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What Is It About Mariano???

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  • #1

    What Is It About Mariano???

    How come he's the only guy around who can throw that incredible cutter?
    It's not quite what it is to be, but it's still a tough pitch...used to be totally mind boggling. I can't think of anybody I've seen in the majors who had one nearly as devastating.
    Is there something special about his physique? Huge hands? Unusual flexibility? He's certainly not huge in general, or incredibly strong looking.
    Just a fluke? One of those funny gifts?
    Just wondering if any of you guys who have seen a lot more of him than me have any ideas.
    "I throw him four wide ones, then try to pick him off first base." - Preacher Roe on pitching to Musial
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Glavine had/has a pretty good one and so does Maddox...but i get what you are saying. that damn thing is nasty

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    • #3
      Yeah, lots of guys throw serviceable cutters, but I can't think of another one as filthy as Rivera's. Seems like most other pitchers use it as a slight change off the fastball that has a little break to throw the hitter off even more...Mariano could just fire his cutter to most hitters over and over, and they couldn't adjust to it.
      "I throw him four wide ones, then try to pick him off first base." - Preacher Roe on pitching to Musial

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      • #4
        Originally posted by hellborn View Post
        Yeah, lots of guys throw serviceable cutters, but I can't think of another one as filthy as Rivera's. Seems like most other pitchers use it as a slight change off the fastball that has a little break to throw the hitter off even more...Mariano could just fire his cutter to most hitters over and over, and they couldn't adjust to it.
        I suppose the fact that no one else has been able to master it the way he has is the reason he is the most dominant relief pitcher of all-time. As for how and why -- hell, obviously no one knows. That pitch is/was flat out ridiculous.
        Originally posted by Domenic
        The Yankees should see if Yogi Berra can still get behind the plate - he has ten World Series rings... he must be worth forty or fifty million a season.

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        • #5
          Why was Johnson's slider in-human? Or Pedro's change-up? Ryan's fastball?

          It just is....
          Ball game over. World Series over! Yankees win thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Yankees win!

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Murderers Row View Post
            Why was Johnson's slider in-human? Or Pedro's change-up? Ryan's fastball?

            It just is....
            I hear what you're saying, to some extent...but, there are always guys around who can touch 100mph, if not for 20 years like Ryan. Changeup artists with good fastballs are prolific, look at Santana and Sabathia right now.
            Johnson was a huge, strong guy with monstrous hands, kind of like Carlton, who also threw an inhuman slider. Juan Guzman and Danny Jackson also had killer sliders...Guzman's looked like an illegal pitch. They were more normal sized guys.
            Is it just that the cutter has such a short history as a distinct pitch (as opposed to just being seen as a fastball with something taken off of it) that there hasn't been enough time for another master to crop up?
            Or, is Rivera like Sutter, somebody who may never be equalled at his signature pitch? Bruce, of course, had incredibly long fingers that made the splitter a natural for him.
            "I throw him four wide ones, then try to pick him off first base." - Preacher Roe on pitching to Musial

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            • #7
              Originally posted by hellborn View Post
              How come he's the only guy around who can throw that incredible cutter?
              In the words of the immortal Joe Dirt...

              "Well, huh, might as, might as well ask why is a tree good? Why is the sunset good? Why are boobs good?"
              Originally posted by Domenic
              The Yankees should see if Yogi Berra can still get behind the plate - he has ten World Series rings... he must be worth forty or fifty million a season.

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              • #8
                Hey man, so long as he gets the job done, I don't care whether he cheats to win lol! I love Mariano anyways...
                MySpace Codes

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                • #9
                  I thought maybe somebody would have heard that Rivera can crush an I-beam with his hands...bend his fingers back to his wrist...got his hand caught in a corn husker as a kid...I don't know.
                  There are a lot of things that can't be explained easily, but wondered if one of the diehard Yanks fans knew something. Maybe shook his hand once and noticed it was bigger than Cleve "Armbreaker" Dean's.
                  "I throw him four wide ones, then try to pick him off first base." - Preacher Roe on pitching to Musial

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    It's because the movement is so late and it has great velocity. It looks like a fastball until it gets over the plate, and then it breaks while still maintaining an almost constant velocity of 90-96 miles per hour. One would be suprised to find out that he "discovered" his cutter by accident while throwing fastballs to Ramiro Mendoza. He, I'm assuming here, switched his grip up a little bit and bam, the most dominating cutter in the history of the game.
                    5,008 innings pitched, 13th all-time, most active
                    355 wins, 8th all-time, most active
                    3.16 lifetime ERA
                    3,371 strikeouts, 10th all-time
                    109 complete games, most active
                    18 Gold Gloves, most all-time
                    First to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards

                    He could throw a baseball through a lifesaver if you asked him!-Joe Morgan

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                    • #11
                      It's just one of those pitches I guess that you just associate with one master. Rivera seems to have the perfect combination of control, velocity, and break with the cutter. It'll be interesting to see what happens though as he starts to lose some velocity on it.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Murderers Row View Post
                        Why was Johnson's slider in-human? Or Pedro's change-up? Ryan's fastball?

                        It just is....
                        Ryan's work ethic and strength.

                        Johnson's height and length


                        Pedro's fingers bend backwards.


                        There is always a reason. It's physics after all

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Just think if his team in Panama didn't need a pitcher one game, and didn't ask their skinny shortstop to come in and pitch we wouldn't have ever seen that cutter!
                          39 AL Pennants • 26 World Series titles
                          2003 • 2001 • 2000 • 1999•1998 • 1996 •1981 • 1978 •1977 • 1976 • 1964 • 1963 •1962 • 1961 • 1960 •1958•1957 • 1956 • 1955 • 1953 • 1952 • 1951 • 1950 • 1949•1947 • 1943 • 1942 • 1941•1939 • 1938 • 1937 • 1936•1932 • 1928 • 1927 • 1926 •1923 • 1922 • 1921
                          :bowdown:1•3•4•5•7•8•8•9•10•15•16•23•32•37•42•44•49 & soon 2•6•20•21•51•42

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by applenut View Post
                            Ryan's work ethic and strength.

                            Johnson's height and length


                            Pedro's fingers bend backwards.


                            There is always a reason. It's physics after all
                            No.

                            There have been ball players as tall and long as Johnson, and that are as strong and have as good work ethic as Ryan, and probably some that have fingers like Pedro's -- doesn't mean they'll automatically have those pitches.
                            Originally posted by Domenic
                            The Yankees should see if Yogi Berra can still get behind the plate - he has ten World Series rings... he must be worth forty or fifty million a season.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Westlake View Post
                              No.

                              There have been ball players as tall and long as Johnson, and that are as strong and have as good work ethic as Ryan, and probably some that have fingers like Pedro's -- doesn't mean they'll automatically have those pitches.
                              I agree. And even though he says everything has to do with physics, he didn't give us a reason why Mariano has the incredible cutter...
                              5,008 innings pitched, 13th all-time, most active
                              355 wins, 8th all-time, most active
                              3.16 lifetime ERA
                              3,371 strikeouts, 10th all-time
                              109 complete games, most active
                              18 Gold Gloves, most all-time
                              First to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards

                              He could throw a baseball through a lifesaver if you asked him!-Joe Morgan

                              Comment

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