Finally, the gyroball mystery solved

[wang_chi7]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-mlb_07_gyroball022107

Pretty interesting, the article pretty much explains that its not a breaking ball, but a type of fastball and can be thrown as a 2 or 4 seamer. The pitch instead of having backspin has sidespin (it moves like a football thats thrown with a spiral.) The benefit is that it makes it harder to read the pitch for the batter.

[Sandman42]

Re: Finally, the gyroball mystery solved

From what I got from reading this article and previous articles in the past is the pitch has a breaking ball type motion on it, but it is thrown with a fastball grip with a motion like throwing a football. Meaning that instead of rolling the ball over your fingers like a curveball/slider it thrown like one would throw a football with a normal 4 seam or 2 seam fastball grip.

If indeed Matsuzaka does throw the pitch, I don't think it will that dominant for that long. Hitters will eventually learn how to hit it like they have every other pitch. Same thing happened when Hideo Nomo came in the league. He dominated hitters with his forkball when he first came in the league, but then hitters eventually picked up on it and learned his tendencies.

The good thing for Matsuzaka though, is he rarely throws his gyroball(if he even throws it at all) and relies more on his fastball, change, and breaking ball. Nomo relied on his forkball as his bread and butter pitch, and he struggled when hitters adapted to it. I don't think this will happen with Matsuzaka because he doesn't rely on it as Nomo did with his forkball.

[Macar91]

Re: Finally, the gyroball mystery solved

Here's a link I got from ESPN. There are videos that illustrate the movement of the pitch and I thought it was pretty cool.

http://cfd-duo.riken.go.jp/indexc.htm

[dalnet22]

Re: Finally, the gyroball mystery solved

After reading this article, I now can say I have thrown the gyroball many times before. I always wondered how my fastball could sort of cut / slide like it was, but I understand now. It's certainly dependent on your arm slot, so don't go out and try it recklessly. I have hurt my arm many times trying random stuff.

[Lintyfresh85]

Re: Finally, the gyroball mystery solved

From what I got from reading this article and previous articles in the past is the pitch has a breaking ball type motion on it, but it is thrown with a fastball grip with a motion like throwing a football. Meaning that instead of rolling the ball over your fingers like a curveball/slider it thrown like one would throw a football with a normal 4 seam or 2 seam fastball grip.

If indeed Matsuzaka does throw the pitch, I don't think it will that dominant for that long. Hitters will eventually learn how to hit it like they have every other pitch. Same thing happened when Hideo Nomo came in the league. He dominated hitters with his forkball when he first came in the league, but then hitters eventually picked up on it and learned his tendencies.

The good thing for Matsuzaka though, is he rarely throws his gyroball(if he even throws it at all) and relies more on his fastball, change, and breaking ball. Nomo relied on his forkball as his bread and butter pitch, and he struggled when hitters adapted to it. I don't think this will happen with Matsuzaka because he doesn't rely on it as Nomo did with his forkball.

I agree to disagree with the Nomo part... people seem to forget the guy had a really good career. Over 100 wins 2 no hitters, pretty good stats for most of his American career. While he wasn't the end all be all of pitching I don't think he gets the credit he really deserves IMO.

[Sandman42]

Re: Finally, the gyroball mystery solved

I agree to disagree with the Nomo part... people seem to forget the guy had a really good career. Over 100 wins 2 no hitters, pretty good stats for most of his American career. While he wasn't the end all be all of pitching I don't think he gets the credit he really deserves IMO.

I wasn't saying he was a bad pitcher. Besides Ichiro and probably Matsui he's the best Japanese player to come into the MLB. While he was still a good pitcher, he wasn't as dominant as he was when he first came into the league.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nomohi01.shtml

You can see how dominant he was the first 3 years of his career and his high K totals. However, after that he fell off a bit in production which I would account to hitters finally figuring out his pitching and his funky motion.

OT: On a related note to Nomo, did anyone ever hate playing with or facing him in baseball video games? His damn motion took so long to finish.

[dalnet22]

Re: Finally, the gyroball mystery solved

I wasn't saying he was a bad pitcher. Besides Ichiro and probably Matsui he's the best Japanese player to come into the MLB. While he was still a good pitcher, he wasn't as dominant as he was when he first came into the league.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nomohi01.shtml

You can see how dominant he was the first 3 years of his career and his high K totals. However, after that he fell off a bit in production which I would account to hitters finally figuring out his pitching and his funky motion.

OT: On a related note to Nomo, did anyone ever hate playing with or facing him in baseball video games? His damn motion took so long to finish.

I really wish the meter took the same length for every pitcher. It made me not want to use him, David Wells, and whoever else had a long delivery.

[bukktown]

Re: Finally, the gyroball mystery solved

I love this quote

"If thrown correctly, Tezuka said, the two-seam gyroball should look to a batter like a slider and act like a fastball."

It almost makes it sound like a hanging slider. Like the pitch is supposed to spin but not break. I cant wait to see it because it sounds like a terrible pitch. lol