RESEARCH: Effect of height on pitcher development

Baseball commentators periodically suggest that tall pitchers (like Chris Tillman, pictured) are slower to develop than short or average-height pitchers. They "have more complex deliveries so they need more time to get their mechanics straightened out" or they "are so used to dominating lower levels because of their size and raw stuff that they haven't yet learned how to pitch" or some other spirited claim. But is there any truth behind this?

Anecdotal research at other sites has highlighted the development of specific pitchers grouped by height. With small samples, however, the findings have been inconclusive. Rather than repeating the same studies over again with a different set of pitchers, in this article we will try a more...

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