In honor of my former team, I decided it was time to look at one of the best pitchers on the Arizona Diamondbacks, Dan Haren. Although the team struggled, Haren lead the pitching staff in almost every statistical category on his way to a stellar year with a 3.14 ERA and 14-10 Win/Loss record.
Check out this video of Dan Haren to study his motion.
The first and most obvious attribute of his delivery is his elongated pause at the top of his leg lift. This movement is very unique to Haren and possibly one or two other pitchers. It casts some light on a very important mistake that a lot of young pitchers make. They feel they must generate velocity by having a very exaggerated leg lift and jump forward to their target. However, Dan Haren's delivery is proof that you can still generate velocity (he throws in the low 90's) without gaining anything from the initial leg lift.
Let's look at the 5 second mark of the video, just after the leg lift has moved downard. You'll notice that his body is still very tall and he has not yet collapsed on the back leg. His hands have broken away from each other and the ball is well hidden behind his back. An important note should be made here, that for Haren to get back on top of the baseball and get to his 'power position' he must have a very fluid yet aggressive move to the elbows up position. Regardless, Haren at this mark has remained tall and has his front shoulder, hip, and ankle directly on target. With a few clicks of the mouse forward, we see that Haren does exactly what he needs to do. The elbows do accelerate upward to a slightly tilted power positin. Also note that before his shoulders begin to turn to throw, his hips have ALREADY fired and front foot is turned torward the target.
You'll notice at the 6 second mark that his finish is a little off center and his legs remains very stiff on the finish. I normally would not advise either of these movments, but for Haren, he's managed to repeat his delivery well enough to get on top of the ball and locate it as he wishes. He is notorious for having pinpoint control and a devasting split fingered pitch. I believe that his stiffness on the front leg has actually contributed some to finishing on top of his splitter (more on that in another post)
There's another great slow mo version of Haren pitching. Check it out to really study his mechanics.
You really see how he gets into to power position and then fires the hips at about the 1.21 mark.
I love Haren's ability to repeat his delivery and hide the baseball. More importantly, I love how he is able to generate power 100% from his hip turn and drive from the back leg.
Let that be a lesson to all the young "Intelligent Pitchers" out there. You generate no extra velocity by rushing through your leg lift.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
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