The concept of Timing in baseball pitchers, as I define it, refers to...

• The position of the pitching arm
• When the shoulders start to turn
• AND the pitching arm starts to come under load

If the pitcher's arm isn't in the correct position, it's said to be Late.

Late Arm is another way of describing the existence of a Timing problem in a baseball pitcher.

Late Arm: An Overview

Late Arm, which is best visualized by Flat Arm Syndrome, is one of my key concepts and, I would argue — and have since 2007 — the underlying issue with mechanical patterns like the...

• Inverted W
  • Elbow Spiral
• Tommy John Twist

Kerry Wood

I first started to understand what a Late Arm looks like by looking at Kerry Wood's pitching mechanics in general and the picture below, in particular...

Kerry Wood - 2006

Notice how Kerry Wood's front foot is down, or nearly so, but his pitching arm is FLAT and not UP?

That's bad.

John Santana

That then led to my analysis of Johan Santana's pitching mechanics and arm action...

Johan Santana - Twins

...to one of my most accurate predictions.

There is no question that Johan Santana has been very successful to date. However, due to his borderline mechanics I question whether Johan Santana will be able to continue that level of success. I think Johan Santana could easily give the Mets the same heartache that Pedro Martinez and El Duque have.

As with Kerry Wood, what I saw in Johan Santana's pitching mechanics was that his pitching arm was FLAT and not UP when his pitching arm started to come around (to the plate) and came under load.

For obvious reasons, I call that pattern Flat Arm Syndrome.

Stephen Strasburg

By the time Stephen Strasburg came around in 2010, and I put together my analysis of Stephen Strasburg's pitching mechanics, it was becoming easier and easier for me to see the pattern.

Stephen Strasburg

Though it helped that Strasburg clearly had a HUGE problem, especially when he threw his change-up.