Justin Verlander: Breaking Down Why Tigers Ace Is so Good

Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers is the most consistent starter in the game today—period. Nobody else can match his success on the mound.

Pitchers around the league would be wise to take a page or two out of Verlander's book, as his mechanics and style of pitching are much of the reason why he's been so successful in his career.

His mechanics are absolutely flawless. The calm, fluid motion he uses almost lulls the batter to sleep before his fastball explodes on them, making it extremely difficult to catch up with his hard stuff.

The fact that his delivery is slow and fluid makes it very easy for him to repeat the same arm angle and arm speed to maintain his consistency. You can see what I'm talking about here.

Notice in the video Verlander's balance and stride length. Many young pitchers attempt to add an extra rock back and forth into their delivery because they believe it will give them more momentum going forward—wrong. This extra movement only effects their balance, making it harder to stay consistent and throw strikes.

The length of his stride is another thing to marvel at. He doesn't take a particularly long stride, but it is long enough to get his body moving forward and to get his right arm to finish after his left leg hits the ground. Here's a more in-depth look.

Another reason Verlander is so good is because of the variety of pitches he throws. His fastball alone counts for three pitches, as he varies its speed based on what inning the game is in.

In an effort to pace himself for the later innings, Verlander will routinely open the game tossing his fastball around 92 to 94 mph. As the game progresses, though, he reaches back for a little something extra.

Just take his April 16 performance against Kansas City. His first fastball was 91 mph, but his final four fastballs—pitches 127, 128, 129 and 131—were all 100 mph.

The natural progression of his fastball reaches "normal" standards during the middle innings of the game. During innings four through six, he'll sit between 95 and 97 mph.

After that, he throws smoke.

His incredible changeup is a huge reason for his success, and it's a pitch that he effectively uses off of his fastball.

In the first few innings, when he is throwing 94, he likes to throw his circle-change about 84 mph. When he is throwing 100 mph at the end of the game, he likes to keep it between 88 and 90 mph. Maintaining that 10 mph difference between his two pitches is something that is integral to his success.

Verlander's hammer curveball completes his arsenal. He routinely catches batters looking at the hard curveball.

It's nearly impossible to sit on anything but Verlander's fastball, so the curve often catches batters off-guard. It may be a big, looping pitch, but he can command it very well and use it in counts where he needs a swing and miss.

Verlander is currently the best pitcher in baseball. Nobody can match his success. He currently has 19 games pitched where he has gone eight innings while allowing less than three hits, and has 61 consecutive starts of going at least six innings.

There's a good reason why he was the AL MVP and Cy Young winner last season. He is arguably the most dominant pitcher we've seen in the past decade.