In part three of the series at the Hardball Times, Carlos Gomez has his latest dope on the mechanics of the 2007 draftees, starting with Kyle Russell.
“OK. Russell does have a long swing (notice his hands and bat angle when his front heel lands). In other words, he has a long way to go from that point to get to the ball. Russell also has more upper body tilt back (some will say that he has an uppercut) than I’d like and as a result his swing plane isn’t ideal (he doesn’t keep the bat in the zone long enough). Those are the negatives.
The positives? Russell has excellent rotation through the ball as his hips and hands turn together, powerfully, against his firm front leg. Russell also seems to understand the benefit of letting the ball get deep in the zone and for the most part, he stays behind the ball. He is very skillful at “loading” his hands and hips to maximize his power.
Russell has huge power potential. If the Cardinals can work on shortening his swing just a bit and fixing his swing plane, Russell will hit for a ton of power. I grew up idolizing the 1991-1992 Tigers and their Three True Outcomes players. Would it be terrible if Russell ended up with the career path of Mickey Tettleton? Assuming that the Cardinals can sign Russell, this pick (in the fourth round no less) is an absolute steal.”
Funny Carlos, I grew up idolizing those Tiger teams as well, and Mickey Tettleton is one of the most underrated players of his time. Seems like the Cards could be underrating him as well, as the latest news is they are content to let Russell play his ball in a collegiate summer league and choose to sign him by the 8/15 deadline or let him walk. Such is the life of TTO players, Cincy fans have been trying to run Adam Dunn out of town for years and this season they may get their wish. My hopes are diminishing day by day on the Cards signing him. As far as keeping his bat in the zone long enough, Chris Duncan comes immediately to mind as a player that had the same problem and since has been corrected.
Gomez also looked at Clayton Mortensen, and liked what he saw:
With good arm action and excellent tempo, Mortensen is a pitcher I like a lot. Watch how he races through his delivery…
“I’ve always been a fan of pitchers who are athletic enough to coordinate all those moving parts quickly. A 6-foot-4 pitcher who moves this quickly through space is able to maintain his momentum so that his body can help accelerate his arm. I’d like to see Mortensen implement a longer stride, but it appears he has had success by staying taller and throwing downhill with tilt. Some will argue that they prefer that a pitcher use his height (and his high three-quarters slot) by staying taller and having a steeper tilt on his pitches. Generally, I’d rather have a pitcher use his height to release closer to home plate even if his pitches are “flatter.”
One thing about Mortensen I don’t like (and maybe I’m being too picky): Does it look like his finish is forced? Almost looks like the finish that young kids have when their coaches tell them to finish with a “flat back,” doesn’t it? Either way, I like this pick here. He may not have huge upside, but he’s a solid pick here, and it’s a good bet he’ll keep his stuff as the years go by. “
I felt like Mortensen was a definite reach at the time of his selection but after reading this I’m a lot happier with the pick. So far Mort has only allowed 1 earned run over 10 innings while striking out 8 and has a 3.8 to 1 ground out/fly out ratio.
Filed under: 2007 Draft, Clayton Mortensen, Kyle Russell
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With each day that goes by, I fear the Cards’ likelihood of signing Russell diminishes. I’m still hopeful, though–I can’t make sense of their willingness to pick him if they didn’t intend to sign him. It’s not like they’re dealing with a high schooler who hasn’t competed against top competition and is therefore an unknown. They like college kids. I still think they get it done.
It’s certainly reassuring to hear a good report from Gomez on Mort. That pick was panned widely (as was Kozma)–makes me curious about the proprietary methods the organization uses to analyze players. Maybe with QC’s piggyback effort over, they will now move Degerman and Herron along and make some room for Mort there. He should move quickly, right?
I could watch Kyle Russell swing the bat all day. He reminds me of Mather in how lanky he looks rather than just big. I do think the swing plane needs to be addressed or he’s going to swing under some fastballs on a regular basis.
I like Mortenson’s mechanics but I’m just exhausted by the low-upside college pitcher pick that the Cardinals continue to make. I’m not sold on his stuff given his mediocre results in college.
Andrew — I wouldn’t worry too much re: signing Russell. I don’t think he will sign until August. The talk that’s going around about him and Kozma is all a lot of posturing still. If Kozma or Russell don’t sign, we’ll have a good old fashioned witchhunt for the reason why. But it’s going to be a while…
If Carlos stops by I have a question on the flat back comment. I teach pitching mechanics quite a bit and haven’t ever taught “flat back” but do advocate kids getting to that position by bending their waist to drive the shoulders over the front knee (slightly bent); towards the target; and through the release. The goal is to have a release closer to home. If you do this you end up with a flat back. The way I understand it is that he is commenting on Mortensen releasing first then getting to a flat bac finish instead of having a flatter back at release. Carlos if you stop by could you elaborate on the comment.
Hi all,
BJMize–What I was referring regarding the “flat back” was this…. Many times, I hear pitching coaches mention “flat back” or “get your right knee up and over” and all that stuff. Many times, you’ll see a kid throw a pitch and, because coach wants him to finish that way, the player will fake the finish. Finishing that way is largely a result of the effort put into the pitch. You want to finish with a “flat back” or “bending the waist” as a result of all the power and effort and driving down/forward through the ball instead of finishing that way in order to please coach.
Mortensen seems to finish not as hard and then seems to “fake” the final few frames of his delivery. See if you can catch it. I’m also being nitpicky with that by he way…
Carlos-
That is kinda what I was thinking, I want to get kids to use there hips and core as forcefully as they can.
I had another thought on what you are doing and I know this is going to be difficult. It seems to me that with the advancement in software (and cheaper hardware) we should be able to use frame speeds and start to get a very accurate measure of what “stuff” is. For example a curveball should break a certain distance over so many frames to be considered major league average. If we could do this with the best pitches in the game we could start to accurately measure what a “plus” vs “average” pitch is. I think the thing that is preventing people co this is getting the proper camera angles on the pitches.
hips and core forcefully—yes and yes….I like your approach. Again, you want your pitchers to finish with a “flat back” because of the stuff that happens throughout the delivery and not something forced at the end to make a pitcher look “pitcherly.”
Excellent thoughts there on quantifying break. I think MLB Enhanced gameday is on the right track with that. I’d like to one day measure release point distance from home plate in order to identify “sneaky fast” guys myself.
BTW Erik, nice to see there were others who enjoyed the Fielder, Tettleton, Rob Deer lineup. To my dad’s dismay, I used to copy their swings in games. Can you imagine a 13 year-old kid with Mickey Tettleton’s stance? Yeah, that was me….
nice. did you eat the extra fruit loops as well? don’t forget, 91 they had incaviglia for a little while, though by then he sucked. i lived in MI until i was 8, then moved to the STL, that’s basically how i became a card fan. i still looked at the paper everyday and checked the Tiger boxscore. big daddy was my fave…where have you gone, matt nokes?