As the slog of a 162 game season takes its toll on players, you tend to see guys compensate in different ways. It might mean shortening their delivery, changing a release point, or changing their swing. Players get tired. Bodies change. Players adjust.
Jose Alvarado is one player who has tinkered with his mechanics, with a creeping change taking place over a few months.
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Alvarado’s release point has undergone a re-haul, and it really shows in the horizontal plane from April to September. The dropping horizontal release point can either mean a left-handed pitcher is shifting to the third-base side of the mound, or that his arm is coming in higher over the top.