Re: smaller power pitchers, there’s the case of Steve Dalkowski to take warning by. Widely held to be the hardest thrower of his time (the ’60s IIRC), he wasn’t 5’10. He was also so incredibly wild that he never had a big league career. (He was also severely alcoholic which factored into that, but.)

And really what concerns me most about Lincecum is the terrible lack of control. Injury risk aside, and it’s hard to evaluate since he’s an outlier, he’s useless now, stuff or no. Whoever d(r)afts him is betting the pick that his control can be refined to the point where he’ll be effective in the Bigs. Like Dave, I’d rather make that bet in the bottom of the 1st round than at the top, and would really rather not make it at all. I mean, you could probably pick up J. Affeldt from the Royals for a lot less, his upside and downsides are comparable to Tim’s, and Affeldt has major league experience now, too. Why spend a pick for that??

That seems as though it would be another area where you get more speed with the same rotational velocity. Longer fingere means the ball is farther away from the wrist, so with longer you should be able to impart more spin to the ball from the same wrist action.

Think also of the height/long finger combo in reference to Randy Johnson’s slider when he was at his peak. The amount of movement he created with that pitch was almost surreal.

I believe the main (and perhaps the only) disatvantage to being a long and lanky pitcher is in regards to repeatable mechanics. The same minor mechanical flaw in two pitchers will be slightly more exaggerated in the one who has more room between his joints*. And the more “off” a pitcher is mechanically, the greater his chance of doing physical damage to his joints and tendons. Add the greater energy transfer generated by the typical tall pitcher and you can see why shorter pitchers have a better track record of health.

*You can compare it to a golf swing from the tee box. The PGA Tour consists mostly of a) tall, lanky guys (6’1″-6’5″) who excel at distance and b) short guys (5’6″-5’10″) who excel at control. There aren’t a lot of 6′ guys on the tour, which is odd when you consider 6′ is a pretty average height.

As far as pitching mechanics go, obviously the baseball doesn’t travel in a pure arc, but each portion of the pitchers body (arm, forearm, wrist, fingers) that is longer allows the ball to travel faster tangentially with the same rotational velocity of the joint. Add that to the closer release point, and greater downward angle of the pitch, and taller pitchers definitely have an advantage.

Of course, I wonder if the greater length of their arms might actually put more strain on their joints/muscles in some circumstances, since there’s more torque on their joints.

Also (and I could be wrong on this), pitchers with longer fingers tend to get more movement on their pitches (I remember reading somewhere that Pedro has freakishly long fingers).

Also, large framed (both tall and girthy) pitchers have historically had longer careers than short ones. Even Nate Silver’s PECOTA system thinks height is important. It’s not just scouts being stupid – body type does matter. It doesn’t mean its a deal breaker, as you can have a good pitcher without ideal body size, but all things being equal, you want the 6’6 guy over the 5’10 guy.

I was referring to perceived velocity. A release point 2 feet closer to home plate reduces the hitters reaction time by a bit over 3%, which has the same effect as adding 3 mph to a fastball delivered from the further release point.

As pointed out in elswhere in this blog (recent thread?), a lot of pitchers get “figured out” and their effective velocity is greatly reduced because of it.

Different contracts could have different results.

And, I think Gillick left on his own, instead of being shoved out..that might make a difference.