Jimmy Herget
LA Angels RHP
Video of Jimmy pitching below:
https://www.mlb.com/news/jimmy-herget-pitch-spin-direction
https://www.mlb.com/video/00u3b1d49k5hlXiKf357/reels/jimmy-herget
1. Could you tell us your story on dropping down?
What's kind of funny about that is my sidearm motion is normal to me. It's as high as I can get my arm and feels comfortable to me. I've actually always thrown like this.
2. What are some of the advantages you have from your arm angle?
I think the biggest advantage is it's not common, you see a lot of cookie cutter guys in baseball that all throw with the same mechanics and when they face me it's more of a shock because it's not something they are used to seeing. I would also say it is a lot easier to hide the ball from my angle which adds a lot of deception.
3. If you didn't drop down, do you think you would have had the same success?
I'm not sure actually, I think I would definitely have a tougher time getting guys out, like I said before this is my normal arm slot.
4. What would you tell someone debating on changing their arm angle?
I would say not to over think it, people tend to drop down as far as they can and often times it looks very uncomfortable and very difficult to repeat, so just try and keep it simple.
5. Are there any mechanical tips that you'd give to someone throwing sidearm/submarine?
Your open foot, not to swing it open but to drive like you would if you were throwing from a higher slot because when guys tend be lazy with that it takes away a lot of velocity and then they have to rely on just movement and often times that isn't enough.
6. What pitches do you throw?
4 seam FB - 92-95 top 97, 2 seam FB - 90-94, Slider - 80-84, Change 83-86, Curve 73-77
7. How do you pitch to lefties/righties?
Righties are very easy for me, I use my normal a lot to attack and drop down even further for more deception, I'll use my slider to put away. As for lefties, it's a little more difficult cause of my changeup isn't a pitch I can necessarily trust. So I have to rely on my movement and slider more, so I try and back door the slider ahead in the count and back foot them when I want to get swing and miss.
8. What is your favorite part about pitching from down there?
My favorite thing is people are shocked a lot of the time with the way I throw, that I should be more of a contact pitcher. Which is the opposite with me, I love to strike people out and get swings and misses. i also love when I face a hitter for the first time and some of the swings I get.