Why Do Some Pitchers Seem to Always Have Arm Trouble?

I've been away from the blog for a while. This post has been sitting in the back of my head for some time now and I finally feel like I have time to set it free. I have a few other posts that I hope to make this week regarding the Deep Squat, as well as why we should screen our athletes before each sport season.

Back to the topic of this post: Why does it seem that some pitchers seem to have more trouble when it comes to arm injuries? Growing up a St. Louis Cardinal fan, one name comes to mind immediately: Chris Carpenter. He has struggled with countless elbow and shoulder injuries throughout his career, beginning in Toronto with the Blue Jays (debuted in 1997) and continuing on through 2013 with the Cardinals.

Before I go much further, let me state that Carpenter is a great pitcher (when healthy) and has been a leader for the Cardinals pitching staff since 2004 (winning the Cy Young Award in 2005), resulting in one of the best 10-year stretches in Cardinals' history. But how much better could he be/have been with better health? Is it just a case of bad luck or was some of this preventable?



Take a look at a few pictures of Carpenter pitching:

 

What I want you to notice is the positioning of his throwing arm in these pictures. Ideally, when the pitcher's front foot lands (in this case, Carpenter's left foot), his throwing arm should already be cocked and beginning to accelerate forward. In both of these images, Carpenter's throwing arm is noticeably behind. Obviously Carpenter's mechanics aren't this poor on a consistent basis, or he would have already shredded his shoulder/elbow to pieces 10+ years ago. If you search enough, you can spot pictures where his arm is in a much more desirable position. Take a look:

 

  

Notice the difference? I think this goes to show just how talented and determined of a pitcher Carpenter is both physically and emotionally. If he could repeat this motion more frequently, he may have had fewer major arm problems.

Now let's take a look at a pitcher who never seems to have any arm issues: CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees (formerly Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers).

It seems that every time Sabathia's lead foot (in this case, his right foot) returns to the ground, his arm is cocked and ready to accelerate towards the plate. Another thing that I like about his mechanics is that his moment appears to be carrying him downward towards the hitter. In comparison, Carpenter almost appears to be heading "uphill" on his way to delivering a pitch. Heading "downhill" helps a pitcher to create leverage on a given pitch (giving more movement), whereas "uphill" can allow a pitch to flatten out or miss high (decreasing movement). I'm not going to say that Sabathia's arm never drags behind, because that's impossible. Every pitcher will have a moment or two when they get out of sync. This typically results in the pitch missing high. When a pitcher gets tired, this is more likely to happen due to fatigue of the legs and trunk. Proper conditioning (more sprints and less long distance running for pitchers!!), a strong injury prevention program, as well as consistently repeating good mechanics can help prevent future arm injuries in baseball players.

If you're a coach or a parent, you may want to try to snap a few quick pictures of your young pitcher and see just where their arm is when their lead foot returns to the ground. Is it cocked and ready to fire? Or is it dragging along behind?

I could write about this topic for hours and hours but I'll stop here. If you have any questions or comments, leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail. Thanks for reading!