The 3 Types of Pitch Movement Profiles

TMVP #026 - Alan Jaeger: The Lost Art of Long Toss

In this episode, Josh and I sit down with the one and only Alan Jaeger. 

We dive deep into:

- Long toss

- Meditation

- Developing your process

- The cost of velo chasing

and more! 

You can listen on: 

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Today, I want to walk through the 3 types of movement profiles:

1. North/South

2. East/West

3. Hybrid

These names suggest the general movement direction these pitches have.

Lets break them down.

1. North/South

This profile typically has less horizontal movement separation and more vertical separation.

Look at the example below of Tyler Glasnow and Carlos Rodon.

Glasnow is an extreme example of a north/south profile.

His fastball has a little bit of cut, slider and curveball are both vertically moving pitches.

Rodon is more of a traditional north/south profile.

He has a little bit of horizontal movement on his pitches but you can see the general direction of his shapes are more up and down.

This profile is usually platoon neutral and can be common for these guys to be starters as a result.

Remember, we aren't looking at pitches in a vacuum.

How they play together matters the most.

Use the primary fastball as your starting point for how off-speed pitches will appear to move to the hitter.

2. East/West

This profile has more horizontal separation and less vertical.

Here is an example of Logan Webb and Sean Manaea.

You can see it very clearly that their pitches are working right and left more than up and down.

There are pros and cons to this profile.

Typically there is a higher success rate against same sided hitters than opposite handed.

Opposite handed hitters are able to see these shapes a lot longer and can cause issues.

What most east/west pitchers will do is add a cutter or 4 seam that they can use to try and neutralize platoon splits.

Lets use the example of Manaea.

If he uses his cutter as his primary fastball against righties, his changeup is now going to appear to have a lot more arm side movement versus throwing it off of the sinker where it'll have minimal relative movement.

Logan Webb is a unique case because he doesn't throw the 4 seam all that often.

But how he neutralizes lefties (besides his nasty changeup) is he pounds the inside corner with his sinker.

While most pitchers go arm side, he goes glove side and has had great success.

3. Hybrid

This profile is a blend of the previous two.

It's not true north/south or east/west.

This is the most common profile in baseball.

Here is an example of Zack Wheeler and Patrick Sandoval.

As you can see, these pitchers specifically have a lot of pitches.

You'll notice hybrid pitchers use two different profiles depending on who they are facing.

When facing same sides hitters they'll go more east/west with sinkers and sliders.

Against opposite handed hitters they'll use more four seams, changeups, and curveballs.

Even if neither end up being a true north/south or east/west profile it still leans them closer to that and allows them to mitigate platoon splits.

Did you find value into todays newsletter?

You might be interested in my course, Pitch Design "U".

Inside the course I breakdown:

• How to throw every pitch type
• How to know what pitch you should add or improve
• MLB examples of different movement plots
• How to maximize pitch usage depending on the batter handedness
• Case studies on real like scenarios

Click here to start watching.

That's all for today.

See you next week!

Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 

1. Remote Training: a personalized throwing and lifting program built for you and your goals.

2. In-Person Training: Work with me in Phoenix, Arizona. Personalized training program to help you reach your goals. Trackman and edgertronic for bullpen sessions.

3. Pitch Design "U" Course: A complete blueprint for developing nasty pitches and optimizing how you use your stuff. 3+ hours of easy to follow video lessons.