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Carter Capps in the Cape Cod League
Having just been drafted fairly high while coming out of a small school, Capps already knew that the Mariners were very high on him. What Capps wanted to do is maximize his value and get a big signing bonus. To do this, Capps went to the Cape Cod League to showcase himself to the Mariners. Now, this was actually a very risky move on Capps part since things could have possibly gone the other direction and exposed his weaknesses. That didn't happen. Capps took his team (interestingly, the Harwich Mariners) to the playoffs and started the opening game. He was absolutely filthy and got not just the W, but a $200K signing bonus from the M's.
The dreaded inverted "W"
I fully understand why it is that this condition is such a concern. Going from even a minor inverted 'W' to an over the top throw HAS to put a ton of torque on the shoulder. Carter Capps though does not have to worry about his slight inverted 'W' condition for a big reason. Capps doesn't throw over the top. Look closely at the video that I pushed up and you should notice that his entire body drops way down when he throws, and in the process he essentially lowers his shoulder down to the level of his throwing hand, eliminating the torque condition almost completely.
Capps' mechanics is 180 degrees out from the "throw downhill" mentality. For a guy who is 6'6", Capps throws more like a guy who is 6'0", and in the process the ball seems to explode out of his hand and gets on the batter much quicker. Add to that the velocity that he is able to produce and you have what saw a couple of nights ago.
This whole inverted 'W' conundrum is a non-starter, IMHO, when trying to determine whether Capps can be in a rotation or work out of the bullpen.
Starting Capps in the bullpen with the Mariners in April
There is a big problem with this idea and it has nothing to do with Capps' ability to get major league pitchers out. I wrote in the other Capps thread that I've been told that the first year or so the players get little baseball instruction, but a ton of what and how to handle things as a professional. A lot of guys wash out just because they can't handle the life of a pro. I'm not saying that Capps needs the time to acclimate, but I just want to point out that there is often more than one reason for promoting or not promoting a player.
Also, I got that video of Carson Smith up. Take a look at him and try to tell me that he shouldn't go directly to the bullpen (where he would dominate nearly as much as Capps would).
http://youtu.be/40gOcLHwPiE
Lonnie