Jon at Bleeding Blue and Teal has a convenient video of, as well as some interesting thoughts on, Aumont throwing his patented sidearm slider that breaks 12-6.

As you know, Aumont's front leg would send an Aiki-shihan screaming out of the dojo in his bare feet into the forest night.  Medieval warriors used to plant their halberds into the ground against charging hordes, who met less-abrupt ends than Aumont does over the pike of his front leg...

But lemme say this about his motion now, too.  If you can get past the flop over the leg, there are all kinds of things to admire about his motion:

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1) The angle of Aumont's head, over his plant foot, is absolutely textbook.  Until he plants, Aumont actually has marvelous balance and grace for a guy his size.

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2) I've never seen a guy Aumont's height throw with a (moderately) high front side.  :- )   Not everybody agrees, but I personally like the leading front glove.

This goes along with the fact that he gets nice knee dip and moves his weight well.   ...Randy Johnson, at Aumont's age, was ungainly; Aumont is just an oversized ATHLETE.

... Rashard Lewis' proportions are stretched-out compared to yours and mine, as if he were in a funhouse mirror (a funhouse mirror that is worth $10M a year to him).  By contrast, Shaquille O'Neal is just a normally-proportioned, strong, man who is 50% bigger than the average man.  And Shaq moves differently than Rashard, as Aumont moves differently than Randy Johnson.

Randy Johnson was always just a one-of-a-kind person, athlete, and pitcher.  Literally, there was never anybody else like him.  ...Aumont is not quite as unique as RJ, but he is very distinctive.  Big huge guy who moves pretty much like a 6-footer, who throws sidearm and gets vertical break on the ball.

I'd like to be his agent.  :- )

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3) Aumont gets super release of energy as his head bobs way down and his back foot way up, like one of those thermometer-bobbing-birds they used to make.  His high rear foot and low front head create an amusing visual, seeing as how tall the guy is and how high his front hip is.  But that shouldn't obscure the point that he is releasing energy nicely and smoothly in deceleration.

He's in his first or second inning of work, meaning he's got lots of pep, so it's natural for him to finish the pitch enthusiastically.  But still, you love the nose-to-leather finish, whether you're talking SS or SP.  It's part of the reason that Aumont has such good control at his age.  He can concentrate.

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4) Though it might look like the pitch spun a bit on him, go back and check the arm speed very carefully.  The main problem with an ML curve isn't (usually) its break.  It's that the speed fools the hitters. Any ML hitter will tell you that the difficult thing about a curve is its speed -- it's slow, and the speed varies pitch-to-pitch.

A good RH curve ball is, in effect, a changeup on steroids.  The first half of the pitch looks like a high fastball, and then it seems to slow down.

If you watch Loewen, he buys into the arm speed.  Then the ball isn't there.

Not saying Aumont is unhittable, but if his SLOPPY curves are thrown with that kind of arm action, you've got a real problem as a hitter.   No doubt that's part of the .224 AVG he gave up in his first pro season (despite the weak defense behind him and all the grounders he threw).

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Can Aumont The Impaler pitch with the locked front knee?  Well, it's not like the front hip is going to go all A-Rod on him at the age of 22.  The main concern is that it hurts his balance just as he's feathering the release.  But if he's pitching around that, if he's learned to compensate, then fine.  He won't have the command that would be his birthright, but some athletes compensate for funky motions.

Ever see Lee Trevino swing a golf club?  :- )  That's 100,000 practice swings overcoming what is, for anybody else, a fatal flaw.

Yeah, I'd correct the locked front knee, just like if a pitcher were holding his head sideways with his ear to the ground, I'd correct that.  But if the guy is throwing real well with his ear pointed at the ground, well, ::shrug:: see you at the ballpark. :- )

Cheers,

Dr D