More on Jake Odorizzi's Debut

Craig looked at Jake Odorizzi's debut yesterday. Today, I am going to look at a bit more data from the start including changes from spring training, a look at each of his pitches and bad mechanics on his curve ball.

1. He has moved his placement on the mound since spring training. He has moved from the center side of the rubber to more on the 3B side by about a foot.

His release data from spring training centered around -1 ft (catcher's perspective).

From the game yesterday, he was releasing closer to the -2 ft mark.

2. For those that missed the game, here is a look at his 3 pitches, fastball, change and curve.

Fastball.

Curve ball

Change up

3. He gets on top of his curve quite a bit and hitters may be able to pick up on it. Look above at the second chart. All his pitches at the top of the cluster are curves. He needs to get on top of the ball to get more rotation. When he releases his curve, the release point is 2-3 inches higher than his fastball.

I have made a couple of GIFs showing the difference. In the first animation, his release point is just below the dirt in the back ground. In the second GIF, his release point is well into the dirt. Major league hitters are able to notice these type of differences and will know that the curve is on the way.

Fastball

Curve ball