Q.  The Red Sox' uberstarts said that Felix was "unreal," that he "wasn't human," that he was "the best we've seen," and that his movement was "all over the place."

A.  In my judgment, Felix is always going to have to be aware of velocity separation.  As long as his fastball is below 93-94, he's always going to have to make sure that hitters aren't able to cheat, to start their bats at a pre-timed moment for the 87-91 range.

But given the fact that he will actually do that, Felix' movement has indeed spiralled off into inhuman territory.  I'm quite sure that Felix has the best assortment of moving pitches in the history of baseball F/X.  Whoever is #2 is probably a long ways behind.

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Q.  Remind me what this "Rivera Cutter" is?

A.  Here's the original SSI article, from May 1, when Felix started throwing the pitch (more than 1-4 times per game).

Again, typical MLB pitches move as indicated by the circles below, from the catcher's point of view:

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A normal two-seam "slow, sinking" 90 MPH fastball catches more air as it spins; it breaks in on a RH batter.  

A normal four-seam "fast, rising" 93 MPH fastball catches less air; it breaks in a little, and up.

An 84 MPH slider breaks the other way, to the outside of the plate on a RH batter, and it sinks relative to a fastball.

An 87 MPH cut fastball is halfway in between a fastball and a slider:  it breaks about half as much as a slider, usually right about to the middle of the plate.  It costs a pitcher 3-5 MPH to get this movement, to where the ball does not sail away from a LH batter (and the sail is usually right onto the barrel of a LHB's bat).

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Mariano Rivera, uniquely, loses no velocity when throwing his cutter, and his cutter somehow "rises" rather than sinks.  That is the way with Felix' cutter.  Rather than breaking in to a RHB, it breaks out, and he loses NO velocity, none whatsoever.  Also the cutter does not sink, not whatsoever, relative to his fastball.

Felix and Mariano are the two guys who can do this.  No, we take that back:  Mariano sacrifices a little velocity to throw the cutter.  Felix' cutter on Thursday was faster than his 2-seamer and 4-seamer, a full 93.2 MPH.  Somebody show me a 93.2 cutter in the history of baseball.

Leaving Felix with a fifth, 5th, world-class pitch.  Here is the movement chart from the Red Sox game, again from the catcher's point of view.  Notice the five discrete clusters:

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If you never played baseball, it's easiest to grok the battle by imagining yourself trying to swat a gnat that appears for 0.20 seconds - one eyeblink - anywhere within this cube:

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If a pitcher throws the same velocity, it's like trying to swat a gnat that appears anywhere on the front surface - the front "square."  

But as slower pitches are mixed in, some of the "gnats" appear at different depths ....  you see the importance of not allowing a hitter to time the pitch.  Dr. Mike Marshall says that location doesn't matter much; timing is what matters.  How much more area is there to cover in a cube, than in a corresponding square?

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Q.  So Felix throws "flies" that are (1) moving in five different directions, and (2) to any part of the cube up and down left and right, and (3) to any part of the cube back to front.  How would you ever swat these gnats? 

A.  The way the Red Sox put it:  He was inhuman.

Adding the 93 MPH cutter to his pitch mix, he delivered pitches in a way the Red Sox' batters had never seen before.  It's quite possible that Felix threw pitches in a way that no person has ever seen before, never since they first stitched a baseball together.  Felix' "flies" are flittering all over the cube like no historical pitcher's that I'm aware of.

Felix having ironed out Kelly's velo-separation wrinkle now?  There is the possibility that Felix is ready to spiral off into his own pitching universe.  That sounds like a lot to say, but we've given the particulars as to why we say so.

Be Afraid.  Be Very Afraid,

Dr D