Pitching Mechanics Analysis
Nolan Ryan

12/17/2007

Nolan Ryan is one of my favorite retired pitchers. I think the quality of his pitching mechanics, and the nature of the movement of his pitches, help to explain why he had such a long, relatively injury-free career. Let me explain why I say that using a number of frames from a clip of Nolan Ryan that dates back to 1980.

Arm Action And Timing

A pitcher's arm action and timing are the primary determinants of the long-term health of their arm, so it's always the first thing I look at. Nolan Ryan's arm action is solid, as the clip below demonstrates and as you would expect given his relative lack of arm problems.

Nolan Ryan - Arm Action

The first thing to notice is how Nolan Ryan's Pitching Arm Side (aka PAS) elbow always stays below the level of his shoulders and how his PAS hand gets above the level of his PAS elbow and shoulder relatively quickly (see Frame 41). Also notice how Nolan Ryan's PAS elbow drops below the level of his shoulders as his PAS upper arm externally rotates and his PAS forearm comes up into the vertical, high-cocked position.
     The second thing to notice is Nolan Ryan's good timing. Notice how his shoulders don't start to rapidly rotate until Frame 43, when his PAS forearm is vertical.

Ball Movement

I believe that pronation is a key to protecting one's elbow. By powerfully pronating your forearm through the release point, you enable the Pronator Teres muscle to take up some of the load that is normally focused on the UCL. I have always suspected that, given his lack of serious elbow problems, Nolan Ryan must have pronated his pitches. The clip below demonstrates that he did.

Nolan Ryan - Tailing Fastball

The thing to notice is how Nolan Ryan's fastball moves; how it tails in on the batter.
     After releasing the ball, it looks like it is going to finish high and outside (e.g. at the yellow dot). However, starting in Frame 51, Nolan Ryan's fastball makes a fairly sharp right turn and starts to move back over the plate (e.g. it tails). As a result, it ends up 12 to 16 inches to the right (e.g. inside) of where it looked like it was going to end up.
     Obviously, this is a very nasty, deceptive, and effective pitch. The hitter will judge the ball's initial trajectory and assume it's going to finish outside for a ball, only to see it dive back over the plate for a strike. If they do get a sense of the ball's true movement, as appears happened in the clip above, it will often be too late for them to do anything about it.
     Just as importantly, this is also a very safe pitch.
     To make the ball move like this, Nolan Ryan has to powerfully pronate his forearm. As I mentioned above, this will protect his UCL and may explain why his elbow held up as long as it did.

Overall Pitching Mechanics

Now that we've established that Nolan Ryan's arm action and timing were solid, lets look at some of the details of his mechanics.

Nolan Ryan

I'll do this using some individual frames from the clip above.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 27

Nolan Ryan is known for his high leg kick, which is visible in Frame 27 above. However, what I think is more interesting about what Nolan Ryan is doing in this frame is how he gets his hips moving sideways toward the target as he nears the top of his leg lift.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 31

As Nolan Ryan comes out of his leg lift in Frame 31, and begins to break his hands, you should notice a couple of things. First, notice how Nolan Ryan breaks his hands pretty much at his belt buckle. Second, notice the relative lack of reverse-rotation of Nolan Ryan's shoulders. They are slightly reverse-rotated (and pointed at the batter), but are still mostly parallel to a line running from Home Plate to Second Base.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 32

Nolan Ryan - Frame 33

Nolan Ryan - Frame 34

Nolan Ryan - Frame 35

In Frame 35, Nolan Ryan has broken his hands and is taking his PAS hand back toward Second Base. He is also swinging his Glove Side (aka GS) leg out toward Third Base.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 36

Nolan Ryan - Frame 37

Nolan Ryan - Frame 38

The thing to notice about Frame 38 is how, rather than breaking his hands with his elbows with the PAS forearm hanging down vertically beneath it as some people advocate, Nolan Ryan's hand is still quite high.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 39

Nolan Ryan - Frame 40

In Frame 40, Nolan Ryan's shoulders are still pointing pretty much at the batter while his hips are starting to open up underneath them, which is stretching the muscles of his torso.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 41

In Frame 41, Nolan Ryan's PAS forearm has just passed through the horizontal and is on its way up to the vertical, high-cocked position. Notice how his PAS elbow is at or just slightly below, and not above, the level of his shoulders.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 42

In Frame 42, Nolan Ryan's shoulders are just starting to turn. His PAS forearm is slightly more than 45 degrees off the horizontal.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 43

In Frame 43, Nolan Ryan's shoulders have started to rapidly rotate. His PAS forearm is vertical and his PAS elbow has dropped several inches to below the level of his shoulders.
     Another thing to notice in Frame 43 is Nolan Ryan's large hip/shoulder separation. His hips are rotating well ahead of his shoulders, with his belt buckle pointing at Home Plate but his shoulders still closed and facing Third Base. This is stretching the muscles of his core and will enable them to powerfully pull his shoulders around.

Nolan Ryan - Scapular Loading

This is easier to see in the photo above, which represents pretty much the same moment in time as Frame 43. Notice that, while Nolan Ryan does do something that looks like Scapular Loading, he does it the safe way; with his elbows below, rather than above, the level of his shoulders.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 44

In Frame 44, Nolan Ryan's shoulders are rapidly rotating, which is causing his PAS upper arm to externally rotate and his PAS forearm to lay back.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 45

In Frame 45, Nolan Ryan's shoulders have continued to rapidly rotate, which has caused his PAS forearm to lay back so that it is horizontal with the ground.

Nolan Ryan - Frame 46

Nolan Ryan - Frame 47

In Frame 47, Nolan Ryan has just released the ball. One thing to notice is how his PAS knee is bent roughly 90 degrees, which means he did not leave his PAS foot behind on the rubber but instead kept his hips rotating through the release point.