Big Leaguer Breakdown: Heath Bell

In much the same way that Brian Wilson established himself as a premier closer with a fantastic 2009, Heath Bell dug himself out of relative Major League obscurity to post an amazing 42 saves for a mediocre San Diego team. His stop and go delivery of a mid-90's fastball and sharp breaking ball allowed Heath to post a 2.71 ERA with a 1.14 WHIP. We've got another great video from youtube user laflippin to look at this week's Big Leaguer Breakdown: Heath Bell.

Peruse this video of Heath Bell warming up to see how he delivers the baseball.

The first thing to do is watch this video all the way through. It is important to notice the short and choppy nature of Heath's delivery. Notice how he lifts his leg low, hitches forward on his hand break, and elevates his entire body through a back foot lift. Then, he jerks down with the glove and the hand fires through with the hip turn. There are many pros and cons to this approach. First, the hesitation in the delivery makes it very difficult for a hitter to pick up the rhythm and timing of the baseball. Usually, a hitter will "load" and stride as the pitcher begins his leg lift down toward the target. This is very difficult to do with a delivery like Heath's because that slide forward has a sort of "hiccup" that changes that timing. However, the hitch can also make the timing of the pitcher's body difficult to repeat unless it is executed perfectly every time. Years of repetition are likely required to ensure the hand break and foot strike are timed perfectly with the elbow and chest and finish.

With this in mind, we'll look at a few keep points in this video. First, the 0:40 mark shows the hitch to which I am referring. By coming up off the heal of the back foot, the front foot is forced downward sooner than the average delivery. This, of course, shortens the stride and forces Bell to throw over a relatively stiff front leg. We do, however, see at this point in the delivery that the requisite "elbows up" position is achieved even without getting very "athletic."

From here, if we just click through the delivery just a few ticks (still the 0:40 mark) we see Heath has turned and released the baseball. His head is well on target but the chest and front leg are very stiff and flat. Generally, we like to see a slight bend in the front knee and some torso flexibility that would all the pitcher to get extended to his target. Bell, however, does not get very far forward over that front leg as he releases the ball, thus preventing himself from getting extension on release.

As with most big leaguers, Heath does a great job of repeating his delivery extremely well. There are some key factors that I, personally, do not love. However, per usual, he has done a great job being effective with his unique attributes.

Take some time and keep studying those deliveries.

Until Next Time!!!