In early 2006, Felix decimated the Red Sox with an incredible swerving fastball that tailed away from LH hitters about a foot or so. This movement was produced by a screwball-type pitching motion in which Felix snapped his hand over the ball, leaving the thumb pointing at the ground.

The Red Sox were helpless. And we will cheerfully admit that, if Felix could throw that particular fastball, then all of these other conversations would be over. It doesn't matter if you're sitting on a 97 mph pitch that moves like a slider.

Cindy and I ran down and bought tickets in the Mezzanine, $60 apiece, to watch Felix' coronation as the best pitcher in baseball. He threw badly, and was removed in the 1st or 2nd, as I recall...

Word came out that Felix had a strained "pronator teres" -- in other words, the very forearm muscle that was allowing Felix to snap his pitches off so violently, was getting tired.

Siiiigggghhhhhhhhhhh.....

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A year ago, we received a neat letter from Mike Ford, asking our opinion on Felix' mechanics and outlook for long-term health.

Mike is very knowledgeable on the subject. In particular, he sent along this article and this article, asking for thoughts as they apply to Felix. The second article discusses Felix specifically.

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The authors follow Will Carroll in his belief that "pronation" is the key to saving a pitcher's elbow. (To pronate your hand means to turn the thumb in; to supinate it means to turn the thumb out.)

Carroll himself follows Mike Marshall (drmikemarshall.com) in the belief that if a pitcher "turns the ball over", for screwball action, that this will save the UCL ligament, the one that produces all the TJ surgeries.

This is only logical, since when you turn your thumb OUT (to snap off a slider) it stretches the UCL. If you make a point of turning your thumb IN, you're obviously guarding against over-stretching the UCL.

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=== Dr's Diagnosis Dept. ===

I agree that pronation babies the UCL. Always have.

This is why Freddy Garcia has never had a moment's elbow problem, because every pitch he throws, he either turns the ball over (pronates) or karate-chops his hand without supinating (for the 12-6 curve). (Only later did he start mixing in a slider now and then.)

But there is a very important qualifier here — very often when you go out of your way to save one body part, you put another at risk. Ever see a guy get a sore foot, change his motion to make the foot more comfortable, and hurt his arm?

What does an emphasis on pronation do to the shoulder, or the back, or anything else? We don't know. The human body is vastly more complex than we give it credit for.

The discussion is entirely theoretical. We should be aware at all times that we only have a fraction of the light bulbs on.

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The author adds a caveat to his (and Carroll's, and Marshall's) must-pronate advice: you have to pronate at a certain time. If you merely turn the ball over with a hard snap at the end, says he, you're not protecting the UCL during the earlier part of the pitching motion. This is logical (though unproven).

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=== Current Events, Dept. ===

What is fascinating with respect to Felix, is the (logical) observation that if you are pronating the way you should, it is the Pronator Teres muscle that does more of the work, babying the UCL. I'm guessing that doctors wouldn't call it a Pronator Teres if it wasn't the muscle that pronated your hand….

Does the Pronator Teres muscle sound familiar? It should. :- ) It's the one that got a little fatigued on Felix recently.

In other words, per the author's (reasonable) theory, Felix got a little cramp in his forearm because his motion is so UCL-safe. LOL. This insight should have Felix' fans smiling. It's an anti-elbow injury.

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We would add the $0.02 that in the Boston game, Felix' fastball was screwballing like no other fastball we've ever seen. Period. I slo-mo'ed it very carefully and not once in my life have I ever seen a fastball move like that.

Obviously Felix was pronating with such "life" that not only did the fastball swerve like a Frisbee, but his forearm got cramped from the effort. He was pumped for the game, he "finished" his pitches with amazing elan, and got both fantastic movement and a cramped forearm for his efforts.

This was a very important light bulb to flip on. Felix was releasing his fastball with unprecedented bite, and that is 100% connected to his 2007 Pronator Teres fatigue.   This kind of movement may be reflected in the 2008 "heat charts" on Felix.