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Earlier this year, I wrote about Andrew Triggs release point. Reaching nearly four feet to the right-hand side of the rubber, Triggs is nearly unique in baseball and is one of a kind in the American league. There isn't another guy who shares the same arm slot among the 15 teams sensible enough to use the DH. Here's a video and here's how it looks charted out.
Triggs was brought up largely due to attrition and need, and as the season has continued to spiral into a losing descent, the A's have turned to more and more relievers just to eat innings. The latest is Patrick Schuster, Andrew Triggs in a mirror. Like Triggs, Schuster's release point is about as extreme as can be, reaching four feet to the left-hand side of the rubber. Example.
That comes out looking much like Triggs, just on the other side.
Now, Schuster isn't unique like Triggs. Alex Claudio has a similar release point to Schuster, though Schuster's reach is about a half a foot further. So while there are others like him, Schuster is more extreme than anyone else in the league.
That's pretty cool! The A's have two of the most extreme release points in all of baseball. Triggs is probably best suited as a ROOGY, Schuster a LOOGY, and it's not hard to see why. Extreme release points often lead to extreme splits.
The rub here is that both have been rather terrible thus far, at least if you look at their overall numbers. Both pitchers are not-so-proud owners of an ERA that would make for a serviceable point total for a role player on a playoff basketball team. But we probably shouldn't pay too much mind to those numbers just yet. Triggs has been thrust into lion's den after lion's den simply because his name isn't Eric Surkamp while Schuster has faced nine righties and only three lefties. He's gotten all three lefties out, and made all nine righties look like Barry Bonds on (more) steroids. Whatever.
And more importantly, fun isn't dependent on good. Think about the fireworks you shot off as a rebellious teen. Was almost burning down the house good? Nope. Fun? You betcha.
Can Triggs and Schuster pitch off the same mound at the same time?
At first, there will definitely be a bit of butt touching, more colloquially known as a moon landing. From there, we should have a bit of smooth sailing. Triggs' motion takes him relatively straight, but Schuster leans so far left, it should give both the space they need for each pitch to get off without a hitch.
Where we really run into a problem is the follow through. Schuster falls off greatly, he would be on a collision course for Triggs left leg. That's fixable though: if needed, I'm sure he could find a way to halt his exaggerated follow through.
It's a long year, enjoy Patrick Schuster and Andrew Triggs
Rookies are fun, rookies who throw from the most extreme release points are saviors of a boring season. Enjoy Schuster and Triggs, both of whom could be very serviceable relievers and two guys who could potentially pitch off the same rubber at the same time.