I realized something today. I have been completely biased toward starting pitchers. Besides paying tribute to the former Mets closer, Billy Wagner, I have done no other Big Leaguer Breakdowns that feature relievers. (Unless you count John Smoltz) Well, that ends today. The youtube account, laflippin, continues to put fantastic slow motion videos of many great pitchers and the Sanfransisco Giants closer, Brian Wilson caught my eye. He had a breakout year last year with his signature crossing of the arms to pay tribute to his late father and God. As a fellow believer, I have a huge place is my heart for pro ball players who aren't afraid to show their "true colors" when it comes to their faith. It also didn't hurt that B. Wilson finished the year with a 2.74 ERA, 38 saves, and a 1.20 WHIP. For all of these reasons, he is this week's Big Leaguer Breakdown.
Check out laflippin's latest youtube post of Brian Wilson letting go at 98 mphs!
Right off the bat, we can see that Wilson is very compact and deliberate with all of his movements. In other words, he has no extra rotations or over-exaggerated leg kicks. Basically, he lifts up, down and through to release. Let's stop the video first at the :05 mark to see Wilson at one of my favorite spots in the motion, the height of the leg lift. We do see a slight inward rotation of the upper half, but other then that, the hands are close to the body, the back leg is tall and the front leg is up and in a perfect angle to work back toward the target.
From here, we see the hands break as he leads his body forward with the front hip and front shoulder. There is a slight bend in the back leg but only to allow the body get more athletic as it gets closer to foot strike. We see Wilson here, at the :11 mark, just about to make contact with the dirt down the mound at foot strike. As we know, we must keep the front shoulder on target as the hips begun to turn to generate the power with which we deliver the baseball. We see Wilson doing this at this point in the delivery. The front foot has turned, initiating the hip turn, but his shoulders are still online and waiting for the power of the lower half to force the upper half through and down to release.
We fast forward to the :13 mark to show you what I think is the best part of Brian's delivery. His finish. At this point of the delivery, he has just released the baseball. I want to point out the great job Brian does getting the chest forward and bending at the waist to get extended over his front leg. Of course, he his head is on target and shoulders are square. By getting the foot down and having a slight bend in the front leg, we are able to stay loose through the torso and force the chest and therefore the throwing arm closer to the target on release.
All of this combined contributes to Brian Wilson's ability to throw in the mid-90s. We can learn quite a lot from these key features of his delivery. Most importantly is flexibility in the torso.
Until Next Time!
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