Tommy Hanson’s New 2-Seam Sinking Fastball
March 31, 2012 at 8:29 pm by Franklin Rabon under Atlanta Braves
Earlier today Tommy Hanson’s drop in velocity was causing a mild panic on twitter, even though his results were very good. He was routinely throwing pitches in the 88 MPH range and was topping out around 90 MPH. However, later that day on twitter, Kris Medlen revealed that Tommy had been throwing almost exclusively 2-seamers instead of his normal 4-seam fastball for the first time this spring. Typically most pitchers not named Jonny Venters throw their 2-seam fastball 2-3 MPH slower than their 4-seam fastball.
The pitch was very effective, as you can see in the .gif below, which was an 0-0 pitch to Miguel Cabrera in the first inning.
It remains to be seen if Tommy will throw this pitch in a real game, as this was the first time I can ever recall him throwing it much, if at all, in a game. If he can effectively mix this in with his normal 4-seam fastball, he could really keep hitters off balance. However, many pitchers have trouble keeping a good feel for both a 2 and 4 seam fastball simultaneously.
It will be interesting to watch this develop as we get into the regular season, both because we aren’t even sure if Tommy will continue to throw it or if he was just experimenting with it. And if he does it would be nice to really see what it’s doing with pitch f/x.
You can compare this to his 4-seamer here.
This pitch was 88 MPH.
Also, you can see that Tommy’s ‘new’ delivery is more or less the same, just a little faster to the plate, if you haven’t already seen it. I also don’t really love that he shows the ball to the second baseman in his windup (instead of showing it to the third baseman) as that is believed by some experts to be a little tougher on the shoulder. But the field of biomechanics as it applies to pitching is young still, so that may just be speculation.
Edit: According to Joe Lefkowitz Tommy threw 82 2-seam fastballs in 2010.
I watched some of them from the April 20th game of 2010 against the Phillies. You could see why he didn’t throw them too much in 2010 and dropped the pitch altogether in 2011. Really, it wasn’t even noticeable as a 2-seam fastball unless you were looking for it. The pitch had virtually no movement, in fact it probably had less movement than his 4 seam fastball. It was nothing like the down and towards the RH batter’s box action he was getting from the pitch yesterday. Perhaps something about Tommy’s loss in velocity and tweaked delivery allow him to get more movement on the pitch, or maybe he just figured out the action on it better. But for whatever reason, it was a substantially better pitch in his most recent outing than it was in 2010.
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New delivery my butt. Still just as painful to watch.
@1
Why is it painful to watch? It’s effective. Who cares if he lets guys run a will? As Greg Maddux said a million times if I get the guys at the plate out then it doesn’t matter if they steal on me.
But back to the point of the article. I really hope this new pitch is in an effort to try to keep his pitch count down early in games and allow himself to pitch deeper into games. Also if Hanson can get a few groundouts instead of allowing hitters to stand up there a foul off so many pitches that will help keep his pitch count down too.
@2
I think 1 may have been talking about from a potential injury standpoint? Or that his delivery is just kind of ugly.
Yea, it’s just ugly.
…fugly?
…in case you wanted more in depth analysis.
It is not new. He always had that, even in the rookie season. He just does not use it.
It looks like it’s basically the same delivery, but the hitch further back in the wind-up.
@6
Could you find where he had ever definitely used it in a game? I’d be really interested to see any times he’s used it in the past.
I looked over a lot of pfx data and couldn’t find anything conclusive. It’s possible he may have used it in the past but it was just mischaracterized as a fastball or even a slider. I mean in theory every pitcher has a 2 seamer, regardless of whether or not they use it, as it’s just gripping the ball in a different spot and not snapping your wrist quite as hard.
Using the word ‘new’ was also just a necessity of title, as I wanted to point out that it was a pitch he hadn’t been throwing, but “Tommy Hanson’s 2-seam fastball that he used extensively yesterday, but hadn’t used much, if at all, in game situations in the past” just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, haha.
The main point is that it will be interesting to see if it becomes a substantial part of his repertoire and to calm people about his velocity drop. His 4-seamer still seems like it’s in the 91-93 MPH range it has been since he started pitching a little more over the top.
Though the study of pitching biomechanics is not yet advanced, one has to be concerned that his left foot hits the ground so early. His arm then has to rush to catch up. Many of those who are considered experts in biomechanics claim that this causes stress on the shoulder, and guess what, Hanson’s had shoulder problems. I’d be willing to put money down that he suffers shoulder problems before this season is over.
@9
Totally agreed there. Part of why I wouldn’t sign TH to an extension given our pitching depth. Get as much out of him as you can while he’s here, then either trade him or let him walk in FA, so that he’s someone else’s injury concern.
@9 It appears to me that he is in the “power” position when his foot strikes the ground. His hand is up, and he’s showing the ball to second base. He in fact appears to have the opposite of an inverted W which is generally characterized by the arm being behind the rest of the body.
by the way, Kevin found where he threw a sinker some in 2010. After the game I’ll do some research and update the post.