FanPost

Lee and Mota

A couple observations about a couple guys who aren't pitching very well...

Lee: His mechanics look "off".  He's not "finishing", with his back flat and his shoulders square; he's falling from his left to his right.

I'm wondering whether his sports hernia is bothering him again.  It might help explain why his velocity is down.  And I think maybe his falling from left-to-right is an attempt to get more oomph on the ball.

Mota: his pitches have good movement from side-to-side, but they're mostly on the same plane; except for his 60-foot slider, which most guys don't swing at.

His velocity is still good; but I wonder whether he's over-throwing and it's causing his pitches to flatten.  I never saw him pitch for the Dodgers when he was going good, so I'm not sure if he used  to have more up-down movement on his pitches.  

I know he's been (mostly) awful so far this year, but I wonder if he could back off the velocity a bit, increase movement and control, and become more effective.

Maybe part of coming back from arm surgery is accepting the fact that you've lost a couple MPH, and not overthrowing to keep posting good numbers on the radar.  But he doesn't need to throw 96 to get guys out; 91-93, with good movement, will work, too.  

In other words, I think that, if he can accept that he can no longer be overpowering, he can still be very effective (which would be quite an improvement).

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