Amazing, Doc....
The first thing I noticed in watching the first video you linked was how light he was on him feet at the end of his follow through. There were pitches where he literally hopped or skipped out of his finish as batters earned a swinging K. Lots of effervescent energy left over after the pitch. He's smoking it up there...but he's not overly straining to do so.
The second thing I noticed was the one leg finish. Tres bien balance, huh? When I was pretty good, I used to work on lifting my right toe up off the ground at the end of my golf swing follow-through. If I could simply and easily lift my toe off the ground and not change the position I was in I knew I was in perfect balance at the finish. As your Aiki expertise tells you, it's dang hard to finish with perfect balance....if you weren't nearly perfectly balanced throughout the move.
My bets: He's got a low mileage an arm with a high-mileage threshhold. His bad days aren't that bad (hence 24-0) because of his incredible balance and great rhythm. He spots the heat, black, black and up. Then spins you into the ground with his slider and drop-ish offerings. His curve looks bendy and hard to pick up (I'll be his release points are spot on identical).
He's worth an aggressive presence in the posting/signing dance.
moe
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Classical Mechanics and Aiki Mechanics
At I R Fast they did a really good job, breaking down the classic mechanical checkpoints. They got quotes from several 'tools scouts' also. Here is the link. Dr. D doesn't have as many quibbles as he would usually have. ;- ) We'll just let their checklist lay fallow, for our purposes. As you know, we live to serve.
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Let's switch gears now to an aiki perspective, which focuses on the center of gravity, its acceleration, the organization of the limbs around that, and the "intentionality" (ki) as it pertains to the baseball...
Tanaka's motion -- here is a YouTube video -- is very typical of the Japanese pitching style in points such as:
- 'Pause at the top' which gathers momentum and ensures hair-fine balance
- Connection of the shoulders to the center fielder
- Heavy acceleration of the CG
- Starter's rhythm
- Light finish and decel
Beyond those constants, though, Tanaka does some things very differently from (say) Hisashi Iwakuma. For example, Iwakuma stays much higher throughout his athletic motion, as did Greg Maddux and Jamie Moyer. Also, Iwakuma begins his through-stroke in a much smoother fashion than does Tanaka.
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Gimme Some 'a What He's Smokin', dept.
Tanaka's delivery reminds Dr. D more of --- > Tim Lincecum's early delivery, than has been the case with any pitcher since Lincecum. Including:
- Deeeeep single-leg pistol squat into the motion
- Huge leap forward
- Knee-dragging extension, VERY forward plant foot
- Feather-light CG finish over the front foot
- Nose-to-leather attitude of torso, miles of clearance for front arm
The tools scouts fret that this "deep pistol squat" is stalling Tanaka out and "reducing leverage." In fact this would be true if a big horse like Felix Hernandez or Roger Clemens were to over-squat -- their weight-to-strength ratio is different.
Tanaka squats down nearly to rock-bottom, but then, interestingly, his CG does not come back up. He simply hits the floor and then launches directly forward, as did Lincecum when he came out of college. (Lincecum, like Erik Hanson did in his day, lost the knee-dragging effort that put so much oooomph into his stuff.)
Not only does Tanaka have the power to make this work, but it also keeps his eye on the plane of the pitch for a much longer period. Maybe this is part of the key to his amazing control.
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Lincecum's deceleration, coming out of college, was based in that extreme forward position of his front foot. By the time his weight arrived -- so far down the train tracks -- his energy was already dissipated and there was practically no need for him to finish his delivery.
Still, Timmy (and Tanaka-san) clear their arms through with wispy ease. Tanaka was one of those kids who threw 700-900 pitches in a 9-day high school tournament with no ill effects. Obviously he's not straining his arm the way other pitchers tend to do.
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Hatha Yoga
There is another aspect to Tanaka-san's delivery that is worth study. If you roll this video to the 2:20 mark, you can see Tanaka actually stand on his left leg after release. It's as if he's so comfortable on his left leg that he'd rather not put his right leg down.
I love to watch him do it. :- )
Once you see him do it the first time, you can see it ... he could do it every time if he wanted to.
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via P90X, Dr. D has become interested in power yoga... in the "Tree" and "Warrior Three" poses you stand on one leg. It's a little trickier than it sounds, if you're going to do it for any length of time, and with arms extended, bent over, etc. You have to sort of imagine yourself as a one-legged man, with roots spreading out away from you .... you have to somehow find that place at which your weight is centered over one foot. If you are bent over at the waist, on one leg, where exactly does your head go, do you think? It might surprise you. It's kind of like learning to walk again ...
You wonder why Dr. D hates to see pitchers slam into their front knees, hyperextend them, and then stumble to catch their weight?! Watch Tanaka-san.
Ah well.
The point is, when Tanaka-san finishes his decel, he is perfectly balanced not over his two legs, but over one leg.
Guess what this means, as to his balance at the moment he releases the ball. At that moment you are a one-legged man. Why not organize your balance around that one leg? Tanaka-san has in fact done this.
When you include the Japanese 'pause at the top,' you've got an athlete who goes from --- > still-water balanced over his R leg into --- > still-water balanced over his L leg.
:: shakes head ::
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Tanaka's head looks rather unorthodox as he comes forward ... perhaps "too far" to the left, it looks like? That's what the scouts thought. But the fact is, that is where your head has to go in Warrior Three... farther left than you'd think.
Remember Lincecum's mechanics as a rookie? His left ear was pointed at the ground, and yet he had an overhand delivery. Since then, they've changed his delivery; it's more MLB(TM) now. Of course, he is nowhere near the pitcher he used to be; that may or may not be connected to the revision of his mechanics.
We're not saying that Tanaka's "Lean To The Left" yoga motion is correct, and that Head-Upright-On-Centerline is incorrect. But it does give Tanaka-san exquisite balance as he releases and follows through, and if his eyes are used to being tilted, there is apparently no price to be paid.
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That's the mechanical aspect. How about the arsenal, and the MLE's off his stats? Is there much of a grok to be had there?
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