Pitcher fell down on the mound, a breakdown 

I liked when jimmy showed us the difference between pitching from a windup and from a stretch!

"Hey whatever you do just don't fall down and throw the ball away mid wind up" and then he fell down and threw the ball away mid wind up..I died jomboy is literally the best and funniest sports commentator out there.

The fact that they let him on the mound after the first wild pitch is beyond belief.

This right here shows you the huge difference in why its important to have certain managers in your organization. Now a good manager isnt gonna let his rookie pitcher tell Him "Im good Im good" after he just fell on the mound. Hes gonna go out there and see wtf is wrong with the pitcher or whats wrong with the mound. Either way theres no way the rook gets to make that decision for the team. Thats not showing the rook up. Its trying to secure the win

I think it turned from a physical to mental thing quite quickly.

I was hoping for a Mark Fidrych reference but I think Jimmy’s right about the fatigue. Rest easy Bird.

If you start feeling the mound is a foot taller than it was before, it is definitely time to come out. Pretty sure they didn't add a bunch of dirt mid game. Unless there is a sinkhole under the rubber and that is sinking.

Jomboy always has the highlights I’m looking for.

it was really sad seeing a 20+ scoreless inning streak go away like this

When this happened, I turned to my gf and said, “Can’t wait to see this on Jomboy.”

I would have taken him out after the first time he fell down. He was going to be thinking about falling with every pitch after that. Young starting pitchers are too valuable, to be messing around with them at this time in the season. Protect him him for the future.

Was listening to this on the radio as a Jays fan and was super confused by this sequence, was fully expecting him to get pulled after walking 2, but this was a whole nother level of wtf is going on here? Seeing this helps clear up what happened, highlights didn't show nuances like his foot getting caught on the mound. Keep it up!

Great breakdown, especially the side-by-side of windup vs stretch.

My man got tired carrying the Royals pitching staff

I'm a Jays fan and this was wild and tough to see! Ragans was destroying the Blue Jays until this insane sequence of events!

The young man has a good arm, 98 mph fastball 👍🏻 I think you are correct, he was getting tired. Looked like he was throwing a good game. Still threw a good game.

Always appreciate your explanations for us non-American sports fans watching these baseball videos out of curiosity.

My dad sometimes helps maintain and setup a AA baseball field and it's kind of crazy how precise they have to be in every aspect of the field. The Pitcher's mound is the most important, but also the hardest to get exactly right, and its important to get it right because the pitchers are used to a very spectific geometry. IDK if thats the case here, but you gotta know the field crew is going to be triple checking their mounds for the next couple weeks at least.

I played this entire clip back in slow mo a few times. There are a bunch of different things going on here. The first thing I noticed were flaws and inconsistencies in Ragans' mechanics. His pitch count was getting up there, but he was still lighting up the gun in the high 90s. Jimmy noted how Ragans looked at the ground but didn't offer an explanation for why he did that. Ragans was looking at his landing spot (the spot where his front foot lands as he strides toward the plate). It's awfully tough to be accurate if you are trying to throw to the ball the same way but from a different spot every time, or every other time. When a pitcher has sound mechanics, his stride foot will land in the same exact spot on the mound no matter which pitch he throws, no matter if he's in the windup or the stretch. The stretch is simply an abbreviated version of the windup. A pitcher goes to the stretch with runners on base so he can be quicker to the plate. Some guys only pitch out of the stretch because it's easier to stay balanced and keep all of the other mechanics under control when you pitch from the stretch. Less moving parts. Even if the pitcher mixes in a slide step out of the stretch, he should still land in the same spot. Ironically, the first time Ragans gave the ground a dirty look was after his best pitch of the inning. The pitch was out of the zone, but his fundamentals were sound. The pitch was down, and the movement was sharp and late in the zone. The action he got from this pitch was due to his posture and where his arm and body weight were at the release point. Ragans didn't like it because the indentation at the bottom of the hill where he normally lands was probably a little deeper than it was in prior innings. Which is why he kicks some dirt into it. The last thing I noticed is where Ragans was located on the slab. When Ragans winds up he slightly slides his left foot (plant foot) backward on the slab before he lifts, strides, and fires. He wasn't adjusting for this slight relocation when pitching from the stretch. Maybe it was because his landing hole was compromised. Maybe it was because he, and his pitching coach, failed to recognize this tiny important detail. Subconsciously his body noticed it though, and we see what happens when the body and mind are not on the page in this breakdown. And people think baseball is a simple easy game. LOL

I’ve been waiting for this Breakdown all week. The second I saw this I requested it to be made into a breakdown, now I’m super glad it is! Well done as always Jomboy

To give some context, which Jomboy kinda alludes to, Ragans was pitching an absolute gem and making the Blue Jays look clueless, this came from absolutely nowhere. I don't think the Royals had anyone even warming up, as it seemed like he'd finish the 6th with ease.

Speaking of pitching from the stretch: I would love a video analyzing how pitchers do from the stretch vs windup. I wonder which pitchers have the most and least drastic differences 🧐

Sometimes as a coach/ parent you have to do things the player/child doesn’t want. You know what’s best for them, but more as a coach for the team. Doesn’t matter what they say they can do, you can see as a coach when you need to step in.

I appreciate how Jimmy shows what he is talking about. I like baseball but I do not have time to watch it much and I forget all these nuances and its nice to see examples with a good explaination!

I appreciate the explanation of difference between "pitching from the windup" and "from the stretch". If you did a video on that, it would be great. I never understood that before.

Middle and right on the last segment show how pro these guys are. Such a perfectly mirrored motion. Untold thousands of reps to get there. Even the worst of MLB (mostly) are artists at this.

Imagine having your player insist that he's fine, you trust him because hey he's been a great asset to the team so far and you don't want to show him up, and then he throws a couple more wild pitches and another dolphin dive just to really make you look like a fool

Fantastic look at this. I saw this highlight and guessed the mound was messed up.

Fatigue sounds reasonable. Very weird though

"Wild thing, you walk everything"

I watched this live and was instantly hoping you would do a breakdown... thanks.

Only good detective work on this play. Love you Jomboy

Haha. "Footage" 😂

Pitch tracker was going crazy this AB lol

Baseball gods with Jays ;o) When this happened I was shocked. Worried about his health bc there was no prob with the mound. NEVER seen anything like it.

The grounds crew at Rogers Centre come out to quickly groom the field every five innings, which would've been right before the pitch sequence we see in this video. I don't know how much they smooth and fill in on the mound, though. Divots, grooves, and the landing spot could've all been altered right before the pitch sequence we see in this video.

Braves fan here, can we please have this guy? I like his spirit

Thanks Jimmy

Saw this live at the game. We were all blown away!

Guy pitching has the same delivery motion as Cole Hamels. Couldn’t stop seeing it after the 3rd pitch I saw.

I live your content keep it up

He got flustered after 2 consecutive walks and was more focused on keeping the ball over the plate than he was on his delivery, which combined with fatigue led to him falling mid-delivery. Once he fell once it was all he could think about and was destined to keep happening. Pitching is hard man, it's a constant mental battle with yourself that can very easily turn south.

That 3rd batter looked like a oompa loompa lol

Good on Cole for not flopping and acting like he was hurt; he just shook it off, like an adult/professional, and kept going.

Yeah I hope it was just fatigue too. I was at that game, it was the craziest thing to see and until then he had been pitching really well.

I forget who it was but there used to be a manager who always sent his pitching coach out to pull the pitcher. He was afraid if he went out himself the pitcher might talk him out of it but he knew that if he ordered the pitching coach to do it, the pitching coach wasn't going to come back to the dugout and say "he wants to know if he can stay in."

Awesome breakdown

Great breakdown!

After the game Ragans blamed it on the mound crumbling away but Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios disagreed. "Sometimes that mound gets really weird because when they open the roof and it's a day game it starts getting hard and the hole starts getting bigger but today it was not bad," said Berrios.

Coaches should have noticed something sooner that there was something wrong in his mechanics, probably because they don’t know him well enough yet. As usual, Jomboy’s insight and video skills are the clear winner here.

Looking at the side by side comparison of when he fell versus when he didn't, the later pitches he had his lead leg quite a bit straighter at the knee when he caught the mound. Wouldn't surprise me if that was just fatigue.

I was watching this live and thought the third passed ball was just a replay of the first. Wild night

Been waiting for this one

My dad reminded it and showed me and my first thought was “I hope Jimmy covers this”

excellent breakdown

3:06 that look on his face was great

Certified Jomboy Classic

I was watching that game live. Jays' broadcasters were saying how the Royals got a potential gem from the Rangers (got him for Aroldis Chapman). Apparently, the Rangers did not want him to throw a changeup. So the Royals say, throw your changeup more and we'll make you a starter. Worked out well for them. Well, at least until the sixth inning of that game. He pitched kind of well against Astros on Saturday, until the 7th, so I'm curious to see what he'll do in his next start, should be Friday in Houston. What I don't understand, if you look down multiple times after a pitch, you think there may be something wrong with the mound, ask the groundskeepers to fix it. If you fell, even more so, now's the time. He likely cost his team a win but I'm glad it was against the Jays who needed a win. I hope it will be a learning lesson for Ragans.

:02 Cole “Raygun” Ragans, my homie. Dude K’s up the zone and is such a steal for the team via trade acquisition!

This is a fatigue thing. You'll see different guys show it different ways, particularly in the stretch. For me my rotation above my waist gets a bit behind and pitches that were hitting the outside corner (on righties as a RHP) start to move in and up. When you get tired, some part of your body gets out of sync and stuff like this happens. My HS pitching coach was a 9 year pro and he always had us running on non-bullpen days to build stamina. Play with some former college and one or two minor league guys in rec. now and it's the same.

Good diagnosis Dr Jomboy. Maybe he has a wooden leg. Perhaps a move to Pittsburg for him?

I think it was Jose Berrios who said sometimes the mound get weird at Rogers Centre when the roof is open. The analysis in this video looks pretty good, and the side by side stuff was telling, but he was kicking at that spot on the mound. The Sportsnet TV announcers were (iirc) saying why wasn't he asking grounds crew to come out a see to it?

I'm curious what the side angle looks like, that is, from the first-base side. I wonder if his stride was shorter from the stretch, and so he wasn't clearing the mound? The guy must have thrown tens of thousands of pitches though. It seems strange that this problem would crop up now all of a sudden.

I was at this game and had to explain to my non baseball fan friend that what they just witnessed was a once in a lifetime event akin to Rick Ankiel. Ragans had the Jays on lock down the entire game. The moment he fell off the mound was the moment all the momentum swung to the Jays. I love baseball.

this started to feel like the SNL Olympics ice skating sketch with jason priestly

as a newbie baseball fan, i thank you

I'm not sure if it's unique to the Jays, but the ads that are infront of the first row aren't actually green screens. They seem to be on some kind of belt that rolls from top to bottom during the comercial breaks

Remember going to the kitchen for some snacks after the Schneider walk, came back and it was 2-2 and the graphic showed we still had 1 hit (from earlier)?? Couldn't have been more confused, and then trying to come to terms there were actually 3 wild pitches and that the 3rd one was not a replay of the 1st...

Not surprised the Royals had a Jomboy breakdown of something like this.

That third clip on the right his foot cleared but the dirt broke hard when his toes made contact

The mud is building up on his shoe too, so it’s like he’s goin an extra inch of heel.

It's entertaining and educational - Matt

Eesh, I don't know. First time could be random, maybe I leave him in maybe I don't. 2nd time in a row is obviously a pattern though. I take him out for sure, specially with the tying run on 3rd.

His hips are lower from the stretch, so where the leg would normally clear because his hips are higher, from the stretch they are lower with less room for the foot to clear the stride to impact. It also messes with the plant of the foot and the rest of his mechanics.

I was so happy when this happened. This won the game for the jays

It may have been fatigue but Ragans was also looking at the mound constantly, aren't you allowed to take a timeout and get the grounds crew to flatten or fix up the mound a bit before your next pitch? Or am I wrong.

I was at this game. What a weird situation.

I keep imagining the scene from Major League “Juuuuuust a bit outside”

I was at this game and it was like watching a car crash in slow motion. I have never seen anything like it.

2:32 #30 on Toronto looks like he is straight out of Backyard Baseball.

bro i thought i was in a dream when he dropped a second time! LIKE WHAA get em out he's in his own head lmao. great vid

Common w from draft kings and jomboy

I like how Jomboy says “I’m not a pitching coach… at all”. Like, not part time or nothing.

Speaking as a former HS pitcher, I feel very qualified to answer this quandry. I will say from my recollection, windup felt so much more natural than from the stretch. You have more momentum and power it seems than from the stretch. That, along with fatigue, probably didn't help Ragans.

I believe fatigue was only part of it. The mound being hard is probably another factor. That is the reason he was kicking the mound and looking down. Sometimes they get a little dried out throughout the game. In extreme situations it will be hard to land cleanly with your cleats. Too bad he did not make it to the seventh inning stretch so they wound add a little water to mound as they redo the dirt in the infield.

Maybe he recently changed cleats? I have several pairs of running shoes, and one pair, it seems I always catch my right foot on something when I run, stumble, almost fall. After three times, I never ran in them again. Never happens with other shoes...

Am I assuming correctly he hadn't had to pitch from the stretch until this moment? Would be interesting to compare against other footage of him pitching from the stretch earlier in the game or even another game.

His anchor left leg is also bending a lot more in the stretch. Like he’s getting deeper into it

Dude you NEED to to a breakdown on k-state mizzou. So much stuff was going on

Looks to me like his wind-up is ahead of his feet and he tries to catch up by twisting. Problem is you get tired faster and the tiniest missstep causes complete chaos.

if he managed to throw a strike even if he fell, does it count as a strike or some sort of balk or still considered wild pitch? or can pitchers do somersaults like in japanese anime and have it still count?

Those cleats. Don't they look a bit heavy duty on the heal?

Mechanics issue possibly caused by fatigue and some mental. You can see he wasn’t as upright at the apex of his stretch motion. Caused his foot to drag and his pitches going high. Whether this is a mental thing to try and gain more momentum from the stretch… well they’re figuring it all out right now.

Typically when you pitch from the stretch you don't lift your leg up as much. You're trying to have a quicker motion towards the plate, so your foot is typically lower. The mound was obviously a problem before he fell, so he had probably felt it already, probably clipping it with his cleats, that's why he threw that one in the dirt. I can't think of any other reason why he would have tripped since he's pitched thousands of times before. When I pitched in high school you sometimes had to go work the mound a bit where your foot would land depending on the other pitcher's stride. Sometimes there'd be spots that other pitchers had kinda dug out where your foot could catch in or you'd land awkwardly.

His pitching motion looks a lot like Sidd Finch's

Looks like he is landing slightly positioned to the left more when he was comin outta the stretch. He's a bit more to the right comin outta the wind up. Maybe that had something to do with his landing of the front foot

I just want to say it's nice to see that KC doesn't have any ugly sleeve patch ad.

I have never seen a pitcher fall 😮

Damn ground always getting in the way.

The rose goes in the front big guy