I don't have a new article for you, but I have a few things to throw out there. First up is what I've been spending most of my free time on lately. I'll describe it fully when the beta test is ready, but for now, here's a sneak peak of F/X by TexasLeaguers.com.
Next on the menu is a couple of decisions that I've been turning over in my head for a while. I will be returning to school this fall to take pre-med classes and begin my pursuit of a career in sports medicine. With my return to school, I have spoken to the head baseball coach about working with his pitchers. A formal meeting will take place this week.
For those interested, here's what I have planned for the coming weeks:
Torn labrum: a case study on myself - details of the injury, repair procedure, and rehab with photos taken by the arthroscope
Biomechanics: ulnar collateral ligament (Rewrite) - I've been putting this off for a while, but I will be focused on finishing it up.
Delayed Internal Rotation (Revisited) - This was written based on conclusions from the UCL article, so it also needs to be revisited.
Texas League Scouting Series - This is something I probably should have been all over since early April, but for some reason, it never crossed my mind. These will be more pure scouting reports, with more focus on tools and skill and less focus on mechanics.
Finally, two pretty good mechanics articles popped up this weekend, and I want to share them both.
Kyle Boddy at DrivelineMechanics.com offered his analysis of Chris Perez, the recently traded relief pitcher who is now property of the Cleveland Indians. Kyle and I share pretty similar beliefs when it comes to mechanics, and I think his analysis of Perez is spot-on.
A few months back, I posted an entry about the Zip Curveball Trainer and why it is an awful product. At the time, I was aware that the regular Zip Trainer existed, but I assumed it couldn't possibly be worse than the Zip Curveball Trainer. I finally read about it, and I was dead wrong.
The Zip Trainer (Source: ziptrainer.com)The product is "designed" to promote wrist flexion as a proper part of a powerful pitch release. Like the Zip Curveball Trainer, though, the Zip Trainer teaches it backwards. The device actually trains its users to extend their wrists as they prepare to release the ball.
The tension applied by the Zip Trainer creates an eccentric contraction that strengthens the extensor muscles of the forearm rather than the muscles of the flexor-pronator mass.
One advantage of increased strength in the extensor muscles is that the muscles will be able to handle greater loads during deceleration. This means that after using the Zip Trainer, a pitcher will likely develop faster, more powerful wrist action because the forearm will be better conditioned to slow the hand down after the pitch is thrown.
So why is this bad? When a muscle or group of muscles contracts during joint action (flexion or extension), the brain prevents the opposing muscle(s) from contracting simultaneously. This is called reciprocal inhibition. This means that while the extensor muscles are extending the wrist, the flexor-pronator mass can not contract to support the ulnar collateral ligament.
Because this device teaches wrist extension prior to pitch release, pitchers who use this device "properly" place themselves at an increased risk for UCL injuries.
But wait! There's more!
The product page also offers tips on how to use the Zip Trainer to throw a slider. By moving the finger loops onto different fingers, the Zip Trainer can also teach its users to throw sliders with supinated releases.
Supinated releases do not protect against the forearm flyout flaw that is present in the arm action of most pitchers with traditional pitching mechanics. When unprotected, this flaw causes the back of the elbow to "slam closed." The collision between the olecranon of the ulna and the olecranon fossa of the humerus irritates cartilage and leads to irregular bone growth (lengthening of the ulna, bone spurs, bone chips, etc.).
To have a look at this questionable product for yourself, click here, but please, don't buy this.
Do you know of another stupid pitching product out there? Tell me about it.
Yesterday, for the second time in his 3-season stint with the Texas Rangers, Brandon McCarthy was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the scapula. With consideration to the number of muscles that move and stress the scapula when throwing a baseball, it's amazing how rarely scapular stress fractures are diagnosed in pitchers.
In 1987, Texas Rangers pitcher Edwin Correa was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his scapula. Correa never again pitched in the Major Leagues.
In 2003, Kurt Ainsworth, then pitching for the San Francisco Giants, was also diagnosed with a stress fracture in his scapula. Ainsworth recovered but pitched in only 7 more games in the Majors, all in 2004.
The most detailed information that I can find on this type of injury is what I know from McCarthy's previous stress fracture and what I learned from reading "Scapular Stress Fracture in a Professional Baseball Player," a study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine in February 2007.
The study takes a look at the injuries suffered by an unidentified right-handed Major League Baseball starting pitcher. This pitcher's mechanics were apparently a mess. Prior to his scapular stress fracture, the pitcher had been through Tommy John (ulnar collateral ligament replacement) surgery and a "transient episode of subacromial bursitis" in his shoulder. In the three years that followed his recovery from the stress fracture, this pitcher had surgery on both his elbow and shoulder, though neither was directly related to his scapula injury.
Pitcher X's stress fracture was located on the lower outside edge of the scapula bone, called the lateral border. The doctors who authored the study concluded based on the fracture's location that the likely cause of Pitcher X's stress fracture was "repetitive stress in the area of the teres minor attachment."
Repeated stress on muscles and bones causes them to grow stronger and more resilient over time. When the growth can't keep up with the stress, stress fractures occur in bones and tendonitis occurs in muscles. In the case of Pitcher X, his teres minor grew stronger at a faster rate than his scapula. Eventually, the stress fracture developed.
Muscles with origins on the scapula. Subscapularis and biceps brachii not shown. Click to enlarge.The teres minor attaches the lateral border of the scapula to the outside edge of the back of the humerus (see the diagram). It is one of the muscles of the rotator cuff, and its primary function is external rotation. The teres minor is stretched by internal rotation when the back of the humerus turns away from the scapula. It is also stretched as the humerus moves away from the scapula.
In the delivery, the rotator cuff contracts most powerfully during the follow-through as it tries to stop the arm from twisting and flying out of socket. The faster the humerus is moving away from the scapula and the greater the rate of internal rotation, the more powerful the contraction must be to maintain joint stability.
Brandon McCarthy's follow-through is a little unique in this regard. I missed it when I reviewed his mechanics last month because I wasn't looking for it. Of course, maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see. Here's the clip I used for my original analysis:
Notice that, after release, McCarthy's arm continues to move away from his scapula and towards his head. Even at 210 frames per second, it only lasts for a few frames, so look closely. You might even see his shoulder blade "hump up" a little around this time.
This high-intensity eccentric contraction stresses the teres minor muscle more than the other rotator cuff muscles because its scapular attachment is the furthest from the joint.
A reasonable outlook
Rangers general manager Jon Daniels has reportedly said that McCarthy will not pick up a baseball for several weeks. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, depending of course on the severity of the stress fracture. McCarthy himself said the pain has been there for a while and that he feels like he did in 2007.
McCarthy suffered and recovered from an injury similar to this one back in August/September 2007. I can not say how similar because I do not know the exact location and severity of either his 2007 or his 2009 stress fracture. McCarthy recovered from the 2007 injury fairly quickly and missed only a month of Major League action.
Rest is the only way to recover from a stress fracture. While the bone heals and gets stronger, the offending muscle atrophies and weakens - killing two birds with one stone. Often times, the pain will subside long before the bone fully heals, sometimes months after diagnosis. It might be that McCarthy's original stress fracture never healed.
I believe the Rangers are more or less "on the lookout" for injuries like this with McCarthy, so I feel that this injury is probably an early-stage stress fracture. They will probably keep him from throwing until scans no longer show signs of the fracture. Hopefully, this is no longer than 3 or 4 weeks.
Last month, I said that if McCarthy could stay healthy and have success with his mechanics, there was no reason to change them. I now believe there's sufficient reason to start that process. McCarthy and the Rangers need to give serious consideration to making major changes in his delivery.
[I suspect that Pitcher X is Darren Dreifort, though the article was written by doctors in Baltimore.]
Unlike Matthew Purke, Tyler Matzek is routinely regarded as a pitcher with an easy, repeatable delivery. Matzek is able to throw 90-94 mph with ease and has recently been as high as 98 mph according to several reports. He throws a curveball that has plus potential, but scouts from the Major League Scouting Bureau have a lesser opinion of its current quality than Baseball America does.
Dr. Mike Marshall weighed in on Matzek in his Questions/Answers 2009 file. If you are at all familiar with Dr. Marshall's view of the 'traditional' pitching motion, you'll recognize that his comments border on praise. Dr. Marshall had the following to say:
Mr. Matzek's version of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion is not as injurious as many I have seen... I doubt that he will suffer a serious pitching injury. However, he will never be as good as he should have been.
As with Purke, I was intrigued by the generic mechanical comments I'd read in scouting reports. This time, though, the comments were about an easy, repeatable delivery. The comments from Dr. Marshall further piqued my interest. I dug around and found a video similar to the one I used for my Purke article.
Here's the video I looked at, courtesy again of Baseball Factory:
Even though it's a warm-up pitch, I chose to use the first pitch in the video as my example. The stills in the two images below were taken from this same pitch.
Important stages of Matzek's arm action. Click to view larger image.
In the first frame, you can clearly see that Matzek takes the ball primarily toward second base during his pick-up. If you looked at my review of Purke's mechanics, you'll remember that he took the ball primarily toward third base. Skipping ahead to the fourth frame (approximately the release point), you can see that Matzek has much less side-to-side movement than Purke. His driveline to the plate is very direct compared to most 'traditional' pitchers, extremely efficient.
The second frame shows Matzek's body position at foot-plant, in the 'traditional' cocked position, where he seems to have a nearly straight-forward stride. At 90° of flexion, the ulnar collateral ligament is at its most vulnerable. At this stage Matzek's arm is fairly straight, so the late forearm turnover and reverse forearm bounce that follow are less of a problem. This is part of why Dr. Marshall views Matzek's arm action as less injurious.
As Matzek increases his elbow flexion, he also tilts his shoulders to the glove side and raises his elbow. This action helps limit his forearm flyout by effectively straighening his elbow's path. At his approximate release point, you can see that his forearm is nearly vertical.
In the video Dr. Marshall reviewed (of a side session), he mentioned that he was concerned about Matzek's forearm flyout. The video that I reviewed seems to show that Matzek's forearm flyout is minimal.
Matzek's follow-through from release to finish. Click to view larger image.
The first frame in this image is from shortly after release. Matzek's elbow is flexed and his wrist is pronated to the point where his palm is nearly facing up. This indicates two things: (1) Matzek pronates his release very powerfully, and (2) Matzek may be using his latissimus dorsi to internally rotate his arm instead of using his pectoralis major to horizontally flex his arm.
At this normal frame rate, it is practically impossible to tell for certain whether or not Matzek pronates into release, but he sure appears to be doing so.
Dr. Marshall says that because Matzek's stride is "too closed," he must be using his pectoralis major to horizontally flex his pitching arm. If he were actually horizontally flexing his arm to throw the baseball, I don't believe that Matzek could achieve the arm position shown in the first frame of this image.
By the second frame, his primary arm deceleration phase is done. The continuation of his body action in the next two frames causes his arm to wrap across his body. I believe the appearance of recoil is an illusion created when Matzek stands up to field his position.
So... what are you saying?
Matzek throws some high-quality pitches from a relatively safe, easy, and repeatable delivery. From an objective perspective, there are fewer risk factors than most 'traditional' pitchers. For a high school pitcher, he's a lot more polished than I would have expected.
I have reason to believe that he throws three different fastballs and a pronated curveball. After doing my research, I like him more than I did, and I'm kind of upset that there's no chance he'll be around when the Texas Rangers pick at #14. I guess I can hope, though.
Spring, TX - a suburb of Houston - has produced quite a number of early-round draft picks over the past several years. It looks like Klein's Matthew Purke will join a list that includes former Klein players Josh Barfield, Chris George, and David Murphy, as well as Josh Beckett, Sam Demel, and Daryl Jones from Spring High School.
Purke stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs 180 pounds. Scouts like his projectability and believe he could add velocity as he gets stronger. He already sits at 92-94 MPH, occasionally throwing a tick or two harder. His primary off-speed pitch is a slurve-type offering called a slider by Baseball America and a curve by the Major League Scouting Bureau. Whatever you call it, it's one of the best breaking balls in this year's high school draft class.
Conflicting reports from the same two sources have his change up somewhere between "unknown" and "good."
Purke is believed to have a strong commitment to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, so signability has become a concern for some clubs. Rumors of his signing bonus demands have ranged from $2 million to $7 million, but the most recent rumors have him in the neighborhood of $3 million.
Almost every report on Purke has mentioned something about questionable mechanics. Typically, high school deliveries are full of flaws and quirks, but rarely do these scouting reports go out of their way to mention them.
Baseball America mentions Purke's slinging action, saying that it is neither violent nor smooth. I guess that would be... Average? Typical? Expected? Outside of this specific mentioning of a flaw, I could only find generic references to his mechanics. I wanted to have a look for myself.
I located a solid video on YouTube, looked at it, and made some still photos. Here's the video, courtesy of Baseball Factory:
There are two big things that jump out at me, but first, I want to say that outside of his arm action, there really isn't much to complain about. He steps nearly straight forward, landing only a few inches closed.
Purke stays closed very well and gets great hip rotation and shoulder rotation. He even stands relatively tall through his release. His core does its job very well.
If I had to pick one part of his body action to complain about, it would have to be his somewhat stiff front leg. That might be the source of the reported inability to repeat his delivery consistently.
The still shots below were taken from the same pitch, the first one in the video.
Matthew Purke's arm action at four key points in his delivery. Click to enlarge.
Now, here are the flaws in his arm action as I see them. In the first frame, you can see that Purke's entire pitching arm has been moved about as far toward third base as possible. Skipping ahead to the final frame, you get an idea of how much horizontal acceleration takes place. When his arm finally starts moving forward, the centripetal force from the curved path results in forearm flyout. The Baseball America "slinging" comment is dead-on.
Pronated releases can help protect against the negative effects of forearm flyout, but there aren't enough frames available to be able to determine if, or to what extent, Purke pronates into his release.
The second frame shows a massive scapular load at foot plant. This puts extra stress on the anterior capsule of the shoulder, and the extra movement of the head of the humerus places the glenoid labrum at risk.
Still in the second frame, his forearm is past horizontal, avoiding an inverted arm position, but his forearm is almost 180° of external rotation from the throwing position shown in frame three. This causes a late forearm turnover.
Purke's follow-through.Here's an overly simplistic look at his follow-through. The first frame shows where his arm winds up after primary deceleration. His arm continues in the curved path and winds up finishing hard toward third base. There is no recoil evident at this frame rate, and his arm winds up tucked in softly at his waist.
There could be some extra stuff going on in his shoulder, but the standard 30 frames per second video does not reveal it.
So... what are you saying?
Overall, Purke's mechanics could be a lot worse. That said, I'm not a fan of his arm action at all. The slinging action reported by Baseball America is clearly present, and he puts a lot of torque on his elbow. Long term, he has almost no chance to stay healthy with these mechanics.
Any team that drafts Purke will have to ask themselves which risk they want to take: leave his mechanics alone and risk his arm falling apart - or - change his mechanics and risk his stuff dropping off.
Trip Somers;)
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