Dr. Feelgood!

In 1974, for very different reasons, Los Angeles Dodgers' teammates Tommy John and Mike Marshall catalyzed two of the most profound discoveries for pitchers in modern baseball history. The more famous of the discoveries was due to the efforts of renowned surgeon Dr. Frank Jobe, who would perform the first UCL (Ulnar Collateral Ligament) transplant surgery on a MLB pitcher. Jobe would take a tendon from another part of John's body and reconstruct John's shredded elbow ligament with it. The implanted tendon would fortify John's elbow and act as a ligament. The result was bionic! Instead of having his career cut short at the age of 31, John would go on to pitch another 15 years, win 20 games in three different seasons, and another 164 games overall. The famous surgery was coined after it's initial patient and became known as "Tommy John" surgery. In the last 33 years the procedure has saved the careers of hundreds upon hundreds of major league pitchers.

When John underwent the first procedure, the odds of him pitching again were 100-1. Now around 85% of pitchers who undergo the surgery return to pre-surgery performance levels within about two years. The surgery has become so popular that many young pitchers are having it performed even when their elbow ligament damage is minimal. In many young pitcher's eyes the surgery is inevitable and they would rather get it out of the way sooner rather than later. According to Dr. James Andrews (the foremost "Tommy John" surgeon) the most common age group now to have the procedure is between 10-18 years of age. This startling fact begs the question, is elbow ligament transplant surgery, as well as the plethora of other devastating arm injuries preventable? Or are these injuries just a reality for young arms that, more than ever, push the radar gun close to 100 mph?

The Marshall Plan

The same year John became the successful guinea pig for modern day surgery, Mike Marshall accomplished a feat that would challenge the traditional idea that arm injuries were an inevitable result of being a professional pitcher. In 1974 Marshall won the NL Cy Young Award by pitching in a phenomenal 106 games. More phenomenal were the other records Marshall set by pitching 208 1/3 relief innings that year, and at one point throwing in 13 consecutive games. Overall, Marshall went 15-12 with 21 saves and a 2.42 ERA. He was injury-free for the rest of his career!

Most everyone in baseball including John thought Marshall was just a physical freak of nature. But, there was a method to Marshall's ability, a very scientific method that drew heavily on Sir Issac Newton's "Laws of Motion". Marshall has dedicated himself to learning and teaching now for almost 40 years.

   In 1967 after experiencing shoulder soreness while pitching for the Detroit Tigers, Marshall began to apply his love for science and research to himself. He wondered what was causing his soreness and went about experimenting with the mechanics of how he threw to rid himself of the discomfort. The discoveries Marshall would make were groundbreaking in the science of bio-mechanics applied to the throwing of a baseball. In 1978 Marshall, while still pitching for the Minnesota Twins, obtained his Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology. Over the next 29 years Marshall would continue to develop his ideas on the best mechanics to throw a baseball.

For those unfamiliar with Marshall's work, here are some highlights of the mechanics behind Marshall's method. The scientific explanation for Marshall's ideas are pretty complex, so I've done my best to simplify them here. I've also linked to a video of a Marshall student throwing a baseball with these techniques. Unfortunately, the video is from Yahoo, so there's a thirty second commercial before the video begins. But, it's worth checking out:

1- Sir Isaac Newton's "First and Second Laws of Motion" teach that in any movement the direction of the force is the same as the direction of the acceleration. The most efficient and powerful movement is that which moves in a straight line. Because of this Marshall believes that pitchers should apply all of their movement in a straight-line force towards home plate. Any windup that requires you to turn your body away from the plate he believes is inefficient and causes extra stress to the arm. Marshall teaches a pendulum windup much like a softball pitcher uses or some of the pitchers from the early part of the nineteenth century.

2- Hidden Velocity- Marshall teaches pitchers to release the ball from their hand later than traditional approaches. He claims this will add extra velocity to a pitch.

3- Pronation of the Forearm- This means that a pitcher should turn his palm away from his pitching arm with the thumb pointing downwards upon follow though. This movement relieves stress in the elbow and shoulder and prevents the forearm bone from slamming into the upper arm bones.

4- Rear Foot Forward- Pointing the rear foot forward off of the pitching rubber alleviates stress to the knee and hip joint while also preventing groin pulls.

5- Throw in a Back To Forward Motion- Marshall claims that throwing across one's body causes extra stress to the arm that will cause many types of injuries.

6- No Leg Kick- As Marshall puts it, "Stand still and then lift your foot about four feet in front of you. How's your balance?". By teaching pitchers to move their foot forward without a kick, Marshall believes that one has a stronger center of gravity to exert force from.

7- Hand Under The Ball- Pitchers who throw with their hand on top of the ball are prone to rotator cuff and Ulnar Collateral Ligament problems.

These are just a few of the ideas Marshall teaches to improve a pitcher's health with his mechanics. To understand more fully, one really might want to take an anatomy class.

Marshall claims that if pitchers learned his methods, 95% percent of arm injuries would be preventable including Rotator Cuff problems and the infamous "Tommy John" injury and. Marshall's book, Coaching Baseball Pitchers (can be read free on the internet) should probably be on the nightstand of every pitching coach in baseball. So, why isn't it?

Don't Wanna Hear It!

Lack of exposure is one reason. Recently though, Jeff Passan opened Pandora's box and re-introduced Marshall to the baseball community in his expose "Outside Pitch" on Yahoo.com. As Passan's article articulates, the answer to why organized baseball has turned a blind eye to Marshall probably lies somewhere between ignorance and opportunity.  In the mid-nineties Marshall sent a letter to every GM offering his services. Not one replied. Major league GMs are afraid to send Marshall top-tier talent because the mechanics he teaches are a direct challenge to the traditional mechanics that baseball coaches have been teaching for the past 130 years. As Braves GM John Schuerholz explains,

"It's so far afield from the traditional, normal method... Not many people I've talked to would be comfortable embracing a concept that's so diametrically opposed to the teachings of baseball".

If baseball was to adopt Marshall's ideology they'd basically be indicting themselves for teaching inferior mechanics. In a recent conversation I had with Marshall, he shared with me his frustration from the fact that most pitching coaches have a very limited knowledge of biomechanics and science which creates a gap in communication, if not a total brain freeze.

"The minute I start talking to any pitching coach about the science their faces go blank," Marshall says, "But, when I give a lecture at any major university, I get a standing ovation".

Marshall makes no bones about what he thinks of baseball's power brokers. He thinks that the traditional mechanics that they teach pitchers actually cause most of the arm injuries.

"I got tired of appeasing the stupid... How long does a blond have to act like a ***** before she gets a date? These people (in organized baseball) are idiots. They don't know a **** thing. The thing is, they're powerful. They get the kids and can destroy them. And they do."

Evidence

If one looks around the majors today, it would be hard to argue with Marshall's contention that the traditional pitching mechanics that are taught contribute to and may cause most arm injuries. Currently, in the major leagues their are roughly 360 pitchers. If one were to look at the injury list, one would find that 73 pitchers or a little over 20% of major league pitchers are currently on the Disable List (DL) or day-to-day with elbow or shoulder injuries. This number does not include back, leg, rib, or other arm injuries. It also doesn't include the many minor leaguers that are suffering from arm injuries.

So are these injuries really inevitable? Or as Marshall insists, can 95% of them be prevented by learning his throwing mechanics? And if pitchers did adopt Marshall's mechanics could they still pitch as effectively? You'd think that at least one GM might want to give Marshall a shot to prove his ideas at the major league level. What would a GM like the Cubs' Jim Hendry really have to lose by sending some of his MASH patients like Mark Prior or Kerry Wood over to Marshall's school in Zephyrhills, Florida for a few months?

For the answers to these question and more insight into Dr. Mike Marshall's theories on pitching, tune into BASEBALL TALK w/Carl the Cabbie & Dugout Joe this Sunday, May 20th at 1:00 PM. If you have a question you'd like to ask Dr. Marshall you can call in between 1:00-2:00 at 646-478-4570. Just click  HERE to go listen to this week's show or any of our past shows. Also, if any MLBloggers would like to be a guest on our show to talk about and promote their blog, just e-mail us at baseballtalk@aol.com.

                                                                                                                                                  

                            Carl The Cabbie