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My Evaluation of ASMI's Biomechanical Analyses of Four of my Baseball PitchersDr. Mike Marshall -------------------------------------------------- Biomechanical Analysis of Dr. Mike Marshall’s Pitching Technique Methods Four pitchers taught by Dr. Mike Marshall were tested in the James R. Andrews Biomechanics Lab at the American Sports Medicine Institute. After warming up as wanted, each pitcher was tested pitching at full effort. Kinematic and kinetic data were then computed, using equations previously published by ASMI. A biomechanical evaluation is attached for each of the four subjects. In each report, the pitcher’s data for the maxline fastball, torque fastball, dropout, screwball and/or curve are compared to traditional fastball mechanics thrown by healthy, elite pitchers previously tested at ASMI. The hypothesis proposed was that pitching a Marshall style fastball can produce comparable ball velocity as a traditional fastball, but with less risk of injury to the shoulder and elbow. To test this hypothesis, the torque fastball data for Jeff Sparks, Joe Williams, and Mike Farrenkopf were grouped together and compared to traditional pitching data. Jason Schmeidel was not included, as he had less ball velocity than the other three subjects, and his kinematics did not match well the data of the other three. The torque fastball was used, as it was the fastest pitch thrown by the Marshall?style pitchers. The “torque group” was compared to two groups of subjects previously tested at ASMI – an elite group, and a matched group. The elite group was comprised of healthy professional and collegiate pitchers who threw at least 85 mph during testing. The matched group was made up of healthy pitchers with similar height, weight, and fastball velocity as the torque group. Results Kinematic and kinetic data for the torque group and elite group are compared in Table 1 below. “Low” indicates the mean minus one standard deviation (Mean?SD) for the elite pitchers, and “High” indicates the mean plus one standard deviation (Mean+SD) for the elite pitchers. A red “X” indicates that the mean value for the torque group was either below the Low or above the High value for the elite range. For reference, the “A, B, C,…” indicate where a parameter appears on the individual evaluations. The torque group produced significantly less ball velocity than the elite group. The height and weight of the torque group were within the elite group range. As expected, there were numerous kinematic differences between the torque and elite groups. 1. This included significantly less knee lift and shorter stride for the torque group. 2. The front foot landed “closed” (to the third base side, for a righty) for traditional pitching, but open for the torque group. 3. The torque group generated significantly less (and later) trunk rotational velocity, which seems consistent with the teaching of the style. 4. The torque group also generated significantly less external rotation of the throwing shoulder. 5. At the instant of ball release, the torque group had significantly less forward trunk tilt and more sideways trunk tilt than traditional pitchers. 6. Shoulder abduction was in the elite range. This shoulder abduction, coupled with greater sideways trunk tilt (towards the glove side), created a more over-the-top” release point for the torque fastball, compared to the elite pitchers. 7. Kinetic values for the torque group were within the normal ranges for the elite traditional pitchers. (Because, in my report, “Does the American Sports Medicine Institute Increase or Decrease Pitching Injuries,” I dispute the merit of the forty-one questions that ASMI uses to biomechanically analyze the baseball pitching motion, I have removed the tables from this report.) Discussion The data did not support the hypothesis that the Marshall style of pitching produces less risk of injury, but with comparable ball velocity as traditional pitching. While the current study provides no direct measurement of injury risk, the biomechanical data do provide shoulder and elbow kinetic parameters. Cadaveric and mathematical modeling have linked total joint force and torque to loads on individual tissues, like rotator cuff tendons and ulnar collateral ligament. Thus, elbow varus torque coupled with elbow flexion has been correlated with tension in the UCL. 1. Shoulder internal rotation torque coupled with shoulder external rotation angle has been correlated with SLAP tears and internal impingement of the infraspinatus in the shoulder capsule. 2. Shoulder proximal force has been linked to rotator cuff tensile tears and SLAP tears. 3. Compared to elite traditional pitchers, the torque fastball pitchers produced similar shoulder and elbow torques, but significantly less ball velocity. 4. Compared to a matched traditional group, the torque fastball group produced similar ball velocity, but required significantly greater shoulder and elbow force and torque. Accuracy was also an issue. Collectively, the three skilled Marshall style pitchers threw only one?third (9 out of 27) of their maxline fastballs for strikes, and about one-fourth (5 out of 21) of their torque fastballs for strikes. While the current study does provide some insight into the performance and safety about various styles of pitching, future research would also be helpful. Biomechanical testing of a larger sample of Marshall style pitchers would be valuable, as would long?term outcomes of performance and injury compared between Marshall?style and traditional pitchers. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, June 30, 2008 Dear Glenn, On Saturday, after practice, my guys and I took some time to go over the materials that you sent us. It was a great teaching opportunity and they learned what they need to improve to better perform my baseball pitching motion. To begin my discussion, I will start with the statement of Methods, Results and Discussion that you sent to me. In paragraph three, you wrote that the hypothesis proposed was that “Pitching a Marshall-style fastball can produce comparable ball velocity as a traditional fastball, but with less risk of injury to the shoulder and elbow.” The only way that we could research this hypothesis is to start with at least twenty-five matched pairs of baseball pitchers, decided by a pre-test of agreed upon variables, have me train one-half and ‘traditional’ baseball pitching coaches train the other half and when I and the other pitching coaches agree that our students appropriately represent what we teach, post-test them for the training effect on their release velocity. Obviously, we did not do this. What we did was a simple comparison of the force application technique of my baseball pitching motion with the ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers you have already evaluated. Actually, you compared my baseball pitchers with two groups. The first group you called Elite. The second group you called Matched. Does this mean that you believe that the Elite group performs the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion better than the Matched group? From what I can determine, the only difference between the Elite and Matched groups is their release velocity. Does this mean that you believe that because, in your research lab, the Elite group threw 85 to 89 mph and the Matched group threw 74 to 77 mph that the Elite group performs the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion better? From my years of radar gunning my baseball pitchers, I have found that what release velocity they achieve when they throw in tennis shoes off Astroturf mounds in non-competitive game situations is about ten miles per hour slower than in spikes, off dirt mounds in competitive game situations. Add to that that my guys were in the middle of very intensive training cycles, which means that they are in a physiological regression, and they will add five to eight miles per hour more to their release velocities. For example, the Jeff Sparks who averaged a 75 mile per hour Maxline Fastball in your lab regularly threw 88 to 92 mile per hour Maxline Fastballs in competition, with a high of 96 miles per hour. In addition, not all baseball pitchers have the genetics to throw 95 mph fastballs. Therefore, to call those who throw 95 mph “Elite” is misleading. It would be better to call them, “Release Velocity Genetically Gifted." My definition of “Elite” would be that baseball pitchers have the ability to throw a wide variety of high-quality pitches that baseball batters cannot hit. Because my guys averaged higher release velocities with their Torque Fastball than with their Maxline Fastball, it appears as though you chose to compare the force application technique that my baseball pitchers use when they throw my Torque Fastball, rather than the force application technique when they throw my Maxline Fastball. As the biomechanical analysis data on the reports show, to throw my Maxline and Torque Fastballs, I teach my baseball pitchers to throw with two completely different force application techniques. As we mentioned during the testing, your portable baseball pitching mound is much more narrow that real baseball pitching mounds. Therefore, my baseball pitchers had a very difficult time trying to throw their Maxline pitches. In fact, to be able to throw their Maxline pitches at all, to get the room that they need to step to the glove side of their body, they had to stand on the opposite side of pitching rubber. When they throw off the other side of the pitching rubber, in essence, they move home plate 20 inches to their glove side. This means that they cannot throw their pitches as they want and throw strikes. Even with this adjustment, they said that they were still not able to step as far to the glove side of the mound as they usually do. For example, on his Maxline Fastball, Jeff drop stepped only seventeen inches. If you look at the DVD of Jeff that I sent you, then you will see that he drop steps significantly farther than seventeen inches. All of this means that to use release velocity as the determinant of superior force application technique has too many unknown confounding variables associated with it. However, some of the other data is very enlightening. Therefore, at this time, I would like to discuss the individual reports. However, to keep this discussion concise, I will focus on Jeff Sparks’ report. Q1: Are you balanced when your knee has reached its maximum height? The report did not answer this question. Because I teach my baseball pitchers that, to lift their glove foot off the ground does absolutely nothing to increase the release velocity of their pitches, but does decrease stability, except as is necessary to step forward with their glove foot, my baseball pitchers do not raise their glove foot off the ground. This is one way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. I noticed on the wall of your lab that you have a photograph of a ‘traditional’ baseball pitcher in the highly raised glove foot ‘balance’ position with the lower leg of his glove leg highlighted as a contributor to the Kinetic Chain of the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. For the glove foreleg to contribute to the ‘Baseball Pitching Kinetic Chain,’ its action must directly contribute force that moves the baseball toward home plate. However, when the glove foot of ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers contacts the ground, the baseball is not moving toward home plate at all. However, when the glove foot contacts the ground of my baseball pitchers contact the ground, the baseball is moving toward home plate. Therefore, in my baseball pitching motion, the glove foreleg does contribute to the Baseball Pitching Kinetic Chain.’ This is a second way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q2: Are your hands in front of your chest at this point? The report answered, yes. But, that answer is not true. Instead, to start his baseball pitching motion, the first thing that Jeff does is to start the pendulum swing of his pitching arm straight backward toward second base. This is a third way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q3: Do your hands break apart as your stride knee starts to move down and towards home plate? The report answered, yes. But, this answer is also not true. Instead, I teach my baseball pitchers to break their hands before they start to lift their glove foot off the ground. The reason why, with my Maxline pitches, that I teach my baseball pitchers to pendulum swing their pitching arm to driveline height to arrive at the same time that their glove foot contacts the ground is to prevent injuries to the front of their pitching shoulder. This is fourth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q4: Do both arms smoothly break down, swing apart and then up? The report answered, yes. Unfortunately, the report does not say anything about how baseball pitchers take their pitching arm backward or in what direction they take their pitching arm back. Therefore, I would add two questions. 01. When baseball pitchers take the baseball out of their glove, do they have their pitching hand on top of or under the baseball? If baseball pitchers take the baseball out of their glove with their pitching hand on top of the baseball, then they cannot smoothly pendulum swing their pitching hand downward, backward and upward to driveline height. Instead, they will swing their pitching hand downward and backward until their pitching upper arm reaches shoulder height and cannot go any farther. At this point, to move their pitching hand to driveline height, they raise their pitching hand vertically upward. I call this action, ‘Late Pitching Forearm Turnover.’ Unfortunately, at some point during ‘Late Pitching Forearm Turnover,’ their glove foot contacts the ground and they start to forwardly rotate their pitching upper arm. With their pitching elbow moving forward and their pitching forearm, wrist, hand, fingers and baseball moving upward and backward, at some point, their pitching forearm, wrist, hand, fingers and baseball have to stop moving backward and downward. I call this point, ‘Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce,’ “Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce’ eventually ruptures the Ulnar Collateral Ligament. This is a fifth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. 02. How many degrees to the pitching arm side or to the glove arm side of second base do baseball pitchers point their pitching upper arm? ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers typically point their pitching upper arm well beyond second base. Therefore, to return the baseball to their pitching arm side of their body, they have to move the baseball sideways. This sideways force slings the pitching forearm, wrist, hand, fingers and baseball laterally away from their pitching shoulder. I call this action, ‘Pitching Forearm Flyout.’ This is a sixth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. 03. How much side-to-side movement do baseball pitchers move the baseball? Sir Isaac Newton’s’ first law of motion, the law of inertia, says that, unless operated on by external forces, objects remain at rest or in straight line motion. Therefore, baseball pitchers should apply force straight toward home plate. This is a seventh way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q5: Is your stride length slightly less than your height? The report says that, on all four types of pitches Jeff threw, he stepped forward 63% of his standing height. The Elite baseball pitchers strided forward between 77-87 percent of their standing height. Therefore, how short that I teach my baseball pitchers to step forward clearly differentiates my baseball pitchers from ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers. Because I believe that the velocity of the center of mass of the body adds to the release velocity that they achieve, I teach my baseball pitchers to step forward at a length that enables them to keep the center of mass of their body moving forward until their pitching foot lands. This is an eighth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. In addition, in addition to stepping shorter, I teach my baseball pitchers: 01. to point their glove foot straight forward, which eliminates injuries to both side of their pitching knee, 02. to point their hips straight toward second base, which eliminates injuries to the pitching hip and 03. to stand tall and rotate, which eliminates injuries to their lower back. These are more the ninth, tenth and eleventh ways in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. At this point, I recommend that this biomechanical analysis add another question. Does the rate of acceleration continue to increase throughout the acceleration phase? In 1971, to biomechanically analyze my baseball pitching motion, I used three high-speed cameras. In Chapter Thirty: High-Speed Film Study of my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book, I have provided the methods, results and conclusions of that study. When, I evaluated the rate of acceleration throughout the driveline, I found that, in the final moments before release, my rate of acceleration started to decrease. I determined that this decrease in the rate of acceleration resulted from the excessive stride length. Excessive stride length prevents the center of mass from continuing to move forward. Therefore, baseball pitchers cannot continue to increase their rates of acceleration. To correct this problem, instead of reverse rotating over their pitching foot, I now teach my baseball pitchers to stand tall and forwardly rotate over their glove foot. This is a twelfth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q6: Is your lead knee properly bent at foot contact? The report says that Jeff bends his lead knee at 42 degrees, which is within the normal range for ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers. Unfortunately, to conclude that Jeff uses his glove leg in the same way as ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers would be incorrect. To correctly understand how my baseball pitchers and ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers use their glove leg, I recommend that the biomechanical analysis measure the angle of the glove foreleg relative to the ground, not the glove upper leg. A careful examination of the angle of Jeff’s foreleg relative to the ground shows that his foreleg is at about a 90 degree angle to the ground. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers have their glove foreleg angled toward home plate. Therefore, with their glove foreleg, they apply force toward home plate. Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion, the law of reaction, says that for every action force that athletes generate, they apply an equal and oppositely-directed reaction forces. Therefore, to accelerate the baseball toward home plate with their pitching arm with greater force, baseball pitchers must apply more force toward second base with their pitching leg, glove arm and glove leg. Therefore, I teach my baseball pitchers to use their glove leg to apply force toward second base. Unfortunately, rather than driving forward off his glove foot, Jeff uses his glove foot to pull his body forward. When he learns how to drive forward off his glove foot, he will move the center of mass of his body farther forward and faster. This is a thirteenth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q7: Do you step slightly across your body? This question wants to know how far from the line straight forward from where baseball pitchers put their pitching foot on the pitching rubber do baseball pitchers land with their glove foot. The report says that Jeff ranged from 4 inches for my Torque Fastball to 17 inches on my Maxline Fastball to the glove arm side of that line. This means that, with my Maxline force application technique, I teach my baseball pitchers to step open. By moving the center of mass of his body seventeen inches to the glove side of the pitching rubber, Jeff releases his pitches seventeen inches to the glove side of home plate. This means that he can drive the baseball to the pitching arm side of his body. The report says that Elite baseball pitchers stride 5-13 inches to the pitching arm side of that line. This means that ‘traditional’ my baseball pitchers stride closed. By striding 5-13 inches to the pitching arm side of where their pitching foot left the pitching rubber, to throw the baseball into the strike zone, ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers have to pull the baseball 5-13 inches toward their glove side plus the distance to their pitching arm side that they release their pitches. This is an injurious flaw that unnecessarily stresses the front of their pitching shoulder and decreases release consistency. This is a fourteenth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q8: Does your stride foot land with toes pointing in? The report says that, with my Maxline pitches, Jeff pointed his glove foot toes between 4-6 degrees outward (open). This enables my baseball pitchers to smoothly forwardly rotate their hips and shoulders over their glove foot. The report says that, with my Torque Fastball, Jeff pointed his glove foot toes 7 degrees inward (closed). This enables Jeff to land on his glove heel, roll forward over the length of his glove foot and, when he raises up on his glove toes, to turn (torque) his driveline toward the glove side of home plate. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers point the stride foot toes 7-26 degrees inward (closed). When ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers stride closed and point their glove foot toes closed, they prevent their bent forward upper body from any more forward hip and shoulder rotation. This is a fifteenth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q9: Is your pelvis slightly open? The report says that, when Jeff throws my Maxline Fastball and Maxline True Screwball, he opens his hips 20 degrees. However, when he throws my Torque Fastball and Maxline Pronation Curve, he closes his hips 13-16 degrees, respectively. This Maxline Pronation Curve value makes no sense. Q10: Is your upper trunk still rotated slightly closed? The report says that, when Jeff throws my Maxline Fastball, Torque Fastball and Maxline True Screwball, he closes his upper trunk closed 46 degrees. However, when he throws my Maxline Pronation Curve, he opens his upper trunk 47 degrees. This Maxline Pronation Curve value makes no sense. Q11: Are your shoulders level? The photograph shows that the computer program measured the line through the shoulders from horizontal. The report says that Jeff tilts the line through his shoulders downward toward second base at 11 degrees. Because the range that Elite baseball pitchers tilt the line through his shoulders from minus 4 degrees, which means forward toward home plate to 12 degrees, which means downward toward second base. Q12: Is your upper arm even with your shoulders? The photograph shows hat the computer program measured the line through the pitching upper arm from the line from the Sternal Notch through the Pubic Symphysis. I would prefer that the computer program measured the relationship between the line through the longitudinal axis of the pitching upper arm and the line through the shoulders. The report says that Jeff’s pitching upper arm angle ranges from 98-103 degrees. Unfortunately, the line from the Sternal Notch through the Pubic Symphysis appears to be left of his belly button. Nevertheless, Jeff clearly does not allow his pitching elbow to move below the line through his shoulders. Q13: Is your elbow properly flexed? I teach my baseball pitchers to keep their pitching hand the full length of their pitching forearm behind their pitching elbow. However, before he raises his pitching elbow to driveline height, Jeff likes to bend his pitching elbow. I consider this action a mechanical flaw that decreases the length of his driveline and causes his pitching forearm to ‘loop’ backward and outward. Nevertheless, when compared to the Elite baseball pitchers, who flex their pitching elbow from 74- 107 degrees, Jeff only flexed his pitching elbow 46 degrees. Of my four baseball pitchers, Jason Schmeidel grabs the least. With my Maxline Fastball, he flexed his pitching elbow only twenty-nine degrees. This is a sixteenth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q14: Is your forearm rotated to a semi-cocked position? I have no idea what a semi-cocked position means. However, above the chart, the report says, “Throwing Shoulder External Rotation.” Therefore, I believe that the computer program measures how many degrees of outward rotation Jeff outwardly rotated the Humerus bone of his pitching upper arm. Unfortunately, the report does not clarify how the computer program measures the degrees of outward rotation of the pitching upper arm. Because the medial epicondyle of his pitching upper arm continues to face horizontally away from his body, I do not believe that Jeff has outwardly rotated his pitching upper arm at all. That he has flexed his pitching elbow does not change the rotational position of his pitching upper arm. Nevertheless, the report says that Jeff outwardly rotated his pitching upper arm from 78-82 degrees. I cannot see any value in this measurement. Q15: How much does your elbow go behind your back? I believe that this question addresses a serious injurious flaw that some baseball pitching gurus refer to as, ‘Scapula Loading.’ When baseball pitchers move their pitching elbow behind their acromial line, they maximally lengthen the tendon of the Subscapularis muscle and push the head of the Humerus bone against the anterior aspect of the Labrum. The report says that Jeff took his pitching elbow minus 6 degrees behind his back, which means that he was 6 degrees in front of his acromial line. The report says that Elite baseball pitchers take their pitching elbow 13-34 degrees behind their back, which means 13-34 degrees behind the acromial line. This means that the Elite baseball pitchers place the attachment of their Subscapularis muscle and their Labrum in severe jeopardy. This is a seventeenth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. The Biomechanical Analysis of Dr. Mike Marshall’s Pitching Technique states that the Elite Group included healthy professional and collegiate pitchers who threw at least 85 mph during testing at your lab. With the numerous injurious flaws that the report shows that the Elite Group has, I have to question whether these baseball pitchers have remained healthy. Because, along with a well-known orthopedic surgeon, I believe that it is not a question of whether these Elite ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers will suffer injuries, it is a question of when. This is an eighteenth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q16: How fast does your pelvis rotate? Before the biomechanical analysis asks this question, I have two questions that the report should ask first. 01. How far in front of or beyond second base did the pitcher reverse rotate his hips? I teach my baseball pitchers to pendulum swing their pitching arm straight back toward second base and, in so doing, passively reverse rotate their hips, such that the line through the head of the Femur bones point straight at second base. Therefore, when my baseball pitchers forwardly rotate their hips, they only generate force toward home plate. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers actively reverse rotate their hips over their pitching foot well beyond second base, such that the line through the head of their Femur bone points beyond second base. Therefore, when ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers forwardly rotate their hips, they mostly generate force to the pitching arm side of their body. This is a nineteenth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. 02. How far did the pitcher forwardly rotate his hips? Whereas, at release, my baseball pitchers have forwardly rotate their hips beyond perpendicular to the driveline to home plate, ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers forwardly rotate their hips to less than forty-five degrees behind perpendicular to the driveline to home plate. This is a twentieth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘trditional’ baseball pitching motion. The report says that, except for the 504 degrees per second that he rotated his pelvis (hips) when he threw my Maxline Pronation Curve, Jeff forwardly rotated his pelvis from 531 degrees per second with my Maxline Fastball to 570 degrees per second with my Torque Fastball. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers forwardly rotate their hips between 522 and 675 degrees per second. However, because the majority of the forward hip rotation is sideways to their pitching arm side, their hip rotation adds little to the force toward home plate. Obviously, because my Maxline body action considerably opens the hips of my baseball pitchers before they start, for them to forwardly rotate their hips as much as those who start from well beyond second base is not possible. This is a twenty-first way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q17: When does the pelvis rotate? The report says that Jeff forwardly rotates his pelvis (hips) 70 percent of the way from his glove foot landing to when he released his pitches with my Maxline True Screwball and Maxline Pronation Curve and 51 and 64 percent, respectively with my Torque and Maxline Fastballs. This means that my baseball pitchers continue to forwardly rotate their hips late in their driveline. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers forwardly rotate their pelvis (hips) at 17-41 percent of the way between foot contact and baseball release. This means that they stop their hips from forwardly rotating very early in the driveline. The reason why my baseball pitchers continue to forwardly rotate their hips to later in their driveline is because I teach them to forwardly rotate over their glove foot, rather than reverse rotating over their pitching foot like ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers do. When Jeff learns to push off his glove foot, rather than pull his glove foot backward, he should extend the forward rotation of his hips to even closer to release. This is a twenty-second way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q18: How fast does your upper trunk rotate? The report says that Jeff rotated his upper trunk from his low at 922 degrees per second with my Maxline True Screwball to a high of 978 degrees per second with my Maxline Fastball. However, all of the forward rotation of their upper trunk and shoulders contributes to the force toward home plate that accelerates the baseball. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers forwardly rotate their upper trunk between 1,075-1,223 degrees per second. However, most of their forward upper trunk rotation is to the pitching arm side of their body. This is a twenty-third way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q19: Does your upper trunk rotate slightly after your pelvis rotates? The report said that, whereas, when Jeff threw my Maxline and Torque Fastballs, he forwardly rotated his pelvis (hips) at 70 percent of the way along the driveline, he forwardly rotates his upper trunk (shoulders) at 74-77 percent of the way along the driveline. This means that, with my Maxline and Torque Fastballs, rather than separate the forward rotation of their hips and shoulders, my baseball pitchers forwardly rotate their hips and shoulders together. Not only does this not unnecessarily stress their rotational muscles, but it also enables all rotational muscles to work in concert. The report says that, whereas the Elite baseball pitchers forwardly rotated their pelvis (hips) at 17-41 percent, they forwardly rotate their upper trunk (shoulders) at 39-58 percent of the way along the driveline. This is a twenty-fourth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q20: Does your trunk lean forward with your chest causing your back to arch? The report answered, No. I teach my baseball pitchers to stand tall and vertically rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm. Because all athletes can vertically rotate our body much faster than they can bend forward at their waist, my baseball pitchers can achieve higher rotational velocities than ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers can bend forward. This is a twenty-fifth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q21: How far back does your arm rotate? I am not sure what this question means. However, above the chart, the report says, “Throwing Shoulder Maximum External Rotation.” From this, I believe that the computer program is trying to determine the maximum degrees of outward rotation Jeff rotated the Humerus bone of his pitching upper arm. Unfortunately, the report does not clarify how the computer program measures this variable. The report says that, for the four pitches, Jeff outwardly rotated the Humerus bone of his pitching upper arm between 164-167 degrees. However, because, rather than to outwardly rotate their pitching upper arm, I teach my baseball pitchers to raise their pitching upper arm to vertical, Jeff only vertically raised his pitching elbow to driveline height. Therefore, I do not believe that Jeff has outwardly rotated his pitching upper arm at all. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers outwardly rotate their pitching upper arms from 173-191 degrees. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers have ‘Late Pitching Forearm Turnover,’ which causes ‘Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce,’ they clearly reverse rotate their pitching upper arm. This is a twenty-sixth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q22: Does your elbow get only slightly in front of your trunk? I am not sure what the computer program measures when it determines how far in front of their trunk baseball pitchers have their pitching elbow. I would prefer that they had measured how far in front of their acromial line baseball pitchers have their pitching elbow. The report says that Jeff has his pitching elbow 16-17 degrees in front of his trunk. I teach my baseball pitchers to vertically raise their pitching upper arm to driveline height. I believe that this action ‘locks’ their pitching upper arm with their shoulder. As a result, when they start to forwardly rotate their shoulders, their pitching upper arm always stays in front of their trunk. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers have their pitching elbow 9-22 degrees in front of their trunk. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers bend forward at their waist. Therefore, they cannot continue to forwardly rotate their shoulders beyond perpendicular to the driveline. As a result, their pitching upper arm moves farther and farther in front of their trunk. This is a twenty-seventh way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. I cannot see any value in this measurement. Q23: What is the maximum amount that your elbow bends? The report says that, Jeff flexed his pitching elbow 126-127 degrees with all pitches. However, I do not believe that Jeff flexed his pitching elbow at all. Instead, I believe that, when Jeff vertically raised his pitching elbow to driveline height, his pitching forearm moved downwardly as a counter to the upward movement of his pitching elbow without any muscle action. I believe that his pitching forearm is at the same height as it was before the upward and forward movement of the pitching elbow. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers flexed their pitching elbow 88-116 degrees. This is a twenty-eighth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q24: What is the maximum speed is your arm rotating forward at the shoulder? The report says that Jeff inwardly rotates his pitching upper arm from a low of 7,387 degrees per second with my Torque Fastball to a high of 7,884 degrees per second with my Maxline Pronation Curve. However, because I have little confidence that the maximum inward rotation of the pitching arm value that the computer program calculated, I have little confidence in these values. The report says that Elite baseball pitchers inwardly rotated their pitching arm 6,558-8,536 degrees per second. Baseball pitchers can only inwardly rotate the Humerus bone of their pitching upper arm 180 degrees. The entirety of the driveline takes 0.2 seconds. If the pitching upper arm actually inwardly rotates at 7,200 degrees per second, it would revolve 180 degrees forty times in that second. To revolve forty times in a second, it would have to take only 0.005 seconds per revolution. Therefore, I question the validity of these values. Q25: What is the maximum speed of straightening out your elbow? The report says that Jeff straightens his pitching elbow at 2,386-2,551 degrees per second. Because I teach my baseball pitchers to powerfully pronate the releases of all pitches, they actually use their Triceps Brachii muscle to extend their pitching elbow. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers straighten their pitching elbow at 2.146-2.680 degrees per second. However, in reality, ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers do not extend their pitching elbow at all. Instead, to prevent their pitching forearm from locking out, they eccentrically contract their Brachialis muscle. This is a twenty-ninth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Another important measurement that this biomechanical analysis does not provide is the angle of the pitching forearm at release. To be able to throw baseball pitches that move equally well to both sides of home plate, baseball pitchers need to have their pitching forearm nearly vertical at release. This is a thirtieth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q26: When do you reach the maximum speed of straightening out your elbow? I am not sure what this question means. Above the chart, the report says, “% time of Maximum Extension Angular Velocity.” However, the elbow joint does not apply angular force. When baseball pitchers extend their pitching elbow, they move their Ulna bone of their pitching forearm moves in a straight line away from the Humerus bone of their pitching upper arm. Therefore, this question does not make sense. The report says that Jeff extended his pitching elbow at maximum velocity when it was 93-94 percent of the way between foot contact and baseball release. However, because I teach my baseball pitchers to powerfully pronate the releases of all pitches; my baseball pitchers use their Triceps Brachii muscle to extend their pitching elbow. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers extended their pitching elbow at maximum velocity when it was 89-94 percent of the way between foot contact and baseball release. However, during the acceleration phase of the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion, baseball pitchers do not extend their pitching elbow at all. Instead, until the very end of when they throw non-breaking balls and never when they throw breaking balls, they use their Brachialis muscle to eccentrically prevent the bones on the back of their elbow from slamming together. This is a thirty-first way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q27: How much does your pelvis slow down? The report says that Jeff decelerates his pelvis at 15-17 meters per second squared. I teach my baseball pitchers to forwardly rotate their hips and shoulders over their glove foot until their pitching foot lands. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers decelerate their pelvis at 22-38 meters per second squared. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers stride so far that they have to bend forward at their waist. Therefore, they cannot continue to forwardly rotate their hips. This is a thirty-second way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. I cannot see any value in this measurement. Q28: When does your pelvis slow down? The report says that Jeff slows his pelvis (hip) from 27% with my Maxline Pronation Curve to 58% with my Torque Fastball between when their glove foot lands to when he maximally outwardly rotates his pitching upper arm. I teach my baseball pitchers to start the forward rotation of their hips over their glove foot. Therefore, when they have their pitching arm ready to inwardly rotate, they have not yet started to forwardly rotate their hips. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers slow their pelvis (hips) from 22-72 percent between when their glove foot lands to when of the time between their glove foot landing and when they maximally outwardly rotate their pitching upper arm. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers forwardly rotate their hips over their pitching leg. Therefore, between when their glove foot lands and when they maximally outwardly rotate their pitching upper arm is when they complete all of their hip rotation. This is a thirty-third way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. I cannot see any value in this measurement. Q29: What is the angle between your trunk and your front thigh? The report says that Jeff’s angle between his trunk and his front thigh varies from 109-122 degrees. I teach my baseball pitchers to stand tall and forwardly rotate their hips and shoulders over their glove foot. Therefore, at release, they should stand vertically upward. The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers’ angle between their trunk and their front thigh varies from 89-109 degrees. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers bend forward at their waist. At release, they have just started to bend forward. This is a thirty-fourth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. I cannot see any value in this measurement. Q30: Is your lead knee slightly flexed at ball release? The report says that, at release, Jeff flexes his glove knee between 9-13 degrees. When I look at the photograph that supposedly shows the moment when the computer program measures this variable, I see that Jeff has completely extended his glove knee. The report says that, at release, the Elite baseball pitchers flex his glove knee between 20-46 degrees. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers stride so far that they completely stop the center of mass of their body before they release their pitches. Therefore, they are extending their glove knee, not flexing it. This is a thirty-fifth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. I cannot see any value in this measurement. Q31: How much does your lead knee extend from foot contact to ball release? The report says that, between when his glove foot lands and when he releases the baseball, Jeff extends his glove knee from 28-32 degrees. I teach my baseball pitchers to land with their glove knee bent and completely extend his glove knee at release. The report says that, between when their glove foot lands and when they release their pitches, Elite baseball pitchers extend their glove knee from 0-21 degrees. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers push toward home plate with their glove foot. Therefore, at release, they basically keep their glove knee at the same angle. This is a thirty-sixth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. I cannot see any value in this measurement. Q33: Is your glove tucked at ball release? The report says, Yes. I teach my baseball pitchers to point their glove arm toward home plate and pull it straight backward toward second base. Therefore, at release, my baseball pitchers tuck their glove into their glove shoulder. The report does not say whether the Elite baseball pitchers tuck their glove into their shoulder at release. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers point their glove arm well behind pitching arm side batters. Therefore, when they pull their glove arm backward, they cannot tuck their glove into their glove shoulder. This is a thirty-seventh way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q34: Is your trunk tilted forward at ball release? The report says that, at release, Jeff tilts his trunk forward between 10 degrees with my Maxline True Screwball and 26 degrees with my Torque Fastball. With my Maxline pitches, I teach my baseball pitchers to stand tall and rotate. With my Torque pitches, I teach my baseball pitchers to run forward over their glove foot. Therefore, when they throw my Torque pitches, they will tilt their trunk forward. The report says that, at release, the Elite baseball pitchers tilt their trunk forward between 19-28 degrees. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers bend forward at their waist. Therefore, at release, they have just started to bend forward. This is a thirty-eighth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q35: Is your trunk tilted sideways at ball release? The report says that, at release, Jeff tilted his trunk sideways between 38 degrees with my Maxline True Screwball and 45 degrees with my Maxline Fastball. To get their pitching forearm vertical, I teach my baseball pitchers to lean the line across the top of their shoulders to 60 degrees with my Maxline pitches and 30-45 degrees with my Torque pitches. From the photograph that shows how the computer program measured this variable, it appears that how far baseball pitchers tilt their trunk differs from how far they tilt the line across the top of their shoulders. Nevertheless, I seriously doubt that Jeff tilted his trunk only 38 degrees with my Maxline True Screwball. The report says that, at release, the Elite baseball pitchers tilt their trunk sideways between 14 and 31 degrees. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers bend forward at their waist. Therefore, they cannot tilt their trunk sideways. This is a thirty-ninth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q36: Is your elbow slightly above your shoulder line at ball release? The report says that, at release, Jeff has his pitching elbow above his shoulder line from 93 degrees with my Maxline True Screwball and Maxline Pronation Curve and 94 and 95 degrees, respectively, with my Maxline and Torque Fastballs. I teach my baseball pitchers to raise their pitching upper arm to as vertical as possible. Therefore, they are able to have their pitching elbow above their shoulder height. The report says that, at release, the Elite baseball pitchers have their pitching elbow between 83 and 103 degrees relative to their shoulder line. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers sling their pitching arm laterally away from their body. Therefore, they cannot raise their pitching upper arm above the line across the top of their shoulders. This is a fortieth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q37: Does your elbow open to almost full extension at ball release? The report says that, at release, Jeff flexes his pitching elbow from 17 degrees with my Maxline Pronation Curve to 21 degrees with my Maxline Fastball. I teach my baseball pitchers to powerfully pronate the releases of all pitchers. Therefore, they use their Pronator Teres muscle throughout the entire length of their driveline to flex their pitching elbow. The report says that, at release, the Elite baseball pitchers flex their pitching elbow from 19-26 degrees. When they throw non-fastballs, ‘traditional’ baseball pitchers use their Pronator Teres muscle on during the final ten or so degrees of the full extension of their pitching elbow. Therefore, unless the Elite baseball pitchers have lost 19-26 degrees of the elbow extension range of motion in their pitching elbow, I seriously doubt these measurements. This is a forty-first way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Because Q37 appears to be the last question that discussed positions of the pitching arm and body at ball release, I have some other questions that I consider critical to the baseball pitching motion. 01. At release, what is the angle of the pitching forearm relative to vertical? 02. At release, where do baseball pitchers release their pitchers relative to a line from the middle of the pitching rubber to the middle of home plate? 03. At what height above the pitching rubber do baseball pitchers release their pitches relative to their standing height? 04. How far in front of the front edge of the pitching rubber do baseball pitchers release their pitches relative to their standing height? 05. What is the length of the driveline over which baseball pitchers applied force toward home plate? 06. At release, at what angle did baseball pitchers have their pitching upper arm? 07. Relative to the front edge of the pitching rubber, where did the baseball pitchers first start to move the baseball toward home plate? 08. After the baseball started toward home plate, did the baseball come to a complete stop? 09. At what vertical angle did the baseball pitchers drive the baseball through the last half of the driveline? 10. At what horizontal angle did the baseball pitchers drive the baseball through the last half of the driveline? Q38: Does your trunk become approximately horizontal? The report says that Jeff bends his trunk forward from 17 degrees with my Maxline True Screwball to 35 degrees with my Torque Fastball. With my Maxline pitches, I teach my baseball pitchers to stand tall and rotate. With my Torque pitches, I teach my baseball pitchers to run forward over their glove foot. Therefore, when they throw my Torque pitches, they will bend their trunk forward. The correct answer to this question is, ‘No.’ The report says that the Elite baseball pitchers bend their trunk forward between 40-57 degrees. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers bend forward at their waist. Therefore, unless they raise their pitching leg upward behind their body, they cannot make their trunk horizontal. This is a forty-second way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q39: Does your front knee straighten after release? The report says that, after release, Jeff straightens his glove knee from 2 degrees with my Torque Fastball to 5 degrees with my Maxline Pronation Curve. I teach my baseball pitchers to reach as high as they can at release. Therefore, I expect my baseball pitchers to completely straighten their glove knee. The report says that, after release, the Elite baseball pitchers straighten their glove knee 11-36 degrees. ‘Traditional’ baseball pitchers stride so far that the angle between their glove foreleg and the ground enables them to considerably straighten their glove knee. This is a forty-third way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q40: Does the back of your shoulder appear? The report says, Yes. I teach my baseball pitchers to stand tall and forwardly rotate their hips and shoulder over their glove foot until their pitching foot lands in line with their glove foot. Therefore, when their pitching foot lands, their entire back shoulder faces toward home plate. The report does not tell us whether the Elite baseball pitchers show the back of their pitching shoulder to home plate. This is a forty-fourth way in which my baseball pitching motion completely differs from the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. Q41: Do you leave yourself in a balanced position? The report says, No. I teach my baseball pitchers to stop the forward movement of the center of mass of their body with their pitching foot in line with their glove foot. I consider this position the safest and best fielding position for all baseball pitchers. The report did not describe a balanced position or whether the Elite baseball pitchers assume this position. Now that the report has finished all its questions, I have some more data that I would like to see. 01. What is the extension range of motion of their pitching elbow? 02. What is the flexion range of motion of their pitching elbow? 03. What is the toward-home-plate acceleration graph? 04. I would like to see, from out of the glove to release: a. A side view streaming of the path of the baseball. b. A rear view streaming of the path of the baseball. c. An overhead view streaming of the path of the baseball. 05. The pathway of the baseball from release to catcher’s mitt or target. 06. For those baseball pitchers with ‘Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce,’ I would like to know the velocity at which the pitching forearm bounced. That is all I can think of, for now. Sincerely, Mike P.S.: Your biomechanical lab has amazing capabilities. I believe that, with the expanded information that I discussed, we would be able to show baseball pitchers the mechanical changes that they have to make to avoid all pitching injuries. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Tuesday, July 1, 2008, I received the following email from Dr. Fleisig. Mike, Thanks for all these thoughts. I have printed this whole thing out and my staff and I will review it – most likely after the July 4th holiday. I am excited to see the depth of your reply, and look forward to continuing our conversation soon. Glenn ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Tuesday, July 1, 2008, I sent the following email to Dr. Fleisig. We earned our doctoral degrees to help those in need. I believe that, if, together, we cannot find the way to eliminate pitching injuries, then it will not be done. We have to do it. Sincerely, Mike ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Friday, July 11, 2008, I received the following email from Dr. Fleisig. Mike, We have read through your comments. At this point, we have calculated the kinematics and kinetics of your pitching techniques like never before possible. These data have provided some answers, and not surprisingly led to some new questions. The results are very interesting, and getting to know you and your athletes better has been a pleasure. However, our efforts at ASMI are now being pulled in other directions towards other projects, so we don’t foresee pursuing further biomechanical analysis on your pitching techniques. While we will not be able to do further biomechanical analysis, I will always welcome the opportunity to discuss biomechanics with you. Sincerely, Glenn ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Friday, July 11, 2008, I sent the following email to Dr. Fleisig. Dear Glenn, I am not interested in further biomechanical analyses of my baseball pitching motion. I am only interested in eliminating pitching injuries. That is the only reason why I suggested that we start our ‘Let’s work together’ project by comparing how I teach baseball pitchers to apply force with the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion. From my analysis of how you evaluate baseball pitchers, I believe that I have made it clear that you do not measure what is necessary to enable baseball pitchers to eliminate pitching injuries. When I wrote, “Your biomechanical lab has amazing capabilities, I believe that, with the expanded information that I discussed, we would be able to show baseball pitchers the mechanical changes that they have to make to avoid all pitching injuries,” I believe that we can accomplish that goal. However, if you are no longer interested in working together, then we will have to continue to work separately. I am disappointed. If you change your mind, please call again. Sincerely, Mike ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At this point, I decided that I needed to do a full evaluation of the forty-one questions that the American Sports Medicine Institute uses to biomechanically analyze the baseball pitching motion. When I finished, I sent a copy to Dr. Fleisig and he kindly made valuable corrections that I immediately included. Next, I wrote my comments on what each of the forty-one questions evaluated and whether that information helped baseball pitchers to eliminate pitching injuries. I sent a copy to Dr. Fleisig for his response. Unfortunately, rather than take my work as constructive criticism, Dr. Fleisig said that I insulted him. Now, rather than respond to my comments, he has chosen to publish his foolish report on my baseball pitchers. Even if what he says were true, which it is not, who cares? What is relevant is that ASMI does not properly evaluate the baseball pitching motion. And, when ASMI recommends that all baseball pitchers do what their Elite group does, ASMI injures baseball pitchers. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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