On the web there are numerous video clips of Nolan Ryan throwing fastballs and they loop over and over, fastball after fastball ad infinitum, Ryan’s seemingly effortless delivery going on forever in some parallel universe where he will throw forever. \u00c2\u00a0That was my mental picture of where Stephen Strasburg should be as he neared the end of his first season: throwing fastball after fastball after fastball.<\/p>\n
In that same parallel web universe Strasburg is still there, that repeatable scare crow motion still at work as he reaches back for the last ounce of leverage before he release the ball toward the plate. \u00c2\u00a0But all we have left are video images for now. \u00c2\u00a0It is just part of a mental picture garden and I along with others are the sadder for it.<\/p>\n
Looking for solace, I picked up the bible, Nolan Ryan’s Pitching Bible<\/em>, that is. \u00c2\u00a0It is a carefully presented primer for hard throwers. It is not based on empty opinion, but the long experience of one of the best pitchers in the recent decades. \u00c2\u00a0In it A. Eugene Coleman addresses the issue of the fastball in the forward to the book. \u00c2\u00a0Coleman’s piece is titled aptly enough, “The Vanishing Fastball,” and in it he stresses that one of the the problems with modern pitchers is that they don’t throw the pitch enough. \u00c2\u00a0Coleman believes that the unique speed achieved by Ryan and Strasburg should be more commonplace. \u00c2\u00a0He asserts that with proper mechanics more pitchers should be able to throw harder if they spent more time throwing fastballs, building strength and adding velocity instead of working on breaking stuff.<\/p>\n When Stephen Strasburg hurt his arm it was on a change-up. \u00c2\u00a0Batters were sitting on his fastball and occasionally catching up to it. \u00c2\u00a0So pitching coaches told him to work in his change-up more often. \u00c2\u00a0No one knows whether it was that pitch that sealed Strasburg’s fate, or whether the same thing would have happened had he thrown a fastball instead of the change. \u00c2\u00a0Maybe it was just his time, but after watching so many young pitchers end up in the same rehab ward as Strasburg, it seems a very good time to reconsider the basics and that is what the bible is for.<\/p>\n A. Eugene Coleman, in his forward to the Ryan Pitching Bible, asserts that pitchers spend too much time trying to learn pitches that will fool the batter. \u00c2\u00a0Rather they should work more consistently on adding strength and control to the fastball. \u00c2\u00a0Could better control of the Strasburg Express–that 98 mph blur–have limited the need to throw the change? \u00c2\u00a0It’s a purely academic discussion, but one that needs more depth.<\/p>\n First, a caveat: this is not an attempt to say I told you so. \u00c2\u00a0No one could have predicted Strasburg’s injury. \u00c2\u00a0Keith Law worried about possible flaws in his delivery as did others, but the best pitching analysts believed his mechanics were basically sound. \u00c2\u00a0And no one worked harder to keep Stephen Strasburg healthy than the Nationals coaching staff. \u00c2\u00a0They followed the standard conditioning protocols used by pitching coaches in almost every major league organization. \u00c2\u00a0But when tragedy strikes, the thoughtful will always ask what can we learn from it? \u00c2\u00a0One place to look for answers is those like Nolan Ryan who believe that the accepted approach is deeply flawed.<\/p>\n