Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 08, 2008
Cueto Comparison

FSN Ohio just showed film of Cueto and Bob Gibson. Their windups are a bit different, but the announcers were pointing out their follow-throughs are the same. A very nice comparison for the rookie pitcher.


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

I saw this as well. But I didn't think the comparison was apt at all. To me, they looked nothing alike. I think a far better comparison would be with Pedro Martinez.

In fact, I can think of several young Latin American pitchers with pitching mechanics similar to Pedro's: Cueto, Marmol (Cubs) and Rodriguez (Angels), to name a few. For me, it raises the question of how much influence Pedro has had on the new generation of (Latin American) pitchers.

Posted by: Potter at April 9, 2008 02:51 PM

if you didnt think their follow-thru comparison was "apt" your mind was made up beforehand. it was almost identical.

Posted by: tpt at April 10, 2008 03:56 AM

tpt, I'm not sure how from my post you determined that my mind was made up beforehand. Nor am I sure why you put the word "apt" in quotes.

I decided the comparison was not apt (as in pertinent or appropriate) after watching the comparison, not before. Just because I don't agree with it, does not mean I didn't give the comparison fair consideration.

Gibson throws his body towards first base, and is almost horizontal to the ground at one point in his delivery. He then pulls his arm through as he delivers the pitch. In his follow through, he literally falls off the mound to the first base side. It's quite extreme.

Cueto (and the other pitchers I mentioned), on the other hand, end up in an almost vertical position, and don't fall of the mound at all. And, they all finish their delivery with their pitching arm snapping back in a recoiling motion, almost like a whip.

I just don't agree with the comparison. I even rewound my DVR to watch it again to see if I was missing something. Far from identical, I thought the two deliveries were fundamentally different.

Posted by: Potter at April 14, 2008 08:19 AM

Well, it seems my comparison of Cueto to Pedro was far from original. Baseball writer Jeff Blair (who covered the Expos when Pedro was there) has written:

"I have seen the future and it looks a lot like Pedro Martinez. The single most impressive thing I've seen this spring was Cincinnati Reds prospect Johnny Cueto pitching against the Toronto Blue Jays.

My god, this guy looks like Pedro looked when he first came to the Montreal Expos - a little thicker through the hips, maybe, but he's got the jaunty leg and arm swing that Pedro has when he finishes off a pitch"

Full story here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080307.WBbaseball20080307121421/WBStory/WBbaseball

Posted by: Potter at April 14, 2008 08:48 AM
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