[ED. note – I am not a pro-fesh-un-ul scout nor do I pretend to be one. I am far from qualified to be giving advice to big-league pitchers. That said, here are some things I would consider, were I in a position to communicate things to the staff in charge of said advice and/or improvement amongst Major League Baseball Cardinals.]
In the spring of 2012, Pitchers Hit Eighth completed a pretty thorough (at least we’d like to claim so) review of the hot new middle relief band Mitchell Boggs and the Consistent Delivery.
Boggs had adopted a more over-the-top approach, noticeably.
Mitchell Boggs sometime 2011:
Keeping in mind that Boggs’ 2011 had some, well, ups and downs, let’s take another look at his 2012 delivery:
As noted in the previous post reviewing these approaches from Boggs…
You can see a less-pronounced angle in his front (drive) leg toward the first-base line, far less (and seriously, watching this live he looks like he’s standing up on his front leg) hinge at the waist, and the arm angle is much higher.
Having looked at this closely last spring, I obviously had to go to the tape this season to see where Boggs is winding up at release.
I’m still no scout or pitching coach, but look at this release:
I see a lot more of 2011 Mitchell Boggs in this frame than 2012. To wit:
- Falling off to the first base side (even more!) again.
- Left shoulder falling out of delivery more than even the 2011 release.
- Drive leg back into compromised angle instead of driving over top of it.
- Arm slot back into three-quarter release instead of coming over top.
Tell me I’m crazy (please!), because these are the sorts of things that keep me up at night thinking bad bullpen thoughts. Tell me Mitchell Boggs found some foul talisman under his in-season mattress that removal of said foul item will restore order to the Cardinal bullpen (how’s that for a reach? you still with me, loyal four?).
I’m no expert. I see things that interest me. Mitchell Boggs had a tough go in 2011 with a three-quarter release and falling toward first base. Boggs’ 2012 was successful when he “stood up” on his release and came at hitters over the top. 2013 (at least from the video I can poach from MLB.com) shows Boggs maybe falling back into three-quarter fall-out…
Lilli?
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I like analysis like this. Thank you for sharing
As always, thanks for reading. Unfortunately, I don’t think the answer is in here either…
I watched Boggs the other day and I think its even worse than you describe. As a result of leaving the ball way inside to RH batters he seems to have gotten some bad advice and is closing off way to far which has his motion sweeping around instead of breaking his hands in alignment with second and home….extending his arm toward second and then driving thru to the plate. He also doesn’t get his arm in correct launch position and so his arm doesn’t catch up and this effects a early release which with his sweeping motion has him wide open….which has him missing inside. Then there is the matter of his finish….he is standing straight up…who in the hell taught him this….8th graders know not to do this. He doesn’t follow thru at all. He’ not finishing over a soft front leg.
Who is screwing with these guys? There are too many cronies and good ol boys coaching in the Majors and Minors. But….don’t worry about Boggs coming out of bullpen for long….like most of the Cardinal pitchers he’ll be nursing a shoulder of elbow injury soon enough.
Yeah, what’s referenced above and in the original post from last season is only a microcosm of what I think is actually going on (again, with the caveat that I’m certainly no expert other than watching loads of ball). The closed off set position has gradually crept more and more closed, and is an additional facet over and above what is going on in the standing up versus falling off portion of the delivery. In any case, he’s in a funk. He’ll either get right in Memphis and be back in short order, or, as bullpens have a way of doing, the spot will no longer be available because someone else got hot. Will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
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