A few blog posts about the Yankees hurlers and their pitching mechanics have been making the rounds lately. Originating from a new site run by Kyle Boddy, a 24-year-old baseball analyst, called Driveline Mechanics, the two Yankee-related entries focus on Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain.
To ruin the endings, Boddy loves Wang’s mechanics but feels that Chamberlain’s put him at risk for injury. Boddy writes, “I think Joba’s injury concerns are well-founded. He has a lot of the classic signs of hyperabduction, rushing, hung arms syndrome, and a bad followthrough.”
These posts offer up a few interesting points. First is that Boddy derives his analysis from Mike Marshall, and after reading a Jeff Passon piece from 2007 about Marshall, I’ve been a little suspect of Marshall and his disciples. Major League pitching coaches and GMs aren’t rushing to subscribe to Marshall’s philosophies, and Marshall’s projects haven’t had much success at the pro level.
But I’ve watched Joba pitch, and my concerns with his deliver are the same ones that Boddy has. I’ve seen Joba pull up and finish tall on his pitches. It’s not, by any stretch, the traditional follow-through, and it will be interesting to see how the Yankees work with their young stud as they gear up to move him into the starting rotation.
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