Mariano Rivera Highlights

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3/7/11, "Cutter Above: A Video Analysis of Mariano Rivera," YankeeAnalysts.com, by William J.

• "(The following is being syndicated from The Captain’s Blog)."

"Quite frankly, it really doesn’t matter how many pitches Rivera throws because his dominance speaks for itself. Still, it is nice to have a better understanding of his wizardry, and a recent video analysis done by ESPN’s Sport Science does an excellent job providing an explanation.

According to former major league pitcher and pitching coach Tom House, Rivera really throws four or five different pitches (including variations on his fastball), but what makes him very unique is every single one emanates from almost exactly the same arm slot. Because Rivera doesn’t vary his arm angle, it appears as if he is throwing one pitch, but, as major league hitters have found out the hard way over the past 16 years, looks can be deceiving. About the only difference between Rivera’s fastball and cutter is the spin he puts on them, but this change

• only manifests itself in the last 10 feet of the ball’s flight.
  

In other words, swinging a bat against Rivera is nothing more than a guessing game."...

Mariano Rivera’s Consisent Arm Slot

Source: ESPN Sport Science