Working on Beckett?

[example1]

I may be goign crazy, but it seemed pretty obvious to me from watching yesterday (Saturday's) game that Beckett has done a considerable amount of tweaking with his delivery over the past few starts. He no longer turns quite so much, he has sped his motion up, and his front leg actually swings back and down now, rather than almost straight up like it used to.

 

Did anyone else notice that?

 

It is obvious watching yesterday's game because Beckett has traditionally had such a nice fluid delivery. People are giving this guy an awful lot of crap. He is and will continue to be a pitcher that hitters don't want to face.

 

The key question is whether or not Beckett is intentionally changing his motion, or whether it is changing because he is compensating for something (an injury or something).

[BoSox21]

the rumor was that Beckett was tipping his pitches so I think that might be the explanation for changing his delivery

[example1]

It was a pretty drastic change, whatever it was.

[Anuj09]

when Beckett is good hes really disgusting

 

when he sucks he REALLY sucks

[ORS]

I think there's something to the tipping of his pitches line of thinking. MLB hitters aren't going to miss much when they know what's coming. Beckett's stuff is very good, but when they know what's coming it isn't hard to time it. Part of that may be that he doesn't throw his curve often enough, IMO. When a guy is throwing >90% gas, they will guess right more often. He's learning how to pitch. His stuff can lag a little in order to keep 'em guessing more, which will make him a better pitcher in the long run.

[example1]

Yeah, I think that sounds like a good theory. Why would that mean completely changing whether he puts his arms over his head during his windup or not? It seems they would tweak what was broken, not rework the whole thing. It's weird, I just don't remember seeing that happen many times (if any) before.

[ORS]

Yeah, I think that sounds like a good theory. Why would that mean completely changing whether he puts his arms over his head during his windup or not? It seems they would tweak what was broken, not rework the whole thing. It's weird, I just don't remember seeing that happen many times (if any) before.

Tipping can result from anything. Grip, arm angle, wind up, leg kick, anything. Usually it is totally subconscious, so I would imagine a completely different approach would actually get you to think about it more than a small tweak of the old approach.

[SCM33]

Tipping can result from anything. Grip, arm angle, wind up, leg kick, anything. Usually it is totally subconscious, so I would imagine a completely different approach would actually get you to think about it more than a small tweak of the old approach.

 

 

He faced a National League team in a National League park, something hes quite used to, considering thats what his whole career was about until this point. Nothing to get excited about yet. Lets see how he does against good hitting American League teams....wait, we already know, and it was pretty terrible with a 5.something ERA while being called an ace.

[example1]

He faced a National League team in a National League park, something hes quite used to, considering thats what his whole career was about until this point. Nothing to get excited about yet. Lets see how he does against good hitting American League teams....wait, we already know, and it was pretty terrible with a 5.something ERA while being called an ace.

 

ORS wasn't saying Beckett was all better. Just that sometimes a tweak isn't enough to keep other teams from being able to read your pitch.

 

If he continues using the motion he used last night then teams that were reading him before will have a hard time reading him immediately again. I guess in that sense it is a good thing. I just miss his old windup.

[TheKilo]

He faced a National League team in a National League park, something hes quite used to, considering thats what his whole career was about until this point. Nothing to get excited about yet. Lets see how he does against good hitting American League teams....wait, we already know, and it was pretty terrible with a 5.something ERA while being called an ace.

 

 

Like you said, facing the NL is a lot easier. I'm not expecting s aub 3.00 ERA from Beckett in the AL East.

 

I think anywhere around the 3.50 level would be an "ace", 4.00 is a solid #2. Based on his stuff, I think he'll finish somewhere in the 4.2-4.3 range in ERA.

[SCM33]

ORS wasn't saying Beckett was all better. Just that sometimes a tweak isn't enough to keep other teams from being able to read your pitch.

 

If he continues using the motion he used last night then teams that were reading him before will have a hard time reading him immediately again. I guess in that sense it is a good thing. I just miss his old windup.

 

 

Yeah, I shouldnt have quoted him....so sorry ORS in advance.....i was just trying to say that one start against a light hitting national league team in a national league park doesnt mean that much to me...

[Sizzlin22]

the rumor was that Beckett was tipping his pitches so I think that might be the explanation for changing his delivery

He wasn't tipping his pitches, he would jsut throw fastballs 90% of the time so the hitters wouls sit on it and clobber it. I noticed he's throwing signifigantly more breaking balls which is keeping the hitters off balance, keeping the run count down.

[example1]

He wasn't tipping his pitches, he would jsut throw fastballs 90% of the time so the hitters wouls sit on it and clobber it. I noticed he's throwing signifigantly more breaking balls which is keeping the hitters off balance, keeping the run count down.

 

Then why did his motion change so drastically?

[monstah27]

when Beckett is good hes really disgusting

 

when he sucks he REALLY sucks

exactly.

[SchillingIsTheNatural]

when Beckett is good hes really disgusting

 

when he sucks he REALLY sucks

 

He is still only 25 years old. He will continue to get better control and would expect him to have some huge years while in his prime.

[BoSox21]

I still get shocked every time I hear Beckett is 26. the guy seems like he's been around forever since his raping of the Yankees was in BC time (before championship)

[Sizzlin22]

Then why did his motion change so drastically?

I'm sure it was an adjustment made so he could keep control of the breaking ball. That was his issue he didn't trust his control of hsi breaking stuff. I'm not saying he didn't change it, I'm just saying I don't think he was tipping his pitches, he was just being really predictable.

[RoyNHSox]

Remy‘s mention of how Beckett has been working on lowering his windup reminded me of this thread. The new ? windup as Remy called it seems to be effective. All of his pitches were on tonight, great stuff.