|
Stephen Strasburg's pitching mechanics have long troubled me,
starting in 2008 when I first started this piece...
I've since put together a couple of summary pieces...
I maintain this page so people can see and verify what I said, when, using the Wayback Machine.
Pitching Mechanics Analysis of Stephen Strasburg (2008)
The earliest versions of my analysis of Stephen Strasburg's
pitching mechanics are below.
August 2008
The video clip below, which I obtained from Driveline Mechanics,
shows the pitching mechanics of
Stephen Strasburg. The problem is that Stephen Strasburg's
pitching mechanics appear to have been influenced by,
and are remarkably similar to, those of
Mark Prior.
Stephen Strasburg's Inverted W
The thing to pay attention to in this clip is the borderline
Inverted W that is clearly visible in Frame 23 and Frame 24.
Stephen Strasburg
While the Inverted W isn't automatically bad, in Stephen
Strasburg's case it does appear to create a significant timing problem.
Notice that in Frame 26, when Stephen Strasburg's Glove Side
(GS) foot plants and his shoulders start to rotate, his Pitching
Arm Side (PAS) forearm is just above the horizontalm rather than
being vertical (or nearly so) as I prefer. In Frame 27, when
Stephen Strasburg's shoulder's have clearly rotate a significant
amount, his PAS is still not yet vertical.
All of this causes Stephen Strasburg's PAS upper arm to
externally rotate especially hard and much (see Frame 29) which
significantly increases the load on the elbow and the shoulder.
What's more it looks like this external rotation, as with Mark
Prior, occurs with his PAS upper arm elevated in a position of
hyperabduction.
If you combine
this with Stephen Strasburg's plus to plus plus velocity and the
fact that he seems to be a fastball/slider guy, rather than a
fastball/change-up guy, you've got
someone who is putting tremendous, and likely excessive,
stress on his elbow and his shoulder.
The Bottom Line on
Stephen Strasburg
The bottom line on Stephen Strasburg is that, while he may be
a consensus number one like David Price, mechanically speaking,
Stephen Strasburg is no David Price.
Like Mark Prior, Stephen Strasburg has some
Inverted W in his arm action and a timing problem as a
result (aka habitual rushing).
This will significantly increase the load on his elbow and his
shoulder and make him a very high risk draft choice.
I could even see him pulling a Cole St. Clair and blowing up
mid-season.
However, because his
mechanics in some of the frames I have seen aren't quite as bad
as Mark Prior's, and at times he sometimes makes the Horizontal W rather
than the Inverted W...
Stephen Strasburg
...there is a chance that Stephen Strasburg could
have a career more like a John Smoltz. In that case, he would be
effective for periods of time but would also struggle with elbow
and shoulder problems.
It's a bit hard to say for sure, since Stephen Strasburg seems
to show significant variability in his arm action from year to
year.
February 2009
The video clip below, which I obtained from Driveline Mechanics,
shows the pitching mechanics of Stephen
Strasburg.
Stephen Strasburg
The thing to pay attention to in this clip is the
Inverted W that is clearly visible in Frame 23 and Frame 24.
While the Inverted W isn't automatically bad, in Stephen Strasburg's
case it does create a significant
Timing problem.
Notice that in Frame 26, when Stephen Strasburg's Glove Side (GS)
foot plants and his shoulders start to rotate, his Pitching Arm Side
(PAS) forearm is just above the horizontal rather than being
vertical (or nearly so) as I prefer. In Frame 27, when Stephen
Strasburg's shoulder's have clearly rotate a significant amount, his
PAS is still not yet vertical.
All of this causes Stephen Strasburg's PAS upper arm to externally rotate
especially hard and much (see Frame 29) which significantly
increases the load on the elbow and the shoulder. What's more it
looks like this external rotation, as with Mark Prior, occurs with
his PAS upper arm elevated in a position of
hyperabduction.
If you combine this with Stephen Strasburg's plus to plus plus velocity, you've got a
guy who is putting tremendous, and likely excessive, stress on his
elbow and his shoulder.
The Bottom Line on
Stephen Strasburg
The bottom line on Stephen Strasburg is that, while he may be a
consensus number one like David Price, mechanically speaking Stephen
Strasburg is no David Price.
Like Mark Prior, Stephen Strasburg's got some significant
Inverted W in his arm action and a major timing problem as a
result (aka habitual
rushing). This will significantly increase the load on his elbow
and his shoulder and make him a very high risk draft choice. I could
even see him pulling a Cole St. Clair and blowing up mid-season.
However, it's of course impossible to predict exactly when a
pitcher's problems are going to rear up.
March 2009
The video clip below, which I obtained from
Driveline Mechanics, is of the pitching mechanics of
Stephen Strasburg. The problem is that Stephen Strasburg's
pitching mechanics appear to have been heavily influenced by,
and are remarkably similar to, those of
Mark Prior.
Stephen Strasburg's Inverted W
The thing to pay attention to in this clip is the
Inverted W that is clearly visible in Frame 23 and Frame 24.
Stephen Strasburg
While the Inverted W isn't automatically bad, in Stephen
Strasburg's case it does create a significant timing problem.
Notice that in Frame 26, when Stephen Strasburg's Glove Side
(GS) foot plants and his shoulders start to rotate, his Pitching
Arm Side (PAS) forearm is just above the horizontal rather than
being vertical (or nearly so) as I prefer. In Frame 27, when
Stephen Strasburg's shoulder's have clearly rotate a significant
amount, his PAS is still not yet vertical.
All of this causes Stephen Strasburg's PAS upper arm to
externally rotate especially hard and much (see Frame 29) which
significantly increases the load on the elbow and the shoulder.
What's more it looks like this external rotation, as with Mark
Prior, occurs with his PAS upper arm elevated in a position of
hyperabduction.
If you combine this with Stephen Strasburg's plus to plus
plus velocity and the fact that he seems to be a fastball/slider
guy, rather than a fastball/change-up guy, you've got
someone who is putting tremendous, and likely excessive,
stress on his elbow and his shoulder.
The Bottom Line on Stephen Strasburg
The bottom line on Stephen Strasburg is that, while he may be
a consensus number one like David Price, mechanically speaking
Stephen Strasburg is no David Price.
Like Mark Prior, Stephen Strasburg has some significant
Inverted W in his arm action and a timing problem as a
result (aka habitual
rushing).
This will significantly increase the load on his elbow and his
shoulder and make him a very high risk draft choice.
I could even see him pulling a Cole St. Clair and blowing up
mid-season.
However, because his
mechanics in some of the frames I have seen aren't quite as bad
as Mark Prior's, and he sometimes makes the Horizontal W rather
than the Inverted W...
Stephen Strasburg
...there is a chance that Stephen Strasburg could
have a career more like a John Smoltz. In that case, he would be
effective for periods of time but would also struggle with elbow
and shoulder problems.
It's a bit hard to say for sure, since Stephen Strasburg seems
to show significant variability in his arm action from year to
year.
You can verify that I said this, when I say I said it,
using the Wayback Machine.
|
