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Daisuke Matsuzaka Gyroball Video

By Tim Dierkes [October 4, 2005 at 4:00pm CST]

Today I have highly sought-after video of Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japanese phenom, throwing his mysterious gyroball.

Read more about Matsuzaka and the gyroball here. The video is below.

Also, I have some new information concerning the "gyroball revolution" here in the U.S. Seems that Baseball Prospectus injury guru Will Carroll has taught the pitch to an Indiana high school kid named Joey Niezer. Will mentioned to me in an August interview that he is the only person who knows how to teach the gyroball. I thought he was just messing around, but it might be true. At least in this country. It's an interesting interview so check it out if you haven't already.

Bonus: The Juice blog has a QuickTime video up of Niezer throwing the gyroball during practice, filmed from behind a chain-link fence.

Full Story | Comments (9) | Categories: Baseball Prospectus | Gyroball

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Comments

Pretty interesting although I've tried to show it to my 13 year old and it definitely puts a strain on my arm - probably not throwing it right.

Daisuke went 14-13 this year although he led the Pacific League with 226 K's. That put him tied for 5th in W's but not sure why the .500 record.
He led the league with 15 complete games and 215 IP, with an ERA of 2.30 (3rd in the league), so I'm thinking it was run support or a bad bullpen, although the Seibu Lions' closer was 4th in the league in saves.

Daisuke's Stats - Hits/9: 7.2 K/9: 9.5, BB/9: 2.1, K/BB: 4.6, HR/9: 0.5. Excellent stats if he can translate them over to MLB. I think he can be posted in either 2006 or 2007 and I hope he does. Time for the Big Stein to open up the pocketbook.

In retrospect, Seibu finished in 3rd place but 23 games out of 1st, 2 games below .500. Both their runs scored and runs allowed were next to last in the league and they had a negative 32 run differential.

Toyoda, their closer, had a 3.97 ERA with more hits allowed than IP, even though he was 4th in the league in saves. The rest of the bullpen looked pretty putrid.

Posted by: lsosa54 | October 05, 2005 at 10:15 AM

Haha, don't blow out your elbow! (Or more importantly, his).

Thanks for the update on Matsuzaka's stats. I wasn't sure whether he was rocking it in 2005, but it looks like he's excelled in every category.

If Stein ponies up the cash then Matsuzaka and the Gyroball will become a phenomenon. Maybe then more than 4 people will come to this site.

Toyoda sounds like last year's Danny Graves.

Posted by: Roto Authority | October 05, 2005 at 11:20 AM

Thanks for posting the video.

I'm sure there are many fans who'll be checking it out.

I have a breakdown of Matsuzaka's stats this season here, FWIW. Among other Matsuzaka related news.

Thanks again, Roto.

Cheers,

garstar

Posted by: garstar | October 06, 2005 at 06:01 AM

Glad you enjoyed it. I've added a link to The Juice blog where you can see another video of the gyroball as thrown by a high schooler, in case you're interested.

Posted by: Roto Authority | October 06, 2005 at 02:54 PM

Awesome. I've been looking for a video of the gyroball. The mechanics of it always sounded really interesting to me.

I wish I could see in the video the exact hip rotation though - isn't that an integral part of it, according to Will Carroll?

Posted by: Will | December 11, 2005 at 08:12 PM

Yeah, I think it is...wish I had more.

Posted by: RotoAuthority | December 11, 2005 at 08:16 PM

how do you throw the gyroball

Posted by: dude | April 18, 2006 at 05:03 PM

Sorry to be so harsh, but i dont belive Joey Niezer actually throws a gyroball.

It's not that i don't think it exists, its just the footage of him throwing it.

Firstly lets get one this straight, Daisuke Matsuzaka doesn't throw a gyroball. He admitted it to Jeff Passan. He said he was trying to teach himself, "I'm trying to throw it" (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-gyro031306&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)

I have seen the video of Joey Niezer, and by god does his pitch move, but one thing that the writers of "The Secret of the Miracle Pitch" seemed to emphisise was the need for double rotation, the rotation of both the hips and the arm. From what i have read, when you get the rotation in the arm correct, your arm will go out towards thrid base (for a right hander) after the ptich. Joey Niezer's arm comes back toward his body after he delivers the pitch, not towards third base, so does the arm of Matsuzaka. The writers belived double rotation was essential for throwing the gyroball.

So does Joey Niezer really throw one? Or is the mystery still alive?

Posted by: the skeptic | August 24, 2006 at 06:05 AM

Not sure about the video, but Will Carroll has said that he taught Niezer the pitch. That's why I think he throws it.

We are definitely up on the Passan column...

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2006/08/will_the_lions_.html

Posted by: Tim Dierkes | August 24, 2006 at 07:15 AM