Max Scherzer's Mechanics

by nihil67 on Jan 9, 2008 6:51 PM EST

Browsing around Chris O'Leary's site, I came across a little blurb about Max Scherzer:

"Max Scherzer (Mizzou) - 2/17/2006
Injury Risk Rating = Worse Than Average
Over the weekend I came across an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talking about Mizzou pitcher Max Scherzer. I managed to find a few pictures of him and feel that he resembles Mark Prior in the he makes what some call an Upside-Down W as he turns his pitching arm over. In doing this, he brings his elbows above the level of his shoulders. As a result, I expect that Max Scherzer will have serious elbow problems as well as shoulder (especially rotator cuff) problems.

* Max Scherzer Update 5/2/2006: Over the course of the season shoulder tendonitis caused Scherzer to miss three starts. I believe that this is related to the fact that Scherzer takes his elbows both above and behind his shoulders."

It's an interesting observation and it wasn't very hard to find visual evidence. I was also able to find some evidence of what O'Leary calls "hyperabduction". For an example of good mechanics, he points to Greg Maddux. Take a look at the difference in elbow height at the fully cocked position. Maddux is way lower.

Does anyone have any pictures of Scherzer pitching this year? AFL or otherwise? It'd be interesting to see if his mechanics have changed at all since his college days.

On the bright side, O'Leary really likes Haren's mechanics.

I don't have any proof, but I think that Owings throws a lot like Haren. I'd be interesting if O'Leary did an analysis of Webb. Maybe if he got a nudge from a well known blog-o-sphereian...

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Comments

Which is why

Scherzer will probaly be a closer. Those mechanics definitly will not equal success as a SP.

by dbacksfan01 on Jan 10, 2008 12:19 AM EST reply actions

Webb

I found this awesome animated GIF on Baseball Think Factory. The story is actually an interesting observation about the differences in Webb's delivery in '06 compared to '04.

Regardless, I think the GIF shows that Webb starts wonderfully by dropping his pitching hand and elbow very low out of the glove, and despite what the poster on BTF thinks, his early break out of the glove is a good thing.

However, once Webb starts cocking for delivery, things go a little haywire. His body, which had been in a downward trajectory towards home plate, starts to stand back up and he starts to raise his elbows into that "upside-down W" position.

He follows that with a nice flare of the hips, which cause his shoulders to follow around. His front foot comes around to a good landing position. He doesn't land on his heel, but on the whole foot.

It's hard to tell for sure at this angle, but it seems to me that his elbow is high when it comes around for delivery. It also appears to me that Brandon starts to pronate his upper arm, which isn't good. However, it does look to me like he has very nice weight transfer to his front foot and his back foot slides off the rubber nicely.

I emailed Chris O'Leary last night... it'll be interesting if he responds. In my extremely un-educated opinion (which, let's face it, O'Leary's opinion is more studied, but just as un-educated) I'd say that Webb does almost everything right, but the upside-down W and early pronation could be putting stress on his shoulder and elbow.

Bob Melvin Sucks

by nihil67 on Jan 10, 2008 10:23 AM EST reply actions