Pitchers are throwing harder and with more break than ever before these days…and perhaps, not coincidentally, they are getting injured at alarming rates.
We just saw it again with old rival Jacob deGrom, whose first (and likely second) season with the Rangers was wiped out this week with the news he has a UCL tear and will require a second career Tommy John surgery.
Pitching instructor, author, and host of The Innovation podcast Chris O’Leary joined the Junkies on Thursday morning to explain that in deGrom’s case, and likely several other Tommy John-bound or alumni pitchers, it’s all about bad mechanics – specifically, the pitching theory of Driveline Baseball called the “Inverted W” that O’Leary believes is bad, a cheap boost at a price.
“The problem with the Inverted W, also known the Tommy John twist, which is the cue to point the ball towards second base or center field, is that those do work, but they are tricks and shortcuts equivalent to running a car engine past a red line,” O’Leary said. “They will give you a quick and easy and cheap velocity booth, but as economics shows us, there is no free lunch.”
That price is being paid, O’Leary says, because people want velocity now instead of having patience and learning how to tick the radar gun up organically over time.
“As we’ve seen, there are two paths; the problem is the classic Nolan Ryan/Tom Seaver path takes a fair bit of patience, and patience is lacking. What people want is 5 MPH in a weekend, and there are ways to get it, but not in a healthy manner.”
EB thinks you’d have to feel the extra tension on your arm in doing this, and indeed, O’Leary explained the physics and biomechanics behind it.
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“The big leaguers use that to create the big problem, a timing problem, where their pitching arm doesn’t get up on time,” O’Leary said. “A good position is a high-five position, but what pitchers are doing now is keeping their arm flat as their shoulders turn; that allows you to throw harder, but puts a lot more strain on the ligaments and muscles in your elbow and shoulder, and generally, the elbow goes first.”
One thing you shouldn’t blame, which is an easy target, is the pitch clock.
“In the last five or 10 years, things have gotten worse – and for those blaming the pitch clock, things were just as bad in ’21 and ’22,” O’Leary said. “You’re paying the price of the tricks and shortcuts. Driveline’s extreme conditioning stuff obviously isn’t working, and it’s time to be patient with starters and teach them to be athletic and throw with their whole bodies, not just their arms – and not try to cover things up the way Driveline’s techniques are offering.”
It just so happens that 13 years ago today (June 8, 2010) was Stephen Strasburg’s MLB debut, and Strasburg, who also has a TJS in his past, is out once again (perhaps for good) with continued fallout from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.
But what was it, EB asked, that made Strasburg so good for so long after the TJS and then fall apart again? Once again, a reversion to bad mechanics was O’Leary’s theory.
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“I saw him in 2019 and I was blown away because he looked kind of scary but wasn’t; he made an adjustment in 2019 that allowed him to stay healthy and effective, but the problem is he hasn’t stuck with it,” O’Leary said. “He tried to be the Strasburg of old, the prideful one who blew his arm out in a year, and there’s a reason pride is a sin.”
A sin, O’Leary says, that likely means the end of his career at best…and a poorer quality of life at worst.
“My concern with him is that he becomes Bob Dole with a dead arm, because he has so much nerve damage. From what I’m hearing, he can’t do any exercise or physical activity, which means he needs to shut down for a year and not do anything, even play golf or pick up his kids.”
Listen to the whole segment above, which includes some talk on deGrom, Clayton Kershaw, and the mechanics of potential Nats draft pick Paul Skenes (whom he compared to Cade Cavalli) among other topics!
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