BBTN had some initial thoughts from Trip on BMac's new mechanics. So, I've made side-by-side frame shots using last night's start against Toronto (Sep 1) and his shutout start against Houston (May 24), and I have interlaced Trip's comments in order to see what Trip is writing about.

via sites.google.com

Another important change is in how McCarthy picks up the baseball. His old way was a very vertical pick-up that featured an inverted arm position -- the inverted 'W'. Now, McCarthy swings his arm down, back, and up. This takes a lot of stress out his pick-up, but if you were watching him closely, you could see that his elbow still gets pretty high and pretty far behind his back.

via sites.google.com

McCarthy's glove arm is now a far more active part of his delivery. He uses it to keep his shoulders closed deeper into his delivery, and he uses it to gain some rotational leverage as his shoulders finally do rotate. Before, his glove arm swung his shoulders open early and then played dead.

via sites.google.com

McCarthy's glove arm is now a far more active part of his delivery. He uses it to keep his shoulders closed deeper into his delivery, and he uses it to gain some rotational leverage as his shoulders finally do rotate. Before, his glove arm swung his shoulders open early and then played dead.

via sites.google.com

The release is what stood out to me. BMac seemed to me to fall forward not as soon in his motion as he used to. Maybe that is a trick played on my eyes by virtue of his glove hand not hanging down as it used to. These frames, of course, are not precisely aligned, so the forward position of his upper body in the right image might be simply nothing more than a later moment in his delivery. It looks to me, though, that with his new mechanics his arm comes through a little bit ahead of his body compared to in the past and he is in a taller, more balanced position. It was that body-flinging-downward motion that always made me think of him as a stork falling over his feet. BMac's previous motion always brought to mind a scene from Disney's Robin Hood.

via sites.google.com