So I noticed while watching highlights that every time Sale throw a fastball, he flies open after release and both his arms go way up in the air, the type of recoil we saw with Peavy.

 

But when he throws an offspeed pitch, his arms come straight down normally and his frame stays closed. Now, when a hitter actually notices this, I'm sure it's too late to react, but then again I am not a major league hitter, so maybe they can pick up on the change in their peripherals and see if he doesn't raise his arms as he releases, then lay off the pitch.

 

Either way, after watching a small sample size of other pitchers, I noticed they don't really change how they finish their release depending on a fastball or off-speed.

 

It's probably irrelevant, because I'm sure Don Cooper would have noticed before I would, but either way I found it interesting. I was finding myself watching highlights of him and covering up the whole screen except for Sale, and recognizing what he was throwing as soon as he released it.

 

 

Video from last year. He gets a lot of fastball outs, you can see his body start to fly open as he releases....

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play...31&c_id=cws

 

Video from today. All his K's were on offspeed pitches, and he keeps his body closed and his arms down as he releases....

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play...06&c_id=cws

Good observation.

 

I think it's way too late for the hitter to tell. By the time he does a motion like that, they would have already decided whether or not they will swing, especially on a fastball that's 93-95 MPH.

Good observation.

 

I think it's way too late for the hitter to tell. By the time he does a motion like that, they would have already decided whether or not they will swing, especially on a fastball that's 93-95 MPH.

 

That's what I was thinking, but then again, hitters are able to pick up on the spin of the ball to see how it will break, and they only can see the spin after the pitch is released. If anything, they would start their swing as if it's a fastball, and then hold up if they don't notice his arms go up and body fly open. Like I said, I'm not a hitter, so I'm not sure how much they can actually discipline themselves after the ball is released, but I do wonder about it.

You have compromised everything. Thanks for ruining our season

You should direct message Peavy on Twitter and let him know. Have Sale look at it.

 

I am not kidding either.

Edited April 2, 201313 yr by witesoxfan

He's only doing that on fastballs up in the zone, so if he's tipping anything it's location... he isn't doing that on his change nor his fastballs lower in the zone in that video

Also I don't think there's anything a hitter can do about Sale anyway if he's making his pitches. The delivery & constant changing of speeds is enough to throw off a hitter even if he thinks he's got him dialed in.

My personal observation is if you wait to see if Sale opens up and recoils so you know his fastball is coming, it's going to be the catchers glove long before you can pull the trigger on that tipped pitch.