Saturday, August 28, 2010

Stephen Strasburg's Arm, RIP

The hottest prospect in recent memory just blew his elbow out and will require Tommy John surgery.  This carries a 12-18 month rehab time.  Strasburg has been just about the biggest story of the year.  I'm really sorry to hear this happen to such a young, bright star. 

What interests me most about this story is that some people predicted this would happen.  Curt Schilling apparently did, and I heard an audio clip of a radio interview from earlier in the year of Chris Lincecum (father of Tim, and master mechanics planner of his delivery, who has his own show on in San Fran) saying he witnessed some problems with Strasburg's mechanics and wasn't very confident of his future health.  Now, I'm no expert on pitching mechanics.  But I'm wondering what was going on in the minds of the Nationals' people, especially given that others were concerned.  Were there issues?  Were they in the process of being addressed?  Is the topic of mechanics widely understood within baseball?  Is it merely a matter of opinion with several radically different schools of thought?  Are most baseball people clueless with only a few experts on the topic?

I don't know.  But it's sad for Strasburg, his family and the Nationals, not to mention the game of baseball.  I hope he recovers fully and has a hall of fame career.

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