2 more to Tommy John

[Dawg61]

Think about this before you consider letting your kids play traveling ball.

This generation that grew up playing year round baseball has been pretty decimated by elbow injuries.

Kids can still play travel ball they just don't need to pitch in every league they are in. Nothing wrong with travel ball, it actually develops players better than just high school or local competition does imo. I played travel ball and I loved it.

[ShotgunDawg]

Could be a strength and conditioning problem as well. Oddest thing I've ever seen. Wes Johnson has been at 4 different schools and has never had any sort of issue like this. Again, I've never seen anything like this.

We better figure it out though or recruiting pitchers will prove to be difficult.

[msbulldog]

Could be a strength and conditioning problem as well. Oddest thing I've ever seen. Wes Johnson has been at 4 different schools and has never had any sort of issue like this. Again, I've never seen anything like this.

We better figure it out though or recruiting pitchers will prove to be difficult.

Hmmm makes you wonder when did he know he was going to Arkansas?

[ShotgunDawg]

Hmmm makes you wonder when did he know he was going to Arkansas?

Doubt it.

Look, blaming Wes is low hanging fruit here. It's the easy thing to do when his track record suggests otherwise.

[smootness]

Could be a strength and conditioning problem as well. Oddest thing I've ever seen. Wes Johnson has been at 4 different schools and has never had any sort of issue like this. Again, I've never seen anything like this.

We better figure it out though or recruiting pitchers will prove to be difficult.

He may not have had this many (I can't imagine any team ever has), but do we really know that he had an abnormally low # of TJ surgeries at other stops? Do we have any idea how many he had? A quick google search shows that he definitely did have some, though that doesn't really mean anything. Everybody has some.

But if his reputation is a guy who can increase velocity without seeing an abnormally high # of Tommy John surgeries, wouldn't the results of these guys be a knock in that? Maybe he got lucky for a while, and now it's biting us?

We just don't really have enough info, but this is really not a good sign, and I would be really worried as an Arkansas fan right now.

[BrunswickDawg]

Good question. Hadn't breaux been an abomination all offseason?

Sometimes its on the player. I went through a period of "dead arm" in high school. I did everything I could to stay competitive and not lose my spot. I changed my weight training, my stretching, my pre-game warm up, and even got desperate enough to change my throwing motion to try to get zip back on the ball and lessen the pain I had in my elbow. It created enough smoke and mirrors so I could make it thru the season and get to my month off before summer ball started. I was a middle infielder - I can't imagine the pressure on a pitcher to push thru the pain to keep your spot. Sometimes, that guy is going to push that injury until it pops instead of taking the time off to heal and avoid surgery.

[I seen it dawg]

17 pitchers pitched for us last season. 7 of the 17 graduated, got drafted, or left. 6 (the above list) need TJ surgery. 1 (rigby) hasn't pitched since game 2 and is likely injured. That leaves 3 pitchers (pilk, cyr, and billingsley) from last season and 2 of those were really bad vs Marist. We don't have, but 1 true middle of the lineup bat... this year is gonna be bad

And yet the game melt continues.

[msstate7]

And yet the game melt continues.

How many sec wins you predict? I say 11-13

[War Machine Dawg]

I ask aGAIN: Could we be the first team in SEC history to go from Worst to First to Worst? 4 of those 6 pitchers are devastating losses and the other 2 were going to be big pieces somehow.

[I seen it dawg]

How many sec wins you predict? I say 11-13

Somewhere between 9 and 23. Look I've known since the summer we were gonna be hard pressed to be top of sec this year. We've lost too much in the lineup (although I'm pleasantly surprised by the new pieces and think we are gonna be ok there) and the 4 pitching injuries before these 2 new ones. It's just too hard in this league to compete with that happening. That being said we are going to compete and while I think we will prob be somewhere around 12-14 wins this team is going to grow a lot and improve.

I just get tired of the certain posters raising all kinds of mortal hell about our baseball team when they can't see all the obstacles in place before we even started the season. Tons of talent but unproven. Injury ravaged pitching staff. New HC that didn't have a full summer and fall at school. I just don't get why some posters think that is a recipe for repeating as SEC champs. But keep screaming at players in the hope it will magically change I'm gonna enjoy this year and watching our talent grow and get better.

[I seen it dawg]

I ask aGAIN: Could we be the first team in SEC history to go from Worst to First to Worst? 4 of those 6 pitchers are devastating losses and the other 2 were going to be big pieces somehow.

We just might. But I love the roster of this team and our HC. I can already see the demeanor change of our team from last year to this year. We scrap in ABs, we run, we don't bunt unless appropriate, we let guys try to compete in actual games, we are aggressive, I love it. I can live with getting beat up a little because I believe in our staff and I believe these young guys are gonna fight and they are gonna get better every week.

All 6 pitching injuries were devastating. No other college team in the country will deal with that this yr. Combine that with our 2 starting studs drafted and it's a staff that is brand new. Hard to win at a high level. The pitching is gonna be what keeps us from having a really good year. And it's not because the kids suck it's because they haven't comepeted at this level before and there are growing pains. And some grow faster than others.

[Dawg61]

I ask aGAIN: Could we be the first team in SEC history to go from Worst to First to Worst? 4 of those 6 pitchers are devastating losses and the other 2 were going to be big pieces somehow.

Why do you keep asking a question you already know the answer to?

[msstate7]

Somewhere between 9 and 23. Look I've known since the summer we were gonna be hard pressed to be top of sec this year. We've lost too much in the lineup (although I'm pleasantly surprised by the new pieces and think we are gonna be ok there) and the 4 pitching injuries before these 2 new ones. It's just too hard in this league to compete with that happening. That being said we are going to compete and while I think we will prob be somewhere around 12-14 wins this team is going to grow a lot and improve.

I just get tired of the certain posters raising all kinds of mortal hell about our baseball team when they can't see all the obstacles in place before we even started the season. Tons of talent but unproven. Injury ravaged pitching staff. New HC that didn't have a full summer and fall at school. I just don't get why some posters think that is a recipe for repeating as SEC champs. But keep screaming at players in the hope it will magically change I'm gonna enjoy this year and watching our talent grow and get better.

I haven't screamed at players. I get mad at coaches for putting players in positions that I feel doesn't help the team win.

"Between 9 and 23..." straddling the fence, eh? There is absolutely, positively no way this team sees 23 sec wins. We won 21 last year

[msstate7]

Bullpen stats so far vs only 2 good opponents...

37.2 ip 29 er 24 bb 43 k 39 h

7.02 era
1.69 whip
K rate is good though

[BB30]

Youth coaches have to get their kids away from "tall and fall" and back to "drop and drive." Use your legs. Take you arm along for the ride. Stupid how many arms are getting blown up with the understanding people have of pitching mechanics these days.

Eh, you can't pigeon hole kids into certain mechanics. There are certain things that are better than others, but some can't generate what you call drop and drive and others cant go "tall and fall". Every individual is going to be slightly different and you have to see how their body works, how athletic they are, size of the kid etc. There are professionals that have god awful looking mechanics but happen to end up in the same place as a guy with "great mechanics" as far as when front foot hits and torque on arm peaks.

Some are naturally going to put more stress on the arm than others. I think overuse at a young age plays a much larger role than mechanical problems do.

[I seen it dawg]

I haven't screamed at players. I get mad at coaches for putting players in positions that I feel doesn't help the team win.

"Between 9 and 23..." straddling the fence, eh? There is absolutely, positively no way this team sees 23 sec wins. We won 21 last year

And unfortunately for you your knowledge is jackshit about what to do with players. So just plan on staying mad and I'll do my best to ignore it.

I guess you just read 2 sentences of my post.

[basedog]

Damn, two things, it's early, new coaches trying to figure out who can play and help so experimenting is important.

We lost a bunch of talent and now injuries to our pitching staff, hopefully our young pitchers and hitters will settle into a role that can help us win some games.

We are rebuilding for the future, no sense to panic in late February, I'm betting we will slowly get better, Canny is well respected by many many scouts and coaches across the country.

[msstate7]

And unfortunately for you your knowledge is jackshit about what to do with players. So just plan on staying mad and I'll do my best to ignore it.

I guess you just read 2 sentences of my post.

I just don't get how you rip mullen and the football team consistently, but God forbid someone question Can and the baseball team. Our baseball team led by Can is the closest thing to perfect since Jesus walked the earth

[Leeshouldveflanked]

As a parent of a competitive Baseball Player... i will tell you what one of these sports medicine people told me.....every kid has a certain amount of pitches in their arm...they can use them up when they are 12 and have problems when they get older or they can wait until 16-17 before they start pitching and be able to pitch a lot longer length of time with proper conditioning and coaching....
my son is 15, we have just now started to pitch some, and he is right there with some of these who have been pitching since kid pitch thru travel ball... i bet most of these guys have been pitching a long time....
That being said, I am not a fan of weighted balls at all....I would go the arm bands and resistance route...and would place heavy focus on lower body and torso...

[HoopsDawg]

As a parent of a competitive Baseball Player... i will tell you what one of these sports medicine people told me.....every kid has a certain amount of pitches in their arm...they can use them up when they are 12 and have problems when they get older or they can wait until 16-17 before they start pitching and be able to pitch a lot longer length of time with proper conditioning and coaching....
my son is 15, we have just now started to pitch some, and he is right there with some of these who have been pitching since kid pitch thru travel ball... i bet most of these guys have been pitching a long time....
That being said, I am not a fan of weighted balls at all....I would go the arm bands and resistance route...and would place heavy focus on lower body and torso...

Good advice. Leg strength + core strength can go a long way to arm health. Play travel ball, but only play March-June. Maybe play 2 or 3 tournaments in the fall, Sept-October. That's 6 months of baseball and 6 months off. Play other sports in the off-season. Take 3-4 months of not throwing a baseball. And when you do pitch, no more than 80 on a weekend. Do all of that and the rest is up to man above.