Just as I was retiring from almost 40 years of coaching college baseball, Tim Lincecum, came on the scene prompting a rash of questions about how a guy that size could throw so hard. Scouts were also questioning whether he would last.

Since I’ve, over the years, often questioned what seems like a million conflicting, ideas about pitching mechanics, I decided, with the help of a consultant from mechanical engineering, to see if we could measure his movement and figure out, not only how, but why, what he was doing produced the velocity.

That process of measuring movement and its related stress led to exploring what is probably a more important question. Why so many Tommy John surgeries? When comparing the injured with those who survived the time test, I’ve found that there are, directly measurable, higher forces on the parts being injured displayed by almost all of the guys who’ve broken down.

I’ve placed some examples in a video and put them on Youtube. I’m interested in feedback both about the content and presentation.

There are two parts and here are the links. I hope to hear from you.

Part 1. Mechanics

Part 2. Mechanics