Mike Maddux

[vonaric]

How come so many injuries on your pitching staff? Split fingernails, sore shoulders, ankles, back spasms, salad tong incodents...c'mon now.

Other than Cappy, who has been improving on your staff?

and most importantly....When is your contract up?

If you can't bring your brother to play for us then you are no use to us.:)

[Ravenlord]

you have your roles mixed up.

it is not in the pitching coaches realm to direct the physical training/conditioning of pitchers. he is little more than an advisor when it comes to that. in the Brewers case, Roger Caplinger and Rick Spenner are the patriarchs of the conditioning of the players.

but pitchers get hurt, constantly. but some have the ability to be able to pitch through it. i can guarentee you that Capuano's arm hurts constantly. i haven't pitched in more than a year and every now and again my shoulder gets tight even though there's no physical damage (that we know of).

it's also possible that some Brewers pitchers simply have bad genetics. i personaly believe Sheets is one those who got unlucky in that regard. Zach Day (Nationals) and Kal Daniels (ex-Reds, ex-Dodgers, ex-Cubs) are also good examples of guys who have 'bad genetics.'

then there's also the one simple truth of pitchers, all pitchers, at some point will be hurt.

if you're going to be hurling blame at someone (especially legitimate blame) make sure you're targeting the right individual(s).

[Ravenlord]

Month of June; Brewers' core staff
Pitcher ERA IP K BB H HR ER
Bush 3.21 42 34 9 33 3 15
Capellan 2.70 13.1 12 6 15 1 4
Capuano 2.57 35 35 7 35 1 10
Davis 3.19 31 31 8 31 4 11
Kolb 10.32 11.1 10 3 18 3 13
Shouse 0.00 10.1 6 3 5 0 0
Turnbow 2.84 12.2 20 5 8 1 4
Wise 8.38 9.2 2 4 15 3 9

Aggregate ERA IP K/BB BB/9 K/9 H/9 HR/9 WHIP
June 3.83 155 3.33 2.70 8.71 9.29 0.93 1.32


basically in June most of the Brewers' core staff pitched the way you would expect them to (except Kolb who's main problem is time).

[vonaric]

So none of these injuries have to do with mechanics?
Who advises them when it comes to that, or is it expected that if they made it this far that they have no problem with mechanics?

When I watched Doug Davis pitch today, it looked like someone bowling who isn't sure which board to aim for. There has got to be a way for him to generate more velocity too. It doesn't do any good to have a great change-up, when you can't throw it for strikes and your fastball is not much faster.

[Ravenlord]

So none of these injuries have to do with mechanics?
Who advises them when it comes to that, or is it expected that if they made it this far that they have no problem with mechanics?genetics and Mike Maddux. but it's not as simple as changing mechanics. i have bad mechanics, but if you change my mechanics i can't throw breaking balls. similarly, the Reds staff modified Aaron Harang's mechanics in the spring, the result was an inflamed elbow.

it's not as easy as changing mechanics. the pitcher has to have both the proper genetics and ability to do it and not have some sort of issue come up, be it injuries (Harang) or a loss in ability (ala Scott Williamson).

and FWIW, a 7-9 MPH difference between a fastball and change-up is acceptable. it's not just the speed that makes it a favorable pitch, but the new movement that occurs (that is unreadable in most good changes) or the no movement that occurs (as in a straight-change).

as for adding velocity, not neccessarily a good thing for some pitchers. i haven't seen Davis enough to know how his fastball moves, but it is likely that if he were hitting 92 or so on the gun, it would likely flatten out. Davis' curveball would also disappear if you change his arm angle.