I remember watching video from James Norwood’s rookie-ball days and thinking, He looks like a normal pitcher. Well, I don’t think that anymore.
Today, the Cubs rookie reliever displays a fastball that can touch triple digits and a changeup that drops off a cliff, which translated to K/9 rates of close to 10 and ERAs less than 2.50 over parts of the past two seasons at AA Tennessee. Numbers aside, what makes Norwood such an interesting pitcher is a slightly unorthodox delivery that somewhat resembles another highly successful big-league reliever.
Look at the quirky mechanics and see if you get who I’m talking about.