Pitching Mechanics Analysis
Clay Buchholz

3/13/2009

The video clip below is of the pitching mechanics of Clay Buchholz. The pitch was a 93 MPH fastball. Given that he threw a no-hitter in just his second major league start, it's obvious that Clay Buchholz has the stuff that he needs to be successful at the major league level. However, he has struggled with consistency and hasn't yet managed to put it all together.

Clay Buchholz

In general, I am a fan of Clay Buchholz's pitching mechanics. His lower body is fairly rotational, with good hip/shoulder separation, and thus efficient. While he does pick up the ball a bit with his elbow, his arm action is generally solid. His Pitching Arm Side elbow never gets too high and he doesn't show any evidence of a timing problem.

Common Control Problem Culprits

Clay Buchholz's big issue has been control problems. Let's round up the usual control problem suspects and see how Clay Buchholz rates in terms of each of them.

Over-Throwing

Greg Maddux entered the big leagues with the ability to throw 93 MPH. However, he found that he was much more effective if he backed off a few MPH from his maximum velocity. I have seen the same thing happen with some minor league pitchers. Their coaches try to get them to take it to "11" and hit 93 MPH, but they can only get guys out when they sit at 90 or 91 MPH.
     I find it interesting that by some reports Clay Buchholz is throwing harder than he was a year or two ago because that suggests that he may be overthrowing, which could very easily hurt his control. Looking at some live, game footage of Clay Buchholz, I do see some evidence of this. Rather than being smooth throughout his delivery, Clay Buchholz seems to speed up his delivery through his release point. This slow, slow, fast pacing, and resulting jerkiness through the release point could easily lead to some consistency problems.
     If I ran the zoo, this is the first thing I would look at.

Mechanical Inconsistency

People talk about the consistency and repeatability of a pitcher's mechanics because that can affect their control. If you compare clips of Clay Buchholz, you can see some pitch-to-pitch variability in his stride. This could easily cause him to be inconsistent horizontally.

Arm Slot

Clay Buchholz does throw from a high 3/4 arm slot. That is notable because the higher a pitcher's arm slot, the greater the likelihood that the pitcher will develop a head jerk (think Hideki Okajima) and possibly control problems. However, while Clay Buchholz' eyes do get off level, he never really seems to lose focus on the target.

The Bling Thing

I have never understood why so many major league pitchers insist on wearing big, heavy necklaces around their necks. I know that having a necklace flopping around on my neck would distract the heck out of me. While I'm not sure this is relevant to the case of Clay Buchholz, I would insist that a pitcher with control problems stripped himself of all jewelry just on general principles.

The Pitching Yips

Whenever I hear about pitcher with solid mechanics and good stuff but unexplained, and sometimes intermittent control problems, the pitching yips always comes to mind. While there are other relevant aspects to his story, Kip Wells is the prototypical example of this story line.

The Bottom Line on Clay Buchholz

The bottom line on Clay Buchholz is that he's got the stuff and the mechanics to be very successful. The question is whether he is going to get beyond his control problems or whether he's going to fall victim to first cast bass syndrome, where you catch a hog on your first (or in Clay Buchholz's case second) cast and then get skunked for the rest of the day.
     Given that Clay Buchholz doesn't have any glaring mechanical problem, and assuming that this isn't something basic like the pitching yips, I think this is a problem Clay Buchholz can beat as long as he's given the proper instruction and time to work things out.