Saber Scouting takes a look at Scott Patterson

After breaking down the mechanics of Kei Igawa and Phil Hughes, today Saber Scouting takes a look at minor leaguer Scott Patterson.

From Frankie Piliere:

Part of baseball’s charm are the oddities of the game. Players often have their own style and flare. Juan Marichal’s delivery was far from ordinary but it is nothing short of a thing of beauty. What’s my point? Baseball is one of the few sports where something other than the standard is not only accepted, but also embraced. What I am also getting is that some players, pitchers in particular, are who they are because of their mechanics. Scott Patterson, Yankees’ Triple-A reliever, is one of those guys.

Patterson is a pitcher with underwhelming pure stuff, and while his command is above average, it is not the type of command that could, by itself, make him as dominant a pitcher as he’s been since joining the Yankee organization. So, what exactly is it that allows Scott Patterson to be such a chore to hit? I took the opportunity to go to Scranton to get an up close look at the big righty to get a better idea of just what makes him so deceptive. Find out more about the quirky Scott Patterson after the jump…

The 6′7 Patterson has some of the most intricate pitching mechanics you’ll find in the game. Pitchers throughout the history of baseball have been effective due to deceptive or quirky mechanics. Just look around the league at Hideki Okajima, Chad Bradford, Pat Neshek and many, many others. Granted, all of them have their strengths in the pure stuff department as does Patterson, but the reason they are who they are is their ability to create deception.

Continue reading here to see their full analysis of Scott Patterson.