Masahiro Tanaka’s Sinker, or Nothing We Know Is Real
Earlier today, FanGraphs contributor and dealer in vulgarities Paul Sporer submitted footage of the pitch featured here, annotated by a brief comment of his own to the effect that it (i.e. the footage) cultivated within him pleasures analogous to the sort derived from coitus.
The pitch appears courtesy not only MLB Advanced Media but also, more immediately, Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka — and seems to possess arm-side movement which one might reasonably describe either as unconscionable or totally unconscionable.
The data, however — as is often the case — cause the scales to fall from the eyes and all hopes concerning the existence of miracles to fall with them. Because, in reality, it actually seems as though the movement depicted here is very conscionable — to the point, in fact, that Tanaka threw 14 pitches against the Red Sox on Sunday that possessed more arm-side run.
Regard, a table:
| Inning | Balls | Strikes | Pitch | Speed | Hor | Vert | Tot. | |
| 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | SI | 92.8 | -11.1 | 7.0 | 13.1 |
| 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | SI | 93.5 | -10.4 | 5.0 | 11.5 |
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | SI | 91.3 | -10.2 | 6.1 | 11.9 |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | SI | 92.6 | -10.2 | 7.3 | 12.5 |
| 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | SI | 90.7 | -9.9 | 4.8 | 11.0 |
| 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | SI | 90.9 | -9.8 | 5.8 | 11.4 |
| 7 | 2 | 3 | 0 | SI | 91.1 | -9.7 | 6.6 | 11.7 |
| 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | FS | 88.6 | -9.6 | 3.6 | 10.2 |
| 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | SI | 90.6 | -9.5 | 5.4 | 10.9 |
| 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | SI | 91.7 | -9.5 | 6.3 | 11.4 |
| 11 | 6 | 1 | 2 | SI | 94.8 | -9.4 | 6.4 | 11.4 |
| 12 | 5 | 1 | 0 | SI | 91.4 | -9.3 | 5.9 | 11.0 |
| 13 | 6 | 2 | 2 | SI | 91.9 | -9.2 | 5.8 | 10.9 |
| 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | SI | 89.7 | -9.2 | 4.0 | 10.0 |
| 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | SI | 90.9 | -9.1 | 6.8 | 11.3 |
Vert denotes vertical movement (in inches)
Tot denotes total Pythagorean movement (in inches)
The highlighted row is the pitch in question to Brock Holt, featuring 9.1 inches of run — less than an inch greater than Tanaka’s average sinker, in fact.
One might suppose that the pitch atop this list, featuring more than 11 inches of arm-side run, would constitute an even greater visual spectacle. That isn’t the case, however.
Regard, that fourth-inning sinker to Jackie Bradley Jr.:
Is all life an illusion? Is Locke right, that one is bound by the limits of his or her perception? Did Locke even even suggest something to that effect? Maybe, is the answer. Maybe, in all cases.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
I waited all day for this post.
Paul Sporer’s twitter picture suggests the analogous experience is, for him, a strictly theoretical pursuit.
The illusion is due to how the catcher frames the pitch. In the first video, he expects it inside so he has to reach back to his left to grab it, which accentuates the impression that the pitch is moving towards the arm side. In the second, the pitch ends up down and in so he has to move his glove to the right.
It is more a matter of Tanaka missing his spot or the catcher expecting it somewhere different than anything else.
I think the catcher got crossed up a little bit with a runner on second in that first video.
Gyroball.
I just came all over myself…
I take issue with the notion expressed in the second paragraph, that, rather than MLB Advanced Media, Masahiro Tanaka is somehow “more immediately” the cause of the appearance of this pitch that we experience here.
Aristotle identifies four senses in which we can say that something is caused to come into being. These are typically translated as (1) the material cause, (2) the efficient cause, (3) the formal cause, and (4) the final cause of an entity.
For the purposes of this treatise, I leave aside (1) the material cause, which is in this case the pixel map on a computer screen that physically constitutes this image for each of us.
I would argue that MLBAM is the most immediate cause of this video, because it is (2) the efficient cause: MLBAM is the actor that exerts its powers on material through space and time to ensure that this historical moment be captured and transmitted to us.
However, as Aristotle argues, the most immediate cause is by no means the most essential, or the cause that contributes the most to defining what-it-is-to-be the phenomenon in question. That distinction goes to (3) the formal cause, which in this case is Tanaka, who provides the form that gives shape to the entity, just as a master housebuilder provides the form that guides the workmen to produce the house.
(In this case I am delighted to say that (4) the final cause, or telos, is the social entity, “baseball,” which brings us together in viewing, guides Tanaka’s actions in forming, and directs the activities of MLBAM in producing this remarkable entity.)