Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
March 14, 2006
Gyroball

I had not heard of the gyroball before I saw this post by Will Carroll this morning. Will is promoting the pitch, which is supposed to force good mechanics and break around buildings. With the help of Jeff Passan, now of Yahoo News, they track down a Japanese pitcher who throws one. Video is included (although I haven't been able to download it yet).

If even half of what they are saying about this pitch is true, it will do more to reign in offense than any rule or drug test MLB could implement.

Update: Right click to download the video, it didn't play in my browser. It's impressive. The film is in slow motion, and you can see the bullet like rotation of the ball. The angle, however, does not show you the break. Maybe Will Carroll can post some straight on video of his pitchers throwing the gyroball so we can see the curve!

Update: Dennis sends me a link to video Will posted last year. However, it's off to the side, so it's still difficult to see the curve of the ball. We need a straight on camera angle.


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Posted by David Pinto at 08:29 AM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Re: Update

Check your e-mail, David.

Posted by: Dennis at March 14, 2006 10:12 AM

The gyroball's been a semi-regular topic on Will's blog for the past year or so.

Last season he was posting weekly updates about a high school pitcher who was having some success with it, but those updates stopped showing up around mid-season with no explanation.

Posted by: Gordon at March 14, 2006 02:06 PM

Wasn't this Syd Finch's pitch?

Posted by: rbj at March 14, 2006 02:49 PM

word is that the yankees want that japanese dude bad...i believe he was the mvp of the Japan Series...unfortunatly the Seibu Lions would not see the rights to negotiate with him...i suspect he will be in the US in the next couple of years...

Posted by: tony flynn at March 14, 2006 06:30 PM

Go to YouTube and search on gyroball. There is one of the Japanese pitcher throwing it in a game.

Posted by: mark at July 17, 2006 08:01 PM
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