![]() ![]() The X axis still represents extension, but the Y axis now represents the gain or loss of perceived velocity, again on fastballs. Let’s kick it up a notch: Baseball Savant ![]() You can see the Dodgers as the biggest outlier, and I’ve marked the dots that represent the more extreme teams as well. There you can see the average release extension of every team in 2021 (X axis) and the xwOBA allowed (Y axis), and keep in mind that the xwOBA against is only against fastballs (four-seamers, sinkers, cutters). The Dodgers (6.2) are bottom five as well, so while this is not something that would make or break a team’s pitching staff, there is at least some degree of correlation between average extension and quality of pitching, especially on fastballs: Baseball Savant Major League Baseballįirst and foremost, just to put the data out there, the Rockies as a staff had the second-lowest average release extension in all of baseball (6.1), with only the Houston Astros (6.0) behind them, but that’s not a terrible thing by itself. You get it), you can go for league average (6.3 in 2021, well higher than the 6.0 it was in 2019), and so on. ![]() You can check out the leaders for 2021 (some of the leaders include guys like Tyler Glasnow, Aroldis Chapman, Zack Wheeler, Kenley Jansen, Freddy Peralta. There’s a lot of fun stuff you can do with data like this, of course. Randy Johnson would be another excellent historical example of this. This is one of the reasons his four-seamer is as devastating as it is: he simply releases it closer to the batter. Someone on the other end of the spectrum would be Jacob deGrom, who gets 6.9 (nice) feet of extension, way above average and one foot further than JV. This is caused by his relatively short stride forward in his mechanics and it means, among other things, that his fastball “plays down” in terms of velocity. Consider someone like long-armed, 6’5” Justin Verlander, for example, whose average release extension for his recent career (2015-20, the years pitch tracking covers) is 5.9 feet, lower than MLB average (which is usually between 6.1 - 6.3). You might think that it’s mostly tied to a pitcher’s height and the length of his arms, but while it is indeed a factor, that’s not the only thing at play here. There are lots of things that determine release extension. The more extension you can get towards home plate, which means your pitches have to travel less distance, and thus the batter has less time to react. What does that mean? Well, release extension is how far from the rubber a pitcher actually releases the baseball. Let’s talk about extension, and in particular, let’s talk about average release extension. ![]()
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