Pitching Mechanics Analysis of Lance Lynn

6/6/2008

The Cardinals selected Michael Lance Lynn from Ole Miss with their second pick. I think he was an excellent pick because I had him at a 7 out of 8 on the pitcher rating scale I use. Let me explain why I rated him as I did.

Lance Lynn

From the side, you can see a number of good things in Lance Lynn's pitching mechanics.
     First, Lance Lynn's arm action is good. He shows no sign of the Inverted W or Inverted L. Rather, like Greg Maddux his Pitching Arm Side (PAS) elbow always stays below the level of his shoulders.
     Second, Lance Lynn's timing is good. His PAS forearm is vertical at the moment his Glove Side (GS) foot plants and his shoulders start to rotate.
     Third, Lance Lynn achieves good hip/shoulder separation. That means that he is throwing with his entire body and not just his arm.
     Fourth, while Lance Lynn stiffens up his GS knee, he never locks it. Instead, he always maintains some flex in his GS knee, which should help to protect his GS knee and hip.
     Finally, Lance Lynn does not leave his PAS foot behind on the rubber. Instead, at the release point his PAS foot is more than a foot off the rubber.

Lance Lynn - 90MPH Fastball

Lance Lynn - 81MPH Change-Up

In the video clip that I saw of him, Lance Lynn primarily threw two pitches. The first pitch was an 89-90 MPH fastball that had plus tail and sink. The second pitch was an 80-81 MPH change-up that had plus tail and sink. His change-up also had an ideal velocity differential of 10 percent.

Lance Lynn - 81MPH Slider

I have heard that Lance Lynn also throws an 81 MPH slider and, based on how the catcher sets up, I think it's the pitch he throws in the clip above. If it is, then hitters will have a hard time distinguishing his slider from his change-up (and his fastball), which will add to his deceptiveness.
     I also like the fact that, like Greg Maddux, Lance Lynn doesn't appear to throw his slider too often. Instead, he primarily relies on fastball and change-up and just mixes in a slider (and curve) to keep hitters off balance. The fact that he primarily throws pronated pitches should help to protect his elbow.
     The catcher's eye views of Lance Lynn show a couple of other good things about his pitching mechanics. First, while he reverse-rotates his hips, he doesn't excessively reverse-rotate his shoulders, which helps to improve his deception. Second, rather than striding too open or too closed, Lance Lynn strides pretty much directly at the target.
     The catcher's eye views of Lance Lynn also show the only thing that I'm not thrilled with, which is his finish position. Rather than finishing with his glove at his GS pec, he finishes with his glove behind him, which will make him vulnerable to come-backers and will make it harder for him to field his position. However, Roger Clemens also finishes like this, so it's likely not a huge deal (but it did lead me to drop him from a 8/8 to a 7/8 in my rating).

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that Lance Lynn has solid mechanics and at least two plus pitches. Lance Lynn bears a significant resemblance to Greg Maddux in both his mechanics and the pitches he throws. I also see some Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling in him. I think all of that is a very good thing.