Chris Sale and Madison Bumgarner are two of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball by any metric. Sale leads the majors with a 32.8 percent strikeout rate, while Bumgarner ranks tenth with a 26.7 percent mark. Sale is second in the league with a 2.40 FIP and Bumgarner’s 2.85 mark ranks eighth. Sale stands third in the league in fWAR at 5.3, while Bumgarner has posted 3.8 to rank 13th.
The most impressive metric for this pair, however, is their walk rates. Bumgarner ranks fourth in the league with a 4.1 percent walk rate, while Sale is 17th among qualified starters with a 5.0 percent mark.
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Sale and Bumgarner employ unconventional deliveries, especially for starting pitchers. Their low lefty arm slot is typically something only seen in left handed specialists, but Sale and Bumgarner are innings-eating starting pitchers. Some aspects of their deliveries, such as not striding straight to the plate, are aspects that many pitching coaches would work to eradicate on the first day of practice, yet both pitchers are able to repeat their deliveries and consistently control the baseball.
Let’s break down these two low-slot lefties to see how they are able to achieve such success with such unusual deliveries.
Primer on Sale
Listed at a long and lean 6’6” and 180 pounds, Sale’s delivery can make traditionalists cringe. The motion is anything but smooth, the stride angle is far off to the first base side, the scapular load and “inverted W” is extremely pronounced, and whip on his skinny arm looks like it may make it fall off at any moment.
He also touches 99 from the left side as a starter. His 95.8 mph average fastball velocity is his highest figure in three years. His strikeout percentage is higher than it has ever been for him as a starter, and his walk percentage is the lowest of his career. That’s a lot of things to do right, and we owe him an open mind on his oft-criticized delivery.
Sale has added some initial quickness to the pre-leg lift part of his delivery, which helps him maintain good momentum throughout the motion. He pushes off his back leg well, giving him a bit of additional power and lots of additional release distance (perceived velocity). The lead arm matches the scapular load in the throwing arm to allow him to maintain the ideal of opposite and equal arms then stabilizes as the torso rotates towards the target and the ball is released.
Sale generates plus torque with strong hip turn and significant hip-shoulder separation, forces that accelerate his arm through release, adding velocity to the pitch. There has been no shortage of injury forecasters opining that the extreme acceleration of the arm and the high amount of energy passing through the shoulder and elbow could lead to his relatively thin arm wearing down easily. Of course, high acceleration of the arm is absolutely necessary to throw 99 mph, and Sale has thus far proved the doubters wrong about his ability to stay healthy.
Primer on Bumgarner
Last season’s playoff hero for the postseason champion San Francisco Giants, Bumgarner’s 6’5”, 235 pound country strong frame fits the Platonic form of a durable innings-eater. Like his mental approach in big games, Bumgarner’s delivery is relaxed, and for a low lot lefty with an off-center stride angle, rather simple.
He begins much less initial momentum than Sale, instead relying on an explosive hip turn and long path of shoulder torque. While most pitchers have their shoulders in a line to the plate as they descent from leg lift, Bumgarner’s shoulders are at approximately a 30-degree angle towards first base. This angle increases the path for the shoulders to travel to get squared up to home plate, consequently adding more time for them to accelerate. Shoulder acceleration transfers into arm acceleration, adding velocity to the pitch.
Bumgarner has relatively little scapular load in either arm. His opposite and equal is a very traditional T position with straight, extended arms. His arm path is more aesthetically pleasing, while his lead arm tucks near his shoulder during release. The overall delivery favors deliberate control and late explosion over Sale’s aggressive momentum. Bumgarner and Sale still share many non-traditional starting pitcher qualities, but it’s a bit easier to see how the broader, more deliberate Bumgarner is a master of control and durability.
Now that we have a primer on each pitcher, let’s take a closer look at a few aspects of their deliveries that have helped their unique profiles achieve success in a starting role. The first two aspects are questions that Sale and Bumgarner have had to answer, while the next two are positives that add to their dominance.
Aspect One: Low Arm Slot
The question: Can a starting pitcher succeed with such a low arm slot? How can he be effective against opposite handed hitters? Wouldn’t he be better suited in the bullpen, or even as a lefty specialist?
The answer: Both pitchers have traditional platoon splits and are better against left-handed hitters, but they are still quite good against right-handed hitters. Right-handed hitters have a career wOBA of just .286 against Sale and .295 against Bumgarner, figures well below league average.
How do they do it? Sale doesn’t change his pitch selection much against righties, but he is very intentional about his location of offspeed pitches. He uses his changeup almost exclusively down and away and his slider almost exclusively down and in (also known as a back foot slider). Bumgarner, on the other hand, challenges righties up and in with his fastball, throws breaking balls down and usually in, and adds the rare changeup low in the zone. Bumgarner’s ability to neutralize opposite-handed hitters without a prominent changeup is unusual, and also a testament to the quality of his fastball, breaking pitches, and most importantly, command of all of them.
Aspect Two: Stride Angle and Lateral Rotation
The question: Can a pitcher repeat his delivery in spite of an off-line stride? With the lower half direction off-line, can a pitcher repeat the necessary extra rotation of the torso to square up to home plate? Can a pitcher with these attributes in the delivery maintain good balance through release?
The answer: These aspects of Sale and Bumgarner’s deliveries are part of their personal “signature,” or natural throwing mechanics. Every pitcher has innate mechanical traits, such as arm slot and stride angle, that are best left largely untouched.
That being said, these characteristics are still present in both pitchers’ deliveries. Both pitchers reduce the amount of lower body misdirection by starting on the right side of the rubber, so they plant near the middle of the mound. Still, the direction of the lower half stride is to the left of home plate, meaning that compromises of additional hip and shoulder rotation are necessary.
Both pitchers are able to make these compromises of additional hip and shoulder rotation, which makes them seem very “rotational,” as their shoulders and hips rotate more degrees than most pitchers. This is true, and makes their delivery more difficult to repeat – just as all additional movement beyond the bare essentials makes the delivery more difficult to repeat.
In spite of this added complication, both lefties are able to repeat their delivery with consistency. It may be easier for Sale and Bumgarner to simply stride straight to the plate and not have to undergo additional hip and shoulder rotation to square up to home plate, but they have found a way to make their off-line strides work for them and have acquired the muscle memory to consistently repeat the motion.
Balance at point of release is also worth mentioning, as neither pitcher has a traditional balanced front leg to throw against. Instead, the plant leg on both pitchers is angled, making it a more difficult position in which to balance in stagnation. However, deliveries are not performed in stagnation; rather the focus is on balance during active transfer of energy. Even if a particular position seems imbalanced, it is important to understand the active nature of a pitching motion and judge balance within the movements. Both Sale and Bumgarner have enough kinetic balance to overcome the imbalanced freeze frame and repeat their delivery with consistency.
Aspect Three: Posture
Both pitchers get high marks for their posture during their delivery, especially at release point. Good posture means keeping the spine tall through release, improving balance and consequently, repeatability. Maintaining good posture allows the arm to play at its’ natural angle (the angle between the spine and the arm), as opposed to what I refer to as an artificial arm angle (angle between the ground and the arm) created by spinal tilt. Tilting the spine angles the shoulders, so even if the true arm angle remains the same, the artificial arm angle will get much higher. Many pitchers strive for an over the top delivery and more release height by sacrificing release height, a tradeoff that simply is not worth it.
Good posture lowers the artificial arm angle to match the true arm angle, making more pitchers, like Sale and Bumgarner, closer to sidearm. They suffer a loss of a bit of release height and downward tilt on their pitches, good things in a vacuum, but not as useful as proper posture, balance, and release distance.
Aspect Four: Release Distance
Release distance refers to the distance of the ball at release from the rubber towards home plate. A short release distance means more time for the hitter to see and react to the ball, while a long release distance means less time for a hitter to react. Reaction time is a fundamental aspect of velocity, and adjusting reaction times have part of the same effect as adjusting velocity. For this reason perceived velocity was conjured and rewards pitchers with long release distances while taking away from pitchers with short release distances.
Both pitchers gain perceived velocity through release distance, as both pitchers release the ball very close to home plate. A long stride, long torso, and finish over the front foot all contribute to release distance. Sale and Bumgarner do these things very well, adding to their release distance, and making their heaters seem a tick or two harder to a hitter.
Wrap
Sale and Bumgarner are great examples of pitchers embracing their mechanical signatures and finding a way to make them work. Their profiles are unusual for frontline starting pitchers, but they deserve credit for learning how to repeat their deliveries and having the kind of stuff to get both lefties and righties out. Both pitchers have faced and risen above some doubt early in their careers to become frontline pitchers racking up tons of strikeouts, and more impressively, controlling the baseball in the zone. It is a treat for baseball fans to be able to watch such unique and dominant frontline starters every five days as they record outs in ways unlike almost every other starting pitcher in the league.
Sporting News contributor Dan Weigel pitched for Bucknell University and is a player and a coach for national and club youth teams in the United Kingdom. Follow him on Twitter: @danweigel38 .