Stephen Strasburg

Just posted a quick entry on my blog about Stephen Strasburg...

http://athletictrainingandconditioning.blogspot.com/2010/08/stephen-strasburg.html

 

I'm no physiology expert, but aren't all the reasons you stated for him being at injury risk, also the mechanics that allow him to throw 100+ mph? Throwing a baseball is honestly not good for anyone's arm. Period. Throwing a baseball 100mph with a 90 mph slider seems like a high likelihood for injury.

To my understanding, having your elbow higher than your shoulder allows for greater external rotation, allowing for greater velocity. Yes, it will put additional pressure on the front of the arm because of the additional external rotation. At least, that is my understanding.

I just appreciate how you wait until after he gets injured to say his mechanics are bad.

 

I read your blog post and it makes me think of the big article in SI awhile back that was focusing on Tim Lincecum. In it, several doctors were quoted as saying the number one pre-determinant for major arm trouble for pitchers is the high elbow (above the shoulder)...rising above the shoulder during the pitching motion. The case they highlighted was Mark Prior. He came into the league with a lot of fanfare, too but hasn't pitched in several years and I assume he is done due to recurring arm issues. The article explained the science of it quite thoroughly.

I've heard the pitching motion described as an effort for the arm to separate itself from the body and only the ligaments and tendons prevent it from doing so. Certainly the 95+ mph throwers are at risk as these internal elements are under constant pressure to achieve the speed and then to retain it. Joel Zumaya of the Tigers (102mph) had his elbow explode during a game this year....not the soft issues, but the bone itself!

Strasburg will likely not pitch until 2012 as the recovery period is 12-18 months...Wow! After having so much early success, his emotions must be running wild.

 

I'm not a fan of the Prior discussions. Everyone seems to always blame his mechanics. I'm not going to deny that his motion puts stress on his shoulder, but I don't feel like it was the primary cause to his career ending.
In 2003, he averaged 125 pitches in 9 starts from September 1st to October 14th. The least he threw in that period was 110 pitches.

Also, he took a 117 mph comebacker off his elbow in 2005.

I think the destructive pitch counts in 2003, followed by a baseball fracturing his elbow, played a greater role in his career's demise than his mechanics.

 

Pitch counts (stress and fatique) vs. destructive mechanics is age-old argument. I think a pitcher with good mechanics can throw many more pitches than the bad mechanics guy. Juan Marichal pitched an amazing 214 COMPLETE Games in the 10-year period from 1962-1971...that's an average of over 21 complete games per year for 10 years in a 4-man rotation! One regular-season game in Marichal's career deserves mention, involving him and Milwaukee Braves' Hall of Famer Warren Spahn in a night contest played July 2, 1963, before almost 16,000 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The two great pitchers matched scoreless innings until Giants outfielder Willie Mays homered off Spahn to win the game 1–0 — in the 16th inning. Both Spahn and Marichal tossed 16-inning complete games. I saw an interview of Marichal on ESPN and he said he threw over 260 pitches that game.

Today's game is one of specialty pitchers and more emphasis on velocity than command.

 

His careers not over as last time I checked about 75% of elite players get back to where they were or better

 

Don't get me wrong, Marichal was a great pitcher for his time, but I don't like that comparison. I cannot find a listing for Marichal's velocity, but based on the bit of video footage I can find of him mechanics, I'll estimate he probably sat 80mph, maybe a touch harder. I have seen many a high school player with similar mechanics be told they don't aren't good enough to play division 1 baseball because they don't throw hard enough.

260 pitches at 80 mph is still a pretty amazing feat. 130 pitches at 95 mph is stupid and dangerous.

Prior is currently playing Independent League and throwing 92 mph. So no technically, his career is not over. He could very well make a comeback, and I'm rooting for him all the way. By "demise of his career" I was more-so referring to him going from going 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA in '03 to having a veteran scout refer to a workout this June as “just all right.”

 

Waiting until he gets injured to say his mechanics are bad

The blog article was simply meant to point out a couple of mechanical issues that younger pitchers may want to refrain from imitating. If I wrote the article before he got injured, it wouldn't have had any impact.

In terms of having your elbow higher than your shoulder doesn't necessarily lead to increased external rotation. In fact the anteriorly (forward) translation (position) of the humeral head (ball of the ball and socket joint) gets caught under the acromion (most front part of the shoulder blade) pinching the rotator cuff, long head of the biceps (which is what attaches to the labrum of the shoulder). Two bones coming together can actually decrease the amount of external rotation a pitcher can get.

Thanks for the dialogue.

 

In general conversation with my son 3 weeks ago Joe Mullins did say that strasburgs mechanics were going to lead to injury sooner or later. He explained it in greater detail but the brunt of the conversation was to explain to my son what not to do.

 

http://ericcressey.com/the-skinny-on-stephen-strasburgs-injury

Not to hi-jack your thread, ATC, but I think this article makes some very important points regarding Strasburg's injury that people may wanna take a look at.