Detroit Tigers Links: Justin Verlander’s pitch mechanics are flawless

It’s all about timing.

As Justin Verlander has gotten older, he has put less reliance on his fastball speed, and significantly more on location, consistency and timing. He explains this shift in the video below:

Verlander’s mechanics now are all about rhythm, tempo, and timing. He uses his hands to control his motion, creating consistency for all of his pitches. For more on this, Ricky Mears breaks down each of these components more thoroughly, labeling them Verlander’s secret to success.

Speaking to those flawless mechanics, Verlander delivered his best start of the spring on Monday, going 4 and 2/3rds scoreless. If for no other reason, click on that article for it’s incredible photo choice of Verlander both pitching and farting at the same time.

In other Tigers pitching news, Jordan Zimmermann is aiming for a bounce back season after his injury-plagued 2016. The results haven’t been perfect, but he is feeling good, and that’s all that matters. And Fangraphs has a piece on young guns of the rotation. Highly recommend.

I will never tire of seeing Jim Leyland in a USA jersey

Knowledge is power

Anyone interested in physics of off speed pitches? Just me? Well here is the link anyway.

And while we are speaking on science, take a look at how Craig Breslow used science to engineer his way back into the MLB.

The worst part of spring training

Never a fun topic, but an inevitable part of playing a sport is injuries. And more than a couple have cropped up around the league in the past couple days. Let’s get up to speed.

Salvador Perez was injured in the World Baseball Classic collision but is hoping to be back for opening day. Tom Murphy, Colorado’s promising catcher is out 4-6 weeks with a hairline fracture. David Price is likely to start the season on the DL, and the uncertainty is concerning. Ian Desmond will require hand surgery for his broken hand, prolonging his DL stint by a couple additional weeks. And Anthony DeSclafani has been diagnosised with a UCL strain.

That is an excellent bobblehead

On the subject of rebuilding

In February, Fangraphs had an interesting read on how GMs handle choosing an organizational direction and how to stay the course through ups and downs. Unfortunately, Al Avila wasn’t one of those included in the responses, but since the Tigers may be heading through a rebuild soon, I found their follow up with Red’s GM Dick Williams very illuminating.

Locker room shenanigans at their finest

Apparently Kenley Jansen challenged Kenta Maeda’s interpreter to a deadlift challenge. And I’ve got to say, that is a small man lifting an impressive amount of weight.

For your free time

Does J.J. Hardy even like hitting? Survey says no. 30 baseball games in 30 days? Sounds good to me. Might as well start obsessing over the 2017 draft before the season consumes you. A break down of the 33 international players the Tigers signed. Manny Ramirez’s Japanese contract is a good contract.

Baseball supports premature bat flips