Matt Daniels
@MattD_Official
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Pitching Development & Acquisitions Specialist @Twins
Minneapolis, MN
Joined May 2011
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We have found the equivalent to pitchers’ BP in another sport
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It's 9/11, which means that it's also time to remember the most gangster first pitch of all time
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So did a lot of professional athletes who care about performing well at their jobs
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This pitch sequence from Carson Fulmer has absolutely zero regard for human life
#vandybaseball
#fuzz
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So anyways, eat steak and throw gas
“Bullpen” refers to the area of a “bull’s pen” where bulls are held before they are slaughtered—it’s a word with speciesist roots & we can do better than that.
Switching to “arm barn” would be a home run for baseball fans, players, and animals 💪⚾️
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Incredibly thankful for the past four years. It’s time for a new life chapter. Go
@SFGiants
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This is not a place baseball players want to go to during the season
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On this date 7 years ago I began my 2000 mile drive to become the 1st employee at a startup called Driveline Baseball.
Since then I have trained/evaluated thousands of pro pitchers and witnessed one of the most remarkable org improvements in MLB history.
7 things I’ve learned🧵
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2 MiLB championships and reaching 100 wins makes for one incredible night for the
@SFGiants
org!
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This is Bryce Harper pitching at CSN. It is undoubtedly one of my favorite pitching videos. Here are the main takeaways from this:
1) Intent is correctly placed. There’s a fluid, slow buildup until an explosive rotation happens at the end
2) Delivery is organic, not overcoached
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Carson Fulmer elbow spiral phase from the “1st base” and “2nd base” sides. The right shoulder begins to externally rotate as the right scapula reaches its end range of motion. Thoracic extension is maintained up until the moment before the arm unwinds into release.
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THIS is what a young pitcher should look like. Minimal verbal cues or coaching, just doing constraint drills and throwing stuff as hard as he can. The resulting delivery is something special
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Astros and Dodgers in the World Series is justice for baseball. Data-driven baseball has won the war. Adapt or die
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If you think velocity doesn’t matter, it’s because you’re not the one conversing on a day-to-day basis with multiple 90-93 mph pro arms (MLB & MiLB) with career 3 ERA’s and 2-3 BB/9 that are currently being released from orgs because they don’t throw hard enough
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“What is positive disconnection?”
Check out how the glove arm is done moving once the throwing arm reaches max external rotation. There’s clear separation between when the glove arm is done moving and internal rotation/elbow extension. This is, dare I say, an ELITE example
Jeremy Jeffress, Mechanics/Arm Action (96mph Fastball).
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For anyone that hasn’t been paying attention, the highest average fastball velocity in 2018 (including the fastest 8 fastballs) does not belong to Aroldis Chapman, but to a young RHP who made his MLB debut on March 29th: Jordan Hicks. What an arm
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This was quite possibly the furthest home run I’ve ever witnessed in person
Marco Luciano reached base twice vs the Rockies, including this 0-1 HR (119 EV).
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I have noticed one notable training difference between exceptional and average trainees:
Exceptional trainees take a sec in between reps to gather breath and refocus on their purpose for each rep
Average trainees speed through workouts without paying attention to rep quality
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Probably the best defensive play I’ve ever seen in person. Certainly the best one by a catcher, at minimum.
Sports Center is rigged if this isn’t
#1
on top plays
Ok, Brett Auerbach. This is just ridiculous.
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This is
@mattmercer360
throwing a grey ball 97.4 mph. He has a gift of being an exceptional rotational athlete, but his lead leg block is what really helps him capture that gift within a throw. Check out the 2nd clip, his foot slips a little from applying force in the X direction
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Marcus Stroman pitching mechanics, overhead view in 240 frames per second
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Not sure who needs to hear this but just because a breaking ball is elevated in the zone does not always mean that it is hanging
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If you're over 18 and have to be reminded to work hard, you've already lost. Hard work should be implied, not classified as revolutionary
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This ain’t it.
Playing with passion, style, flair, etc is good for the game. Absolutely here for the bat flips and K struts, especially when executed smoothly.
Yelling obscenities at the opposition as a celebration is trying way too hard and makes the college game unwatchable.
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Professional Update Part 2🧵
I’m thrilled to announce my new position as Pitching Development & Acquisitions Specialist for the Minnesota Twins. The opportunity to join such a talented braintrust in this capacity is highly motivating and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.
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Driveline Baseball welcomes Chihiro Kaneko, winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award (NPB equivalent of the Cy Young Award) in 2014. He moves really well😳
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This ab against Javier Baez is everything Adam worked for this offseason. By now you’ve likely seen that he’s flashed some great cutters this year, but this is the first ab of the season that he flat out dominated using exclusively fastball/cutter. And it’s beautiful
#pitchdesign
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While
@Al_Leiter22
’s Driveline plug was awesome, I thought this was easily some of the most important baseball advice ever given on tv. Coaches, Al is absolutely correct. Developing proper throwing fitness is critical for a pitcher to be able to withstand an in-season workload.
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Yeah,
@JoelMcKeithan
hit a virtual dinger off of
@BauerOutage
. If you don't want to train in this environment then you don't have a pulse
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Coaches: don’t box your whole pitching staff into one strategy to attack hitters. Your staff will be diverse in stuff, command, and mentality. While you want your player development to positively influence a pitcher’s makeup, it behooves you to adapt to his makeup
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Fun fact of the day: if you don’t think advanced data matters, consider that the 2018 World Series Champions led MLB in the following categories
-WOBA
-Exit Velocity
-XBA
-XSLG
-XWOBA
Oh they also led in hits, batting average, slugging, OBP, and all that stuff too.
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It’s odd to me that a lot of people have this idea that you always have to mix up your pitches. If you find that you’ve exposed a glaring weakness during an at-bat, go for the kill. The objective is to get hitters out, not about making random pitch sequences just because
Patrick Corbin, Sliders to Joey Gallo. 🍔
Fairly certain Avila put down signs out of respect for the game...rather than just yelling out to the mound "Hey Corby, throw another slider!"
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Gonna touch on of the new drills, Step Back Throws. The design is to purposely overload the back side to learn to correctly use both legs
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That’s some lead leg... blocking
Justin Verlander, Throwing the Ball into His Own Leg, Mechanics
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It’s PlyoCare Velocity day for many of the athletes here. As you can see some of the other athletes have formed a pit around the throwing lane. Don’t jump in the pit if you aren’t going to compete with 100% intent.
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First base view of a mid 90’s fastball. Right scap is at max retraction as the lead leg first begins to stabilize, just before unleashing shoulder rotation
This is what throws the ball. This part of the throw is ultimately what matters. Anything else beforehand must enhance this
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The Astros have allowed 534 runs this season, which is the lowest amount in MLB by a wide margin, with the Dodgers next at 610. Below are pitch frequency diagrams of 4 of Houston's 5 starters. Takeaway? They don't nibble at corners, they attack an area of the zone with plus stuff
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*WARNING: explicit language*
This may be an odd way to illustrate “intent”, but this scene from Straight Outta Compton is a reminder that going through the motions to perform tasks isn’t good enough: they need to be executed with intent and conviction.
How do you train/compete?
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Preparation is hands down the best source of confidence going into competition. If you have inferior preparation to a similarly skilled opponent, you’re not going to feel confident, I don’t care how many breaths you take or how many signs/labels you stare at.
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Observation of the day: Got here early again for beeps and Bartolo was one of the first guys for the Rangers on the field. He’s currently running around shagging balls like a kid. It’s pretty clear that he really loves the game
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I think I already mentioned that
@kanekochihiro
moves really well... pitch arsenal is pretty damn good too
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If you’re still having athletes do what you did “back in your day” then by definition you aren’t advancing. Idk why that’s so hard to grasp
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Alright, here’s the video that outlines a few use cases for each of Adam Ottavino’s pitches. The “cutter” is what we designed this offseason in order to give him a harder breaking ball to tunnel better with his primary heater. Basically trying to help him solve Coors
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This is outstanding. Little League was broadcasting one of our games from 2004 and I caught it just in time for
@RGrich15
to get intentionally walked to load the bases and then for me to hit a grand slam. If you watch until the end you’ll see a little Sammy Sosa hop as well.
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Does anyone remember the
@DrivelineBB
weighted balls when they were different colors?
These were the subject of one of the biggest ass chewings I’ve ever had as an employee (delivered by
@drivelinebases
)… and I completely deserved it.
THREAD: Why and the lessons learned⬇️
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Overhead view of
@danstraily67
during his pregame warm ups. This is arguably the best view to watch positive disconnection take place
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#SRgif
of Tyler Glasnow from max leg lift through ball release. At 6'8", being able to coordinate elite linear & rotational movement is rare
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Even though he’s a well-established veteran, I feel like Jon Lester isn’t talked about enough. When at his best he basically throws 70-80% 4-seams and cutters. Here’s an example of how he uses those two pitches on a righty and a lefty, as well as the spin axis of each pitch
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Parts of a great lead leg block:
1) lead knee stabilizes after SFC. Obvious
2) leg braces/extends as internal rotation happens at lead hip
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Make sure you take 12 year olds to pro instructors so they can learn to properly balance and OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS
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Ummm you hit it out of the stadium you do whatever the hell you want
Willians Astudillo may have broken every single one of baseball's unwritten rules on one home run 🤣
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Ohhhhh my goodness. I just found overhead footage of Shohei Otani and it is as awesome as you could possibly imagine
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There are very few things worse for your self-esteem than the sound of one of your plyo ball throws hitting a net
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I’ve never understood the crowd that hates on modern day pitching analytics. While you do learn new things, the main goals are to analyze pitchers like Maddux, Randy Johnson, Clemens, Pedro, etc, recognize what they did clearly worked, and understand WHY what they did worked.
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This brings up a really good point. If you’re an athlete (amateur or pro) and facing the death of your playing career, you do not have the ability to take time off. Yes, use good recovery habits, but time is money man. You can’t just wait for the velo fairy to show up one night
Call today from another dad. Son is a senior 81-83 mph RHP w no scholarship or walk-on offers.”What you can do for him after he takes his 2-3 month break from overhand throwing?” 🤔Hmm.We can help him pick out a tux for the prom so he can enjoy his last year as a baseball player?
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It's not about "tucking the glove", which promotes a bicep curl type of movement. Retract the lead scap to help throwing side rotate forward
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HERE’S THE THING…
FASTBALL VELOCITY MATTERS BUT IT IS NOT THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS TO PITCH AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF BASEBALL.
YOU ALSO NEED TO HAVE A PITCH USAGE STRATEGY THAT REFLECTS YOUR STRENGTHS, MAINTAIN COUNT LEVERAGE, AND CONTROL THE RUNNING GAME.
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Wanted to repost this video as a reminder to not box athletes into one ideal arm action, but instead to make sure that it gets the job done
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Grips don’t make balls move: spin axes do. A grip is designed to influence spin axis to create desired effect. This point is often forgotten
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Don’t expect to purchase a program and assume $$ spent means that you’re going to automatically get better. A training program is only the equivalent to a road map. How well you train, or how well you follow the map, plays the largest role in your results. It takes serious effort
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Spring Training was cancelled almost 7 months ago to the day, and the MiLB season was cancelled as well. Since then our players have been resourceful to find ways to develop. Instructs games begin today and it’s awesome to see these guys get an opportunity to compete again.
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Players can get better when they can apply the right information and have the right opportunities to succeed. This is a fun team to watch.
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Thoughts on day 3 of no baseball
If any sort of updated editions of the Harry Potter books are ever released then the quidditch stadium should add Statcast to capture broom flight acceleration and quaffle movement profiles.
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Last one. Kaneko does a tremendous job of hinging at the hips (sitting back) and holding his back foot anchor as his center of mass descends down the mound. There’s no “jump” or “push”. Back hip IR occurs close to landing. Momentum is stopped at landing and rotation is unleashed
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Here’s another view of how Kaneko has minimal body movement after ball release. He braces lead leg and rotates his shoulders to throw. Nothing more, nothing less. The path of torso rotation is set by external goals and the movements that come before it, so cueing it isn’t complex
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Kind of an interesting move to combine a Roll-In and Pivot Pickoff into one drill. He creates some pretty impressive thoracic extension although his torso rotation leaves a bit to be desired.
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It’s really cool that Deven documents his son’s bp sessions. Not to show how good his kid is but to instead educate parents on how little needs to be said to younger kids when they practice. You don’t need to be a former big leaguer to encourage fast movements
Kid wants to hit at 7AM on a Sunday. My jobs:
Transportation
Encourage him to hit it hard
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The DSL is the best.
1) DSL Giants Black cheering on DSL Giants Orange after they finished their game
2) THE ENERGY ARE YOU KIDDING ME
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Lol Glasnow is ridiculous
Tyler Glasnow, Mechanics/Intent (rear view/100mph Fastball).
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Sometimes our big leaguers get a lot of the social media exposure, but this is a victory that is not insignificant. Took a gap year, worked his ass here off for 15 consecutive months, signed with Westmont, made his college debut today. Congratulations Sim, well-deserved
Finally got the college debut out of the way ✅ (only took four years)
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State Trooper- “Excuse me sir, do you know how fast you were going?”
Civilian- “no”
ST- “75 in a 55”
C- “yeah but the radar gun was only 20 feet away”
ST- “true, i bet you were really going 40. Have a good day sir”
🤔
Every single time there’s a high intensity high velocity throw video that goes viral, it amazes me how many people still think that a radar gun reads higher the closer you are to the gun
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Arm Action/Pickup Phase notes: all of these athletes have thrown 95+ on a mound, yet have different ways to get to the Elbow Spiral Phase
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Proud to have worked for Kyle. My main reason for quitting my pursuit of pitching in professional baseball to train pitchers was because I believed in the vision that Kyle had for changing the game. I think it’s a major understatement to say Ive never once regretted that decision
It's no secret that baseball is changing & one could argue that
@drivelinebases
, founder of
@drivelinebb
, is leading that charge. But what type of person does it take to disrupt an antiquated system like baseball? Watch the 18-minute doc by
@itstaiki
here
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The “pull down on the side of the ball” cue is often used to instruct pitchers on how to throw a slider. Instead, I like to think of it along the lines of how gears work. Find a grip that takes advantage of a pitcher’s natural pronation and throw the shit out of it
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#SRgif
of Kelsey Plum's long toss mechanics. Something about UW girls being able to throw really well...
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Agreed, they’re pretty helpful for disguising pitches
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This shouldn’t be a surprise. Kids do an amazing job of emulating their parents (or other role models). Everyone has a genetic ceiling but the actions of a role model can make a difference as to what kind of technique and speed of movement your kid emulates.
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Believe it or not this isn’t exceptional by a textbook standards. But textbook standards don’t always apply to every athlete. Complete assessments and understanding the risk/reward of making changes to an athlete is everything.
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Just because energy travels up the kinetic chain doesn’t mean that all kinematics are influenced from the ground -> up. Upper body limitations can reroute how the lower body moves if it accomplishes better timing. The brain understands that the goal is to optimize the end result
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I feel like I just found the golden ticket in the mail. Really cool, thanks guys
@DrivelineBB
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A little fun with a hesitation move ➡️ optimize the turn.
It’s also surreal that I can just find a plyo wall at a random baseball field. That wouldn’t have been a thing 5 years ago.
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A few thoughts from last year on lead leg blocking. The block isn’t the straightening of the lead leg, rather the direction of applied force, and how quickly that force is applied. Video and inverse dynamics can give us clues but can’t fully quantify the effectiveness of a block
This is
@mattmercer360
throwing a grey ball 97.4 mph. He has a gift of being an exceptional rotational athlete, but his lead leg block is what really helps him capture that gift within a throw. Check out the 2nd clip, his foot slips a little from applying force in the X direction
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One of the most powerful things you can do as a coach is to tell a player that they’re not broken.
Some personality types want to make big changes after a bad game. Keep it simple.
It’s not as much about trusting the process as much as trusting the things that make them good.
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I think it’s what, day 10? Idk.
Can still do wrist weight exercises with the the best of ‘em. Tag someone who you think does a great job with their wrist weight work.
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Being data-driven doesn’t mean collecting data and then letting it go to a black hole. Any data collected must be paired with outputs that make it actionable. Creating these outputs takes a shitload of work. Being data-driven is really hard, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise
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In college we literally had nights on multiple roadtrips where we didn’t physically sleep in a bed
After getting swept by Texas,
#LSU
baseball waited four hours for a flight that was eventually cancelled. So the Tigers drove seven hours back to Baton Rouge, not arriving home until 4:45 a.m.
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Nobody:
Me: javelin throwers don’t have to shape pitches
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“If this guy isn’t a big leaguer then I don’t know what is” - most common quote around the facility when describing Brandon
After 16 years of pro ball, now he is. I’m at a loss for words. This is incredible
Rangers have purchased the contract of LHP Brandon Mann from Round Rock. LHP Yohander Mendez optioned to Round Rock. Mann has 1.04 ERA in 12 games for Express.
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One of my favorite aspects of the overhead view is that it answers a lot about the idea of “getting your arm up”, or lack thereof. Every pitcher has a different ROM of shoulder horizontal abduction, which means differing times of when the shoulder begins to externally rotate.
Marcus Stroman pitching mechanics, overhead view in 240 frames per second
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People: when are you going to start programming towel drills for your pitchers?
Me:
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Pioneers wear arrows in the back. It’s hard to believe that at some point
@tonyhawk
was an “outcast in this outcast activity.” Anybody can choose to fit in but it takes special discipline and passion for something to go against the grain to create a new standard of excellence
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