Big Leaguer Breakdown: Derek Lowe

With this week's installment of BLB, we'll examine Derek Lowe of the Atlanta Braves. As discussed in the last post, Dlowe is known for having one of the best groundball to flyball ratios thanks to one of the best sinkers in the game. With the big league regular season coming to a close, I decided to take a short road trip to a Nationals games in which Mr. Lowe was pitching for the Bravos. This was of course purely for research purposes and was in no way fun, beneficial, or awesome in any other way shape or form........

I took some video of Derek in the bullpen and then pitching from both the wind up and the stretch. They have now been arranged into this easily viewable youtube video for your educational benefits.

The first video is of Dlowe warming up for the game.

The second video is footage from the game itself.

What you may notice immediately from his warm up session as that Lowe is very fluid and rhythmic in his delivery. One of the key components of the "Intelligent Pitcher" is being a smooth as possible when delivering the baseball. Also, notice that his path to the plate is not exactly straight ahead. He does a great job of closing in his front side and uses his glove and front foot to sweep out and around to his landing point. After studying the mechanics of Lowe and other sinkerballers such as Webb (during my days in Spring Training with the Dbacks) you notice that most great sinkers ball pitchers do allow for some rotational movement in their bodies to create a slightly off center spin on the their pitches.

When we look ahead in the video to the in-game footage we notice some similarities between Derek and last weeks BLB, Josh Beckett. Both do a great job of loading up their elbows just before the front foot hits the ground and then use their hips to drive the ball to release point. Of course, Lowe doesn't throw quite as hard as Beckett, but I feel that this can be attributed to the fact that Lowe's delivery is more rotational (instead of driving straight to the plate).

My biggest complaint about Lowe's delivery is his finish. You'll notice in almost every throw he appears very wild after his front foot hits and the back leg swings around. His front leg is stiff and locked out and there is almost no bend in his back at release. This, in turn, will contribute to short-arming the ball and not consistently repeating his delivery, especially the release point. By focusing on being a bit softer on his landing and allowing for some bend in the front leg, I believe Derek would be able to finish his pitches better without sacrificing movement or velocity (in fact, he'd probably gain an MPH or two).

Make sure to study the two slow motion clips to really see where he benefits from being rotational and getting his elbows up. Also be aware of the stiff front leg and hap hazard finish. I hope this video helps, but don't get used to so much footage...its back to youtube for the next weeks BLB!

Let me know if you have any requests!!