.

The game started and Paxton's first couple of pitches were from a considerably higher release point than last game.  Dr. D's eyes got wide, but not in a good way.  Was he going to "forget" his little fix and revert to years' habits?

But if you saw the game, you saw Paxton throw only 52% fastballs and the 48% offspeed had the Jays in between.  The result was an electrical-storm holocaust on poor little right-handed 30 homers per villager Thessaly.  So Dr. D grimaced and relaxed.

Then Bill Krueger came on, after the fifth inning or something, and gushed about Paxton's release point.  He's brought it back up a tad, sez Bill, and he's found his natural arm slot!  He retains his velocity, but gets back the angles he wants.

This makes sense.  A beginning tennis player throws his serve really high, to look like the trophy.  Then he realizes that if he tosses the ball MUCH lower, and catches the ball on the way up, he's hitting a much slower-moving target.  He can nail his serves!

But then there is a stage 3.  He adjust the low serve toss back up just a bit, and catches the ball when it's not moving at all, and gets in perfect synch.  We can hope that this is what Paxton has done in 2016.

....

Are you having as tough a time as I am?  Adjusting to coaches who are better at what they do than we denizens are?  Mel Stottlemyre had this ALL figured out long before the concept ever occurred to us.  Hope this doesn't sound arrogant, but it was frustrating watching Lloyd McClendon's staff trying to figure anything out.  

Then they hired Edgar, and then Servais, and then Mel Jr. and everybody else, and ... you get set to describe something and then you turn to Mariners.com and the coaches are explaining it with wonderful detail.

....

Aiki-Doc has not yielded on his bias that the bigger point here is the forward head lean.  Krueger gave his in-game reaction, and Aiki-Doc got hopeful, and Paxton went out there for the next inning ... the viewers were watching the arm slot and we were watching the head.  Sure enough!  His head was moving more to 1B than it ever has before.  Check this video for where the baseball cap moves during backstroke.

Seems to us:

Stage 1, 2015 = backwards head tilt, vertigo

Stage 2, 2016 Zeus = head doesn't move

Stage 3, July 23 = FORWARD head move, like Randy Johnson had

....

Postscript:  here are three Brooks release points charts.  In order, stage 1, stage 2, stage 3.

Last start of 2015

Last start vs HOU

.

July 22, 2016

.

By the way, 19 swings and misses last night in 97 pitches.  Before 2016, his SwStr% was 7.2 to 9.4 percent, and leave us not forget that K-Pax' career ERA was 3.16.  This year, Zeus' whiff rate had soared to 12%, easily top 5 in the league.  Friday the Jays were in between and we're talking 20% plus. 

Enjoy,

Jeff