Tiant explains when and why he adopted this unusual method of pitching, via : It made it nearly impossible for batters to figure out what was coming, as they not only couldn't tell what pitch he was throwing, but they had no clue as to what arm angle he was going to use in order to throw it. On top of that, Tiant would almost turn around to face second base during his windup, but instead of spinning back around and firing the ball toward home plate in a fluid motion, he'd hesitate, often looking around the park before throwing his pitch. Tiant could throw a fastball, curveball, slider, knuckleball, palmball and a slow curve, bringing his arm either over the top, three-quarters or sidearm. If the hitter was watching him, the poor schmuck didn’t have a chance of hitting the ball.Ī three-time All-Star who led the American League in ERA twice, Luis Tiant threw six different pitches from three different arm angles, and he never had the exact same delivery for any of them. He would wobble his head back and forth before releasing the ball. But he had a change-up curve, a regular change-up, a change-up off his fastball, and a change-up off that fastball. His best fastball was probably about 45 miles per hour, and then it got worse.
He would frustrate the hell out of the hitters. He had a phenomenal career for a guy that couldn’t break a pane of glass with his fastball.
He had three speeds for his pitches: slow, slower, and slowest. Via The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, and Pitches: Milt Pappas explains the phenomenon that was Stu Miller better than anyone else. Stu Miller never threw a pitch more than 60 miles per hour, yet he enjoyed a 16-year career that saw him save 154 games and may have had the best changeup that baseball has ever seen.
0 kommentar(er)
