THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Thanks for posting this. I’m always interested in reading about pitching mechanics.

All good ... except wrong. The “video” he shows tells us nothing. Bad angles and poorer quality. Our eyes lie. Computer-aided models with motion capture and joint measurement are the state of the art. O’Leary’s pretty good with his eyes, but no ones eyes are good enough to see mechanics or calculate forces.

I’m as guilty as anyone of saying Prior’s mechanics were perfect. They were pretty damn good, but perfect was an exaggeration or a wishcast. Saying it in hindsight or Marshall’s “I told you so” when he predicted an elbow injury, not a shoulder injury, doesn’t count.*

* I would give Marshall more slack if he hadn’t been so specific as to the causation for what he said was the inevitable elbow injury, what he calls “forearm flyout.”

I’m pretty sure that this guy is completely full of sh**. His thesis is that because people who work with their elbow above their shoulders experience shoulder injuries, that anyone with mechanics where the elbow “picks up” the shoulder will have shoulder trouble. Is there any basis for thinking so? Also, he says in his webpage that he’s qualified because he used to review asbestos claim files for a living. Say what? I’ve read thousands of claim files myself (probably some of the same ones he saw), and I can categorically state that I learned absolutely nothing about pitching mechanics from it.

He’s obviously a Mike Marshall disciple, with all the baggage that entails. I just don’t buy his credentials or his retrospective analysis. I’m not sure I buy him consulting for two major league teams, which is what he implies he does ("currently working with scouts for two major league teams").

Chris responds to Will:
http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/Baseball/Pitching/ThePitchingMechanic/2008/ThePitchingMechanic_200802.html

I have no idea who is right or wrong here.  But, Chris is specific in what he is saying, and in his rebuts.  Will is giving a summary conclusion without presenting statements of facts or evidence.

On this blog, we prefer evidence, and we let the readers be the judge.