The List
I am often asked what I think of certain pitchers. In an effort
to answer these kinds of questions, I have put together this
document which lists all of the pitchers that I have an opinion
about.
Josh Beckett Josh Beckett has an Inverted L
in his arm action and throws fairly hard. To be honest, I can't
explain how he's stayed healthy this long. He's ripe for a
blow-up.
Jonathan Broxton
A.J. Burnett
AJ Burnett is
another pitcher whose career has been made, and then
compromised, by the Inverted L.
Chris Carpenter
Chris Carpenter
is a tremendous pitcher who has trouble staying healthy due
to his Inverted L.
Joba Chamberlain
Aaron Crow
Aaron Crow is
another Inverted L pitcher who is going to have trouble
staying healthy if he's not in the bullpen.
Ryan Dempster One of my favorite younger
pitchers mechanics-wise. Similar to Greg Maddux.
Kyle Drabek His arm action isn't terrible,
but he still has what looks like a major timing problem.
Yovani Gallardo Yovani Gallardo is
basically a right-handed Cliff Lee, and thus a pitcher than
younger pitchers should study.
Jaime Garcia
Gio Gonzalez
Tommy Hanson
Tommy Hanson has
a major timing problem and needs to be turned into a
reliever ASAP.
Rich Harden
Luke Hochevar
Josh Johnson Josh Johnson is a
(typically) very hard thrower who has already had elbow
problems and whose velocity is down. That is often a
harbinger of shoulder problems and makes him a very risky
bet.
Ian Kennedy
Josh Kinney
Josh Kinney
was another slider throwing, Inverted W arm action pitcher
who had trouble staying healthy as a result.
Cliff Lee Cliff Lee is one of my
favorite pitchers and one I tell younger pitchers to
study.
Tim Lincecum I love
Tim Lincecum's
stride and lower body, but he has an Inverted L in his arm
action that makes me nervous.
Kyle Lohse Arm action isn't terrible,
but he has what looks like a timing problem.
Carlos Martinez
Carlos Martinez is
a prospect in the Cardinals system whose arm action I generally
like a lot.
Brandon McCarthy
Brandon McCarthy's
favorite pitcher when he was growing up was Mark Prior,
which explains his arm action. In the past few years he has
worked to improve his pitching mechanics, and that work
explains his relatively good health of late.
Jason Motte
Jason Motte is
currently the closer for the Cardinals. His arm action is
fairly good.
Ivan Nova Has a bordeliner Inverted W in
his arm action, combined with slow, slow, fast pacing that often
leads to shoulder problems.
Jake Peavy
Jake Peavy was one
of the pitchers who led me to notice the Inverted V arm
action.
Andy Pettitte Andy Pettitte has been both
effective and durable. The only knock on him is how he finishes
with his leg sticking straight out behind him. I believe that that
shortens the deceleration path of his arm and has led to some
problems in the back of his shoulder.
Michael Pineda
Mark Prior
Mark Prior
is the poster child for the Inverted W and the problems that
can result from it.
Anthony Reyes
Anthony Reyes
has (had?) a significant Inverted W, and elbow and shoulder
problems as a result.
Mariano Rivera Mariano Rivera has a
beautiful arm action and great timing.
BJ Ryan
BJ Ryan had the worst
timing I have ever seen. Ever.
Johan Santana
Ben Sheets
John Smoltz While it's true that
John Smoltz had a
long, successful career, he did so while experiencing numerous
injury problems due to his Inverted W arm action.
Stephen Strasburg
Stephen Strasburg
throws ridiculously hard and does so using the Inverted W,
which doesn't bode well for his shoulder.
Jess Todd
Justin Verlander While Justin
Verlander's lower body is a bit funky, and his stride is a
bit too linear for my tastes, his arm action and upper body
are textbook.
Adam Wainwright
Adam Wainwright
is a very good pitcher, but
Adam Wainwright
has an Inverted W. As a result, I am concerned about the
longevity of his shoulder.
Jake Westbrook Arm action isn't
terrible, but he has what looks like a timing problem.
Scott Williamson
Scott Williamson
is another pitcher whose arm was ruined by the Inverted L.
C.J. Wilson
C.J. Wilson has a
significant Inverted W and a timing problem as a result. I'm
surprised he hasn't broken down yet.
Kerry Wood
Kerry Wood's elbow
was destroyed by his love of the slider and his shoulder was
damaged by his Inverted L and a resulting timing problem.
Barry Zito
Barry Zito was
never able recreate his success with the A's due to
lingering effects due to his Inverted L. However, he no
longer throws hard enough to overload his arm.
Joel Zumaya
Joel Zumaya keeps
having elbow problems due to his Inverted V.
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