Scientist: Matt Harvey Could Return in 2014
Matt Harvey has been insistent upon returning to a Major League mound at some point before the end of the 2014 season. Is that a realistic goal? Should he be prevented from doing so?
Also, is it really dangerous for Jenrry Mejia to pitch from the bullpen? Are his concerns for his health as a reliever legitimate?
According to sport kinesiologist Angel Borrelli, Harvey’s goal is completely realistic — so long as he’s feeling well, his rehab continues progressing positively, and there are no setbacks. She also outlines a general rehab schedule for returning to the mound, in a podcast interview you can hear below.
Also in the podcast, the scientist discusses Jenrry Mejia’s concerns about pitching from the bullpen, as opposed to starting.
Finally, she busts a myth recently propagated by Zack Greinke suggesting that the slider is a dangerous pitch.
Listen below:
If the player above doesn’t appear in your browser, you can try listening on BlogTalkRadio.
In sum, we’re a long way from understanding why arms fail, and It’s reckless to claim that we do know. But it’s also foolish to ignore what scientists – particularly kinesiologists, with which I’m totally on board – are learning about the subject.
If the group is scientists, well, that group seems to have a pretty good idea of why arms fail, and can often predict how and when they do.
It’s really not as complex as baseball people want it to be. It comes down to either abiding by, or going against, the way the body moves. 99% of pitchers are allowed to move their bodies inefficiently and dangerously, and further, aren’t allowed to properly recover.
I use the term “science” too much? Too bad. I like it. It’s going to be used a heckuva lot more going forward. I might even change the name of the blog to “BaseballScienceToday.com.” I’m tired of watching the arms of young men shred on a daily basis, while all MLB can do is blame youth coaches and count pitches. While everyone else sits idly by, or continues to talk about the same bull-feces topics, I’ll keep beating the drum of science until someone listens and considers applying it.
What’s also ludicrous is all of MLB at a loss of why there are so many arm injuries, and not even considering that what they’re doing at the pro levels might be wrong.
By the way, Izzy, are you a scientist? Have you listened to any of the podcasts? I’m guessing not, because there’s absolutely nothing that Angel presents that hasn’t been heavily researched, for decades. But hey, if you want to spit on it, that’s your prerogative.
Here’s the choice for baseball to keep pitchers healthy: continue doing exactly what they’re doing and continue to get terrible results, or try something different — something that is research- and evidence-based. What baseball is doing now is complete guesswork and driven by word of mouth from generations of ignorant people who know absolutely nothing about how the human body works.
But that’s MLB — like you suggested, not so much unlike the NFL is/was with their “meat on the hoof” (great book by former U of Texas lineman Gary Shaw, btw).