have fun!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=&DbFrom=pub...les&logdbfrom=pubmed

TPM,

Thanx, the ones I’m interested in are the injury related mechanical analysis, that are few, all of the articles dealing with injury prove the “traditional pitching mechanics” are incorrect for applying force safely.

Professional sports are not about safety. The pinnacle of sports is about laying it all on the line. When will you realize this? Your pitch might show short term effectiveness, but batters adapt.

MTS,

“Professional sports are not about safety.”

There are more amateurs playing than professionals. I prefer to protect all of them.
Then why do Catchers wear safety gear? Pro quarterbacks changed their mechanics 25 years ago to help alleviate their injurious effects, Tennis players have done the same.
Javelin throwers have perfected their mechanical application and it does not include Forearm bounce and early over rotation.

“The pinnacle of sports is about laying it all on the line.”

That’s not my understanding of laying it on the line.

“Your pitch might show short term effectiveness, but batters adapt.”

If you limit it to one pitch this would be true. Batters do not adapt to 6.

My kid throws 7 pitches. 2 different 2 seams, a 4 seam, a curve, a knuckle, and 2 change-ups. He also varies his effort on his fastball pitches from 80% to 100% giving him more than 7 pitches. Best part is that he hits his spots. I didn't see any Marshall pitchers at the Junior Olympics in Peoria.

MTS,

Nice, he's many leg's up on most! that sounds like a great arsenal.

There probably was not any full Marshall mechanic pitchers there, there was some upper half guy's but you have to know what your looking for and throwing like a shot putter is not one of them. Did you see the ambidextrous kid from NM?

quote:

Originally posted by Yardbird:
TPM,

Thanx, the ones I’m interested in are the injury related mechanical analysis, that are few, all of the articles dealing with injury prove the “traditional pitching mechanics” are incorrect for applying force safely.

YB,
Someone sent this to me and I posted it for information, not debate or discussion or your advice. Readers can take info, based on who wrote the article and draw conclusions.

Do you get that? I hope so.

TPM, thanks for posting the links to those articles.

quote:

Originally posted by MTS:
My kid throws 7 pitches. 2 different 2 seams, a 4 seam, a curve, a knuckle, and 2 change-ups. He also varies his effort on his fastball pitches from 80% to 100% giving him more than 7 pitches. Best part is that he hits his spots. I didn't see any Marshall pitchers at the Junior Olympics in Peoria.

I would suggest your son give up his knuckleball unless he has a deficient fastball. There are no good examples of MLB-pitchers who throw knuckleballs and have a MLB-average fastball. Knuckleballers are (usually) exclusively knuckeballers, save Dickey of Seattle whose fastbabll is maybe mid-80's. For most, the knuckleball is a dumb pitch.

As for "varying his effort" are you saying he slows his motion? A pitcher should strive for a repeatable delivery so if he is slowing his motion down he is tipping his pitches.

MTS, a pitcher does not need, nor can he reasonably achieve, mastery of seven pitches. An MLB star pitcher needs only three plus pitches. Four plus pitches gets him into the Hall of Fame. A kid with seven pitches? I would suggest you take a hard look at that. Better to do two or three things with greatness than seven things with mediocrity.

That is your opinion. Maddux doesn't use his best fastball when he pitches. Pitching is about disrupting timing. Mussina throws a knuckle. My son's coach did pitch in the MLB and originally was against keeping the knuckle. But he liked the deception and movement of the pitch because it looked like his fastball until it broke down. My son also has a long deceptive delivery. He is described by his coaches as being sneaky fast and having a heavy ball. His gets different results with his grips. He can throw a FB that tails in with one pitch then tails out with the next. He is know for hitting his spots and for not walking batters, so he must have some command of his pitches. So far through freshman, JV and Varsity, club and JO's he has zero homeruns against him.

quote:

Originally posted by MTS:
That is your opinion. Maddux doesn't use his best fastball when he pitches. Pitching is about disrupting timing. Mussina throws a knuckle. My son's coach did pitch in the MLB and originally was against keeping the knuckle. But he liked the deception and movement of the pitch because it looked like his fastball until it broke down. My son also has a long deceptive delivery. He is described by his coaches as being sneaky fast and having a heavy ball. His gets different results with his grips. He can throw a FB that tails in with one pitch then tails out with the next. He is know for hitting his spots and for not walking batters, so he must have some command of his pitches. So far through freshman, JV and Varsity, club and JO's he has zero homeruns against him.

MTS I would agree with BUM. Can the knuckleball - he is waisting his time. You are correct on the various grips and movement, but that is not what BUM was suggesting or talking about.

Your son can use different grips which make it appear as if they are all different pitches.

Mine had different slots in HS, you can get away with it, but not on the college or pro level. Took a few years to get all his pitches to a repeated delivery with a coach willing to change things to the way they should be.

And I agree with Bum and BOF, can the knuckleball.

The traditional knuckleball thrown slowly is tough to master but if you throw it fast with less fingers and have slight top spin (2 revolution to none) it is easy to control and is a great ground ball producer.

If MTS’s kid has command of seven pitches I would not take any away from him and might even add one.

YB,
How about different pressure on a 2 seam FB?

If a pitcher has a unique or different grip and relies on that pitch often at higher levels the better batter picks up on it (tipping). Same with arm angles. Most HS players don't have a clue. Now the young successful pitcher gets into college and the smarter more talented guys got you pegged. You are toast unless you have someone who has time to break it all down and start over. You need a REALLY good coach to do that.

ML pitchers can do whatever they want as long as they get players out. I do beleive Mussina picked up the knuckle curve after he arrived to MLB.
The whole idea, is to appear as if you are doing the same thing over and over and over, but you really aren't. That's deception, IMO.

My opinion may be wrong, but I can tell you from experience (and show you in print from a PG showcase) that was what my son did. He got knocked around pretty bad in college the first year, even with 90+ velo. It took a lot of work to get his slot to ONE for all his pitches and I do trust the person who told him that it would benefit him.