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Thoughts On Colorado Rockies’ Reliever Rex Brothers’ Release Points

By Bobby DeMuro

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July 28, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies relief pitcher R. Brothers (49) delivers a pitch in the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Coors Field. The Rockies defeated the Brewers 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

3 games total: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 65 pitches (32 strikes)

Ok, so here’s the deal: look at how consistent his release points are in those three games. Granted, it varies by an inch or two here or there, but relative to other pitchers in some of the same games as Brothers (here, here, and here), his release point scatter plots are tighter than pitchers who put up better numbers in their outings. That should concern you.

It takes a lot of mechanical tweaks and moves and balance points to hit the same release point virtually every single pitch — there are literally so many moving parts in the pitching motion before the release point, that the fact that Brothers is hitting nearly the same release point every single pitch should mean he’s due to be more successful than he has been in the recent past.

And yet… here we are (again). Something is happening between release point and result (obviously), because pitch after pitch after pitch, he has managed to get himself to a consistent release point.

If that release point weren’t correct (i.e., if his mechanics were flawed, directing him to the wrong release point every single pitch), he’d have never been called back to Denver from Albuquerque in the first place.

The fact that he can hold such a consistent release point, and yet miss literally all over the strike zone (and well outside of it) with all of his pitches leaves me… confused.

I don’t know if it’s mental, or a pitch grip issue, or something mechanical that is betraying him in spite of his consistent release point, but the first scatter plots in the last three sides shouldn’t result in the corresponding second scatter plots.

Something is still wrong with Rex Brothers, it didn’t get completely fixed in Albuquerque (remember, he still walked a lot of guys even with success down there near the end of his stay), and it’ll be a long two months in Denver if this continues.

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