes seam orientation.
Both Hall of Famers.
Greg Maddux: “I could probably throw faster, but why?”
Nolan Ryan: “I could definitely throw slower, but why?”
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Thank you to
@TreadHQ
,
@TreadAthletics
, and
@T_Zombro24
for a great day at headquarters yesterday.
Incredible facility and culture.
Podcast will be out on 12/22. 🎙️
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Pitch quality is king.
Velo is the largest contributor to pitch quality.
But what if you don’t have elite velo?
Here are ways to maximize your ability:
⚾
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Strikes can get you to the postseason.
Outlier pitch quality wins in the postseason.
Championship teams at all levels tend to have outlier pitch quality while maintaining above-average strike throwing.
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Throwing strikes raises the floor of a pitching staff.
This approach thrives in the regular season where efficiency is rewarded over a larger sample.
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Some of the best pitchers have anatomical “flaws” that result in outlier pitch quality.
If you have unique qualities, don’t feel pressured to throw like everybody else.
Create your own niche style and make hitters and coaches adjust to you.
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When a player does something new or something great - immediately have them explain it in their own words.
Write it down. Make a note on your phone. Make a voice recording.
When they eventually lose that feeling, and they will, use their own words to remind them of that moment.
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Looking forward to talking about:
- Lefties
- Cut Fastballs
- Spin Monsters
- Approach Angles
- Seam Effects
- Hypermobility
- Splitters
And all things weird about pitchers that make them effective.
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Famous racetracks use banked turns to keep the cars from flying off the track at high speeds due to centrifugal force.
Pitchers with lower arm slots wonder why they miss to their armside trying to pronate through the inside of the baseball.
Bank your turns.
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@TreadAthletics
Our pitchers are throwing 88 MPH seam-shifted changeups with negative vert.
That’s the new 88.
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Scatter plots of multiple data points are one of the most underutilized reference tools in pitching.
Everyone is obsessed with maximizing a pitcher’s physical performance.
Few search for (and leverage) what makes a pitcher unique from the crowd.
Hitters hate unique.
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Power Bartolo vs Seam Effects Bartolo.
Linear vs Rotational.
He leveraged physics more effectively as he aged to counteract his drop in velo.
A physical specimen and a baseball genius.
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People go bankrupt slowly and then all at once.
People are successful slowly and then all at once.
Players become dominant slowly and then all at once.
Life is exponential.
Be willing to do the slow work.
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In the last 15 years, the most valuable pitch to throw at the MLB level is the split-finger fastball.
It has been used just 1.5% of the time.
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Approach your personal and professional development with an iterative mindset to outperform.
Here’s why it works:
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On the schedule this week:
1. New biomechanics certification with Dr. Ryan Crotin
@ArmCarecom
2. Stopping by
@TreadHQ
for a podcast with
@TreadAthletics
&
@T_Zombro24
3. Podcast with the great
@bradfo
4.
@WakePitchingLab
Bridge Seminar presentation on advanced pitch design
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Development Hack:
Throwing a curveball is a quick way to determine if your bicep or tricep is more dominant in your arm action.
If you struggle to generate velo or it has a big hump in it, you likely are better at cutters and changeups/splitters which leverage your tricep more.
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If you struggle to throw a football, you likely have a high spin efficiency fastball.
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Coach like a surgeon:
• Start with an MRI (Pitch Data/MoCap).
• Have an initial procedure planned out.
• Once surgery begins keep adapting as new information presents itself.
• Trust your experience and skill to produce the best outcome for the patient.
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Thank you to
@MikeMcFerran_
and the
@WakePitchingLab
for the opportunity to present at the 2022 Bridge Seminar.
Great event, fantastic speakers, and an incredible baseball talent base in attendance.
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The RELATIONSHIP between multiple pitches is more important than the absolute properties of an individual pitch.
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Sharing analytics with athletes.
✅ Good.
Sharing stories, analogies, and metaphors with athletes.
✅ Better.
Sharing stories, analogies, and metaphors that allow athletes to share analytics with other athletes.
✅ Best.
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This is a great thread and a fun example of the role inertia plays in the pitching delivery.
Even though pitch data has been collected since 2007, inertia continues to be ignored as an important force on the baseball.
Here’s how I like to think about it: ⚾️🧵
When it comes to weird profiles, Domingo Acevedo’s “slider” might just take the cake.
At 87 mph with 7 inches of HB, the pitch looks typical on paper…Until you realize that it’s 7 inches of armside run.
(Thread)
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The most valuable artists have unique styles that weren’t taught in a textbook.
The nastiest pitchers have outlier qualities that coaches never developed.
People try to push you towards the averages because it’s “safe.”
Don’t be afraid to be different.
Hitters hate different.
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Don’t be afraid of not throwing a strike.
Don’t be afraid of giving up a hit.
Don’t be afraid of losing a game.
Those things will happen.
Be afraid of looking back someday and wondering how good you could’ve been if you had just put in the work.
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Good pitchers execute their intended pitch location consistently.
Great pitchers cause hitters to misjudge the final pitch location consistently.
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Players are locks and coaches are locksmiths.
A coach’s job is not to complain about the design of the lock, but to find the key to reaching the value waiting on the other side.
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Play catch with a pitcher.
Watch his tilt. Watch his spin efficiency.
Guess the numbers.
Then get him on a pitch tracking device and see how close you were.
Train your eyes.
You’ll be surprised at how good you can get.
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A pitcher’s leg kick and lead foot rotation into max knee height reveal many traits of the underlying hip anatomy.
Rotational characteristics and hypermobile ROM early foreshadow biomechanical preferences later in the delivery.
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When a pitcher is meant to throw a new pitch type it will often happen in just 1-2 sessions.
The synergy between the grip, pitch shape, and pitcher’s biomechanics will be undeniable.
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Higher tilt pitchers:
The more V + H movement you have on your fourseam fastball the harder it is to generate velo and secondary power + depth.
The less V + H movement you have on your fourseam fastball the harder it is to command and to produce armside secondary shapes.
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The mechanics + release point that result in maximum velo for a starting pitcher are often different from what yields the most productive 3 or 4 pitch arsenal from a pitch quality/pairing perspective.
Higher quality at slightly lower velos can also improve long-term durability.
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Don’t design your breaking ball shapes independently of your fastball.
Optimizing the relationship is more important than maximizing the numbers on an individual pitch.
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Evan Phillips was the 4th most valuable reliever in MLB in 2022.
There were only 35 starters that matched his 2.2 WAR.
He also drastically lowered his walk rate.
What led to his renaissance?
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What is single-loop learning and why should you avoid it?
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Striding closed can hack your delivery in positive ways:
• More horizontal inertia = lower slot
• Requires a tighter radius of rotation
• Lowers spin efficiency organically
• Eliminates harmful forward inertia
• Enhances visual deception
A hallmark of many elite starters.
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A sneak preview of
@ABCA1945
in Dallas this week…
Friendly reminder that a low vert fourseam isn't automatically "dead zone."
Sale's 4S averaged just 11.9" of vert in 2018 at 95.1 mph. But it was an outlier in other ways (vertical and horizontal approach angle).
Pure filth.
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Player development is like business.
If everybody else is doing it one way, there's opportunity for creative entrepreneurs to do it better a different way.
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Shohei Ohtani throws 101 MPH and has been worth 5.4 WAR as a pitcher in 2022.
He uses his fastball just 31% of the time.
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If your fourseam fastball doesn’t miss bats…
…don’t get beat by your fourseam fastball.
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@TreadAthletics
Yes.
If the:
1. FB efficiency is too low, or
2. The seams are never consistent
Make him a 2-3 shape breaking ball monster (cutter can become the primary FB) + use a low-RPM changeup or Vulcan/splitter for armside action.
Use the FB’s sparingly.
Joe Musgrove does this well.
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Pitcher Stat Trends In Pitch Data Era
(2007 - 2022)
⚾️🧵
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@TreadAthletics
+
@T_Zombro24
and I discuss a variety of development topics on the Tread Podcast from
@TreadHQ
in Charlotte:
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As a coach, the ability to wait for the right time to deliver information to a player is a superpower.
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Many pitchers ruin their plus breaking balls by chasing too much changeup depth/run.
The better option in most scenarios is either:
• Keep it a velo differential changeup
• Use a 2nd breaking ball shape instead
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Fastballs can be outlier because of:
• Velocity
• Plane
• Total movement
• Cut
• Extension
• Seam effects
• Release X/Y
If you don’t have outlier qualities on your fastball…
…throwing a secondary pitch that tunnels immediately before your fastball can help production.
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@TreadAthletics
Pitchers with flatter approach angles can get away with more linear hinge/push movements like hooking the rubber.
Pitchers that depend on high FB spin efficiency or power curveball/sweeper shapes should avoid in favor of tighter rotation and less forward inertia.
Customize it.
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If you’re a right-handed reliever with a near vertical arm slot (12:00 - 12:15 tilt), it’s worth sacrificing vert to add cut with a grip change.
Make your fastball a left-handed fastball instead.
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Great investors and great coaches have the courage to take calculated risks with asymmetric upside when the data is incomplete and the crowd is fearful.
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Just because something isn’t measured…
…doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
PITCHf/x didn’t have spin rate.
Trackman has never had spin efficiency.
Rapsodo doesn’t look for a seam-shifted wake.
Know your tech. Know what it doesn’t measure.
It all matters in helping players.
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Most pitchers hate it…
But some of the greatest fastballs of all-time have a fully tucked thumb.
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The twoseam fastball can play many roles:
1. Higher spin efficiency riding fastball
2. Seam-shifted wake sinking fastball
3. Magnus tailing fastball
Understand the role it plays in an arsenal, and don’t be too quick to judge if it’s better or worse than a fourseam fastball.
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The best player development unlocks a higher performance ceiling.
But it also results in more consistency…
…not just because of more practice volume, but because the player is finally moving how they need to move.
The synergy creates the consistency.
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MLB Team 1st Pitch Strike % Leaders:
2022: Dodgers 64.0%
2021: Giants 63.4% (Dodgers 63.3%)
2020: Dodgers 63.0%
2019: Dodgers 63.0%
2018: Dodgers 64.1%
2017: Dodgers 63.7%
2016: Dodgers 63.1% (Mets 63.1%)
🤔
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In 2022, Sandy Alcantara threw 228.2 innings.
Nearly 30 more innings than the next best MLB starter.
He faced 886 batters.
His fastball averaged 98.0 MPH for the ENTIRE season.
👀
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If you want to make your pitchers better, spend time standing in the batters box against them.
If they don’t:
• Scare you
• Confuse you
• Deceive you
• Disrupt your rhythm
They’re easy to hit.
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Incorporate this framework into your career and success will follow:
• Starting (the hardest part)
• Acknowledging you will fail along the way
• Growing and iterating daily
• Recognizing larger trends
• Prioritizing the success of other people
• Sharing the lessons learned
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Re-reading
@ShakeyWaits
’s book “How We Learn To Move.”
So many powerful concepts for skill acquisition that challenge traditional approaches:
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The best pitch to throw in leverage is the one a pitcher has the most conviction in.
Through preparation and education make sure that pitch also has the most analytical + game theory value.
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Two pitchers with identical fastball:
• Tilt
• Spin Efficiency
• Spin Rate
• Seam Orientation
• Velocity
Can have different total movement on their fastballs because of delivery inertia.
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Being in the strike zone is necessary but less productive for pitchers.
To minimize damage:
• Steal strikes early with 3rd/4th pitches
• Pitch backwards
• Backdoor shapes for higher take rates
• Throw a ball then tunnel a strike
• Use seam effects for late movement
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@TreadAthletics
I decided a long time ago this game was more fun visualizing the best in people, celebrating their uniqueness, sharing my failures so they could avoid them, and helping them succeed by referring them to others.
They’ve made a couple of billion dollars and I still feel that way.
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Merry Christmas to you and your families from
@ArtOfBaseball
!
I’m thankful for everyone in the baseball community that has reached out in 2022.
Look for bigger and better educational content in 2023!🎄🎁⚾️💪
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From a basic swing decision perspective:
1. They don't swing at pitches outside of the zone (3rd - 29.2%)
2. They swing at pitches in the zone (8th - 70.2%)
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Avoid using the same grip location on the baseball for multiple pitches.
The shapes tend to blend over time.
To prevent blending:
• Alternate horseshoes (breaking balls)
• Move your thumb position
• Spike one grip
• Rotate the ball 90 degrees forward or sideways
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Insertion point variability can have a huge impact on how athletes prefer to move.
Here is a basic primer on the physics:
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Deceptive arm actions often keep the ball:
1. Behind the torso into scap load
2. Behind the head during torso rotation
3. Behind the humerus into release
Thicker torsos, barrel chests, and big hair can accentuate the effect.
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Some pitchers will never have fastball quality.
Their careers will be defined by adding velo, avoiding damage locations, creative sequencing, and heavy secondary usage.
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If you throw a ball:
Tunnel a strike.
If you throw a strike:
Tunnel a ball.
❌ ❌
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Power pitchers that make pitching look easy operate on unique planes.
Command pitchers that make pitching look easy leverage unique ball physics.
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Every pitcher misses locations.
Study the direction and distance of your most frequent misses.
Then aim for zone locations that give a great result if executed, but also an effective result if you miss.
You lose more often because of your misses.
Make them less damaging.
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Your physical talent and hard work will get you opportunities at higher levels.
Your uniqueness, consistency, and adaptability will determine your success once you get there.
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Pitchers that are able to generate elite velocity at extension ranges less than or equal to their physical height have a strong advantage in preserving spin efficiency by eliminating excess forward inertia.
Examples:
• Justin Verlander
• Charlie Morton
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Replace an athlete’s fears with your confidence in the data and process.
When you’re not scared because of your preparation and experience…
…it’s hard for them to be scared of new concepts that lead to growth.
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Designing biomechanics to achieve optimal pitch physics and pitch shape pairings is often significantly more valuable than simply maximizing movement speed.
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Art of Baseball will be giving away limited edition 2022 “Throw Knows Throw” hoodies featuring Throwie the Spray Can.
The design is inspired by my favorite player Bo Jackson.
Just follow and retweet for a chance to win.
Only 50 total will be made.
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Before a company launches a product or service - they ask customers what their pain points are.
Then they solve them.
Before you work on your mechanics or pitch shapes - look at what MLB hitters can't hit.
Then figure out how to throw those pitches.
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