By Geoff Walter / SNY.tv

 

 

One hundred and three million dollars: That's how much Boston was willing to pay for the services of a 26-year-old right-handed Japanese pitcher named Daisuke Matsuzaka -- $51.1 million as a posting fee, and $52 for a six year contract. There haven't been this many high expectations since Alex Rodriguez put on Yankee pinstripes. Dice K comes well armed with a fastball ranging in the mid-nineties that has late movement on it as well as a cutter, splitter, changeup, slider and curve, but those pitches haven't been why he is constantly surrounded by agents of the media. A "mystery pitch," is the cause of all the attention. It's referred to as a "gyroball," but revered as almost the Holy Grail of pitching. Here's your chance to see my take on the hype surrounding Matsuzaka's "mystery pitch," gyroball or otherwise, and respond with some thoughts of your own.

Any advantage you can get in pitching is a good one. Some say that a pitcher's first time through a lineup is the easiest simply because the batters have never seen them before. That all goes away by season's end with video, scouting reports, etc. It also helps that Matsuzaka is not only coming from a different league, but another country! There aren't a lot of American baseball players who have played in the Japanese League for any significant length of time and returned to the US, let alone any who have amassed at-bats against Matsuzaka.

The only Japanese player currently playing in the US who may have had some significant plate time with Matsuzaka is Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, who was on the Orix Blue Wave for nine years before coming stateside in 2001. That would give him two years (1999 and 2000) to see Matsuzaka when he was wearing the uniform of the Seibu Lions, another Pacific League team, but not at the point where he is now, and maybe before he developed his gyroball. It will be something to watch as the Mariners just happen to be in Beantown for Boston's home opening series on April 10, 11, and 12.

If a batter is looking for one pitch and gets another, it's a simple recipe for a strikeout. What Matsuzaka (and the hype machine behind him) can really do is get it into a batter's head that he has this "super pitch" when/ if he doesn't. Matsuzaka says he does not throw any such pitch in games, but that hasn't stopped the media hype surrounding the mystery pitch, and may have just added more fuel to the fire. If he's lying and does have a gyroball in his repertoire, it's something hitters will have to look for. If he doesn't, he's overblown, and a huge waste of money. Either way, Matsuzaka it looks as though he is a master of manipulation both on and off the field.

At the Red Sox camp there were hundreds of reporters from all over the world and just as many photographers and cameramen. If Matsuzaka throws a gyroball even once, there is no way that opponents won't analyze every split-second of footage they can get their hands on. You're a fool if you think that the Yankees or any other team don't have it in for this guy with all the coverage that he's been getting and won't prepare hitters for anything that Matsuzaka can throw. With everything that's available -- tapes, advanced scouting, statistics, tendencies, etc. -- you get the feeling that your opponent knows you better than you know yourself.

To throw a (supposed) gyroball, a standard fastball grip and a basic throwing motion are used, the only deviation being to turn the inside of your throwing arm away from your body and release the ball as if it were a football, making it spiral toward home plate. It will then allegedly follow the same course as a changeup, but barely dip. It even has the appearance of a slider, but doesn't break, supposedly staying perfectly straight. One can usually achieve the appearance of a changeup by not putting too much spin on the ball when you throw a fastball.

The gyroball is basically the same as throwing a fastball or a changeup, and the four-seam and two-seams versions of the pitch are designed to act like that of their more familiar counterparts. The only difference is that instead of rotating on an horizontal west-east axis, the ball spirals around north-south, resulting in side-over-side spin. The motion also tends to force hitters to uppercut the ball, resulting in a lot of fly-balls, and is remarkably similar to the results you get with a screwball. Think Chien-Ming Wang but with pop-flys instead of ground-outs.

Baseball is about adjustments, a game of cat-and-mouse if you will. I do something, you react one way, then change your plan, in turn forcing me to change mine. Adjustments will be made to Matsuzaka, and while he may enjoy some quick success because no one has seen him in the US, once the adjustments are made, his averages and numbers may drop off very quickly. Then again they may not, the gyroball may be real (though it's not a miracle pitch), and prove to be a real threat. That's the head game he plays.

D-Mat makes his first start of Spring Training tomorrow against the Dodgers. If I were him, I wouldn't even throw a gyroball until the start of the regular season. Let the debate continue; let the media over-hype what it wants and cover it 24/7; let the players on the other team think what they want, pulling their hair out in frustration trying to determine what footage shows the pitch and speculating all through Spring training if the pitch is real or just a trick. Because that's the best thing a pitcher can do -- get inside your head and mess with you.

Wanna argue with the Ref? Don't like the call? Go ahead and make your own!