Clarke Schmidt Is Ready for a Breakout
By: Max Greenfield
The state of the Yankees starting rotation has some serious questions. Gerrit Cole went in for an MRI on his elbow, and while the results are promising, Cole will still miss the first two months of the season. While many will point to Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman needing to step up in his place, the Yankees have another arm to turn to help replace the production lost from the AL Cy Young winner. Clarke Schmidt was second on the team in innings last year and, early this spring, has shown an increase in velocity and stuff that has many again focused on the former first-round pick. He made subtle changes that could lead to a big year for the Yankees pitcher.
If you’ve ever heard Matt Blake, the Yankees pitching coach, talk about pitching mechanics or how they move down the mound, you’ll hear him say the phrase operating in space. People can see pitch and swing mechanics visually, but they can’t always see something called the kinetic chain. The kinetic chain is the concept that different parts of your body affect other parts of your body and the way you move. For example, in pitchers, the way one raises their leg in their throwing motion will affect the way his torso moves in his throwing motion after leg lift. The goal of every pitcher is not to leak energy as you go through your motion. Thus, the kinetic chain operates efficiently, resulting in the best possible velocity, movement, and, most importantly, health. Every pitcher moves differently, so you see various motions, arm paths, arm angles, and much more.
Understanding that concept is important when pitchers change how they move down the mound. The changes are made considering what the effect will be on other parts of their movement and body. How does this pertain to Clarke Schmidt? Schmidt told Greg Joyce of the New York Post that he felt he was too hunched over, which made him overcut things. He also wanted to focus more on getting into his back hip. Let’s look at how he moved during his last start of the season.
You can access every pitch from Schmidt’s final start here.
Schmidt gets hunched over into his leg kick and, from there, stays low into a lower ¾ slot, working across his body on more of an x-axis type rotation. That x-axis type rotation probably helps Schmidt create some plus cutter movement, and the pitch has a good shape. But, with that hunch, Schmidt doesn’t get into his back hip, and he doesn’t create a lot of counter-rotation to help generate force toward the plate. His front side stays very close to his body and doesn’t allow his body to clear through his front side naturally. To me, I see a lot of forced and tight movements rather than loose and athletic. The question that came to me was, is Clarke Schmidt supposed to be a pitcher who moves on a more horizontal plane? It’s easy to say yes; he throws primarily sinkers, cutters, and sweepers (Accounted for 80% of his arsenal last year). Yet, Clay Holmes and Jonathan Loáisiga throw two of the best sinkers in baseball, and I wouldn’t categorize them as horizontal-type moves. In fact, Clay Holmes’s vertical release point is one of the things that makes his sinker so good. You don’t expect it to move as it does from his hand. Loáisiga, to a lesser extent, offers the same thing: an over-the-top heavy extension fastball that should get on you but instead sinks in towards a right-handed hitter’s hands at great depth. Here are some clips from both guys.
What I see here are guys who are moving at a less side-to-side type rotation and more direction toward the plate. Aka, Holmes and Loáisiga move on a vertical plane. This isn’t good or bad; it’s just how they move. You can also see clearly how both Holmes and Loáisiga get into a deep hinge, with Loáisiga making a very noticeable move to do so. I go back to the same question about Schmidt: What if he was supposed to move more directionally to the plate and use a more vertical-typeplane? Schmidt said he wanted to get into his back hip and stand more upright in his mechanics this year. In theory, Schmidt could be raising his arm slot and going from that horizontal plane to a more directional towards the plate, vertical type plane. Let’s look at some of the clips from spring training this year to see what adjustments Schmidt made.
You can watch every pitch from Clarke Schmidt from Spring Training here (tracked by statcast)
The changes aren’t massive but noticeable if you pay attention. Going through his windup step by step, we can notice the same changes.
Right off the bat, the Yankees pitcher changed two things. The first is his back foot position on the mound, and his back leg has a bit more bend, perhaps helping preset a hinge position. Then, he takes a more minor step out of the windup, helping keep his balance throughout. I am a big fan of limiting as many moving parts as possible. Schmidt wanted to avoid the hunch over in his leg kick and succeeded. He is more upright, but he’s also deeper into his back hip. Creating a proper hinge position can allow a pitcher to keep the rest of their body post hinge on time and in proper sequencing. For Schmidt specifically, it allows him to move from moving on a horizontal plane to a vertical plane.
The movement changes from the hinge and before effect the movements after the hinge. Something that pitching coaches and minds can make mistakes on is that movement changes are made in a vacuum but they aren’t. Schmidt’s ability to get deeper into his back hip, is going to effect everything that comes after it.
He creates more counter-rotation before his movement toward the plate, which will already help his pitches have a tad more velocity. The significant change from here for me was that everything is a little looser with his front arm away from his body more, and he doesn’t try to contain his movement. When the pitch leaves his hand, the front arm is not close to his body and is actually relaxed down near his thigh, the reverse of what people are taught as a kid playing baseball. Every guy has to move differently, and for Schmidt, his arms being more relaxed and away from his body allows him to move through his front side more. Schmidt did this at times last year but not as consistently as he’s doing it this spring.
Some might read this and think it’s unfair to show different camera angles and assess if he’s moving differently. A criticism that has some validity so here are some clips of him in spring training last year where you can still see some of the changes he’s trying to make year to year.
From these angles, you can tell that Schmidt is trying to move on a more vertical plane even last year and that switch to horizontal plane developed over the season. He’s still more hunched over and doesn’t have as deep of a hinge though. There are still adjustments made year to year for Schmidt’s continued development.
The key for Schmidt was that deeper hinge, being more upright, and creating some more counter rotation away from the plate. Those changes turned him from a pitcher who moves on a horizontal plane to a more vertical plane and for his force to be more directional towards the plate.
Schmidt also saw some success in spring training with a five-inning scoreless appearance against the Met’s potential opening-day lineup that featured five lefties. In spring training, Schmidt had a 3.18 ERA in 17 innings with 19 strikeouts and four walks. I know what you’re saying to yourself if you’re reading this right now. Max, it’s Spring Training. Who cares about his ERA? Which, you are correct. It doesn’t matter, but these changes are legitimate. You can see substantial changes a pitcher’s stuff+ score.
The changes Schmidt made helped improve his stuff. The cutter had better shape and velocity. The sinker velocity also went back up, and while the stuff+ score still isn’t above average, it’s significantly away from average, which helps its effectiveness. The sweeper showed a more consistent sweep even at a decreased velocity, while the curveball remained an extraordinary pitch. Schmidt added a split-change type pitch, which he will probably throw scarcely. Still, Schmidt has to prove that he can maintain these grades over an entire season. He saw his stuff worsen throughout the year last year and will look to avoid that issue this year.
The Yankees lost their Cy Young-winning ace in Gerrit Cole. They will need all hands on deck to keep the Yankees afloat. Clarke Schmidt is looking to build off of his 2023 campaign and turn in a solid 2024 season. Given the changes he’s made in the off-season, I think Schmidt will be successful in that.
