Something said in passing above made me wonder ... IS there a link between pitching injuries and walk rate? I mean, really. If you could go get a list of all of the TJS or rotator cuff guys for the past 15 years, what would you find in regards to their minor league walk rates, (especially compared to guys who pitched for years in the majors w/o lots of DL time)?
I suspect that you'd find high walk rates as "suggestive", (but perhaps not predictive), of future arm problems -- and low walk rates as potentially predictive for good health.
As noted above, every body is built different. When talk of mechanics begins, the first step is almost always to try and find guys with similar body types, because mechanics for a guy 6'8" 180 are GOING to be massively different than a guy 5" 8" 180. But, I would suspect that typically, pitchers avoid injury by mostly doing what their body does NATURALLY ... and here's the important point --- REPEATING that motion.
If I had to guess, (and I do have to guess), I'd imagine that the root of most injuries is NOT the most repeated mechanical sequence for a pitcher --- it is more likely what happens when he FAILS to repeat that motion that injury occurs. A guy with poor control could have many different causes ... release point, arm slot, leg drive ... or just plain fear. But, these kids have repeated their basic motion thousands, (10s of thousands?) of times before getting drafted.
I think some mechanical flaws are associated with injuries, not because they are alone "dangerous" -- but more likely, that it's easier to "flub" your way from those motions into one that IS harmful. But, walk rates "might" be a tell for how often does a pitcher increase his personal risk of injury. How often does he change his armslot that extra half inch that turns that whippy arm motion from strange looking to actually harmful?
It would be an interesting study.
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