I Am Not Alone

[love_that_reefer]

From Ken Rosenthal of Foxsports.com

One scout who has seen Yankees right-hander Joba Chamberlain three times this spring says that the pitcher's spotty performance in the Grapefruit League offers further evidence that he should be a reliever and not a starter.

"The first couple of times, he was awful; the third time, he was pretty good, up to 95," the scout says. "It's hard for a guy who is used to going in fourth gear to pace himself. It's like telling a sprinter, 'Now you're going to run a marathon.'

"He's got a bull-in-the-china-shop mentality. Just looking at him those first couple of times, it had to be hard for him to throttle back and pitch at a lower velocity. Their biggest challenge is taking a guy with a closer's mentality and putting him in a starter's situation.

"In my heart of hearts, I think he's a bullpen guy, a closer."

He is a big boy with bad mechanics. I just hope they see this before its too late like Mark Prior.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

It's not that he has bad mechanics, Reefer. He just has a mentality that's tough to change, because he's a bit stubborn. It's just a matter of whether the Yankees think they can change it or not

[love_that_reefer]

No, he has bad mechanics. He doesn't use his legs like he should and is almost all arm. Expect a lot of shoulder problems. Last year was just a precursor when he had his bout of shoulder tendinitis. Mark Prior had bad mechanics too and we all saw what happened to him. Using him for an inning at a time will be best for Joba and the Yankees.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Well then that's different what this scout is saying

[love_that_reefer]

His mentality plays into it as well don't get me wrong. Scout agrees that he is best served in the bullpen. Bad mechanics and closer's mentality, not a good recipe for a starter.

[love_that_reefer]

Mark Prior not only had good mechanics, Mark Prior was the example pointed to by a lot of experts as somebody with "perfect" mechanics.

Whatever caused his never ending bouts with arm problems it wasn't his mechanics.

I know Rick Peterson and the entire American Sports Medicine Institute would disagree. SI had a great article about it when talking about Lincecum's flawless mechanics. Prior's mechanics were flawed and Peterson saw that when Prior was at USC.

[HollywoodLeo]

I know Rick Peterson and the entire American Sports Medicine Institute would disagree. SI had a great article about it when talking about Lincecum's flawless mechanics. Prior's mechanics were flawed and Peterson saw that when Prior was at USC.

I deleted that post because I went to search for articles backing up my statement and found this.

Mark Prior's Pitching Mechanics: A Different Perspective

[love_that_reefer]

Good for you Leo!

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Wow. That's a very interesting find. A great article backed up by visual evidence.

I still don't see what makes you think Joba has bad mechanics though Reefer

[HollywoodLeo]

Pitching Mechanics: Joba Chamberlain - Driveline Mechanics

[NYgiantsfan5689]

You win.

That's enough for me. I can totally see how he's putting unnecessary stress on his arm. I wasn't disagreeing with you Reefer, but I didn't see where you were getting this from. Now I see it. We'll see what happens with Joba, but I can see where the fears are coming from now

[love_that_reefer]

Thanks Leo. You can see it if you watch him closely. He is too much arm, not enough lower body. I really learned a lot from that Lincecum article and hearing things Lincecum's dad has said in talking about other pitchers along with Rick Peterson's insight. I now know what to look for in evaluating pitchers.