Chris Tillman’s Mechanical Changes

I write about Chris Tillman a lot. I’m aware of this. I might have a problem. Please, no interventions, it’s perfectly healthy I swear.

Back in 2012 I wrote about him being an X-Factor in the ALDS. He didn’t pitch in the series.

In April of 2013 I did an analysis of him pitching from the stretch vs. the windup.

Last spring I did a complete player profile of Tillman, including a look at his mechanics.

There’s a funny thing about Chris Tillman in that he appears to be a tinkerer. Always tweaking and fine-tuning and testing things. This much is obvious simply by taking a look at the vertical release point for Tillman going in to 2014.

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You can see that Tillman’s vertical release point has changed quite a bit over the course of his career. Many of the changes Tillman had made were noted in that piece early last year where I took a look at his mechanics and how he had worked to clean them up in an effort to make them more repeatable.

2014 though, was a whole other thing altogether. Tillman’s release points seemed to methodically change over the course of the year, culminating in a release point during playoff games that was entirely different from the one the righty had used in May. This is, well, odd. Especially for a pitcher who saw a decent amount of success last season. Let’s take a look at exactly what happened to Tillman’s release points last year:

The first image shows the change in vertical release point during 2014 for Tillman, while the second shows the change in horizontal release point. If we start with the vertical release point changes, we can see that from March through October, Tillman’s release point dropped roughly 6 inches. That’s a significant change when you consider that all of this happened within one season.

As for horizontal release point, Tillman’s release moved more than a foot closer to third base over the course of the season. Once again, this is significant. Now, it’s certainly much easier for a pitcher to change their horizontal release point than their vertical. This is simply because they can move across the pitching rubber, resulting in a change in horizontal movement. That kind of change coupled with a significant change in vertical release point though suggests something different however.

Here is what these changes look like overall:

The grouping on the left is from Tillman’s October starts, while the group on the right is from March-April. The change might seem small at first glance, but that’s a function of the axes. The change is actually quite significant.

I noted that Tillman had worked to simplify his mechanics in an effort to produce more repeatable results and better command. 2014 has seen another tweaking of his mechanics with the goal of improving the balance of his windup. Take a look at the pictures below:

The image on the left is from a September start in 2013 against the Yankees while the image on the right is from an ALDS start against the Tigers. The camera angles are different obviously, but there are some subtle differences. First and foremost Tillman’s shoulder angle is less pronounced. In the 2013 start his shoulders sat at roughly 43 degrees upon release. In October however Tillman’s release comes with a less severe shoulder angle, sitting around 40 degrees.

Tillman’s body is also balanced much better in the image on the right, the telltale sign being the angle of Tillman’s cap. On the left Tillman’s head jerks towards first base in an effort to generate momentum and ultimately velocity. On the right however his cap is slightly more straight on, with Tillman’s entire upper body being more square to the target.

The change is minimal, but the results are more obvious. In 2013 Tillman would frequently fall off the mound to his left, typically having to “catch” himself with his swing leg. This past year however Tillman is under more control. He still falls off to his left, but isn’t at risk of falling over should his swing leg not come around as quickly as it does in 2013.

Reviewing video might make these subtle changes more noticeable, so video of the starts referenced above are here:

2013 vs. NYY

2014 ALDS

Going from more of a high effort delivery to a more controlled one would likely cause a loss of velocity, but an increase in command. Theoretically anyway. Tillman did lose some velocity in the beginning of the year, but he was able to build it back up over the course of the year:

As for the command portion, Tillman did see a nominal increase in Zone% and First Strike% in 2014, though both 2013 and 2014 are drastic improvements over his early career. There was a big jump when Tillman overhauled his mechanics in 2013, but 2014 showed incremental improvement above that.

Chris Tillman’s mechanical tweaks will likely continue into 2015, though each improvement to this point has helped make him a better pitcher. It’s tough to tell if this is Dave Wallace’s doing, especially since these changes really started in 2013. Either way, Tillman’s mechanics are fairly sound and would suggest that he’s not a big time injury risk moving forward.

The big question for Chris Tillman going into next season is if he can improve his strikeout numbers while maintaining the improvements in control that he’s seen. A bounce back in strikeout rate would be yet another sign that Tillman can anchor the front half of a rotation. He may not be an ace in the true sense of the word, but he’s continually working to improve his game and lock down the top of the Orioles’ rotation.