His memoirs The lost art of story telling Thoughts on analytics Gambling Appel ... a cautionary tale Lessons from Bob Lemon and Dick Young George, Billy, and Kitty

STOP Program with Wayne Moss 10x the youth injuries since 2010 TJ by the numbers The odds of making it Why TJ occurs The TJ myths Thoughts on weighted balls, long toss, genetics, and lessons from Johnny Sain Proposed arm care program and advice We know the culprit ... now what do we do. Pull vs Push 200 mph Are we destroying more talent than we are creating

Destroying more talent than we are creating Meister reflections- velo and horizontal break Cole speaks out Collaboration is the key- who needs a seat at the table The importance of anaerobic exercise Excellence over influence

Occupational Hazard or Accelerating the Contradiction A Collapsed System/ Anti-Fragile More than 1 way to do it? A generation less capable than ever Starting points- ankles and feet Meister reaction How liable is lifting Indoctrinated Brain

Mailbag day ... Catching Relationship with Coach Umpire Communication Framing and 1 Knee Communicating Defensive Rotations Cutoff Double Steal

Conversation with Dr. Meister Take aways from Charlie Hustle Lessons from Hogan ... ginger ale may be the key A checklist for the MLB task force Bring back the brush back

Top of the first: I would like to discuss Mason Miller, the closer for the Oakland A's. He is tearing it up. There was an interesting piece about him in The Athletic a few days ago. He was playing D3 ball at a college outside of Pittsburgh and did not have a career in the majors in mind. He got a finance internship at a local hospital and had to take a drug test. The drug test revealed abnormally high blood sugar, and it turns out he was a type 1 diabetic. Once he was diagnosed and able to treat the type one, he was able to put on weight he had lost, stronger and his velocity increased. Now he is killing it. Main segment: early season surprises: Good surprises: We will take a look at the Guardians, who are in first place, mostly as a result of their offense. Also, a good surprise are the Mets. They started off slow, but have come back, mostly on the strength of their bullpen. Some but not all of their offense is producing. Carlos Mendoza is doing a nice job as a manager. Some quick good surprise mentions will be that the Brewers are in first place, and Shota Imanaga the Cubs is pitching nicely. On the Orioles, Grayson Rodriguez is 3-0, and Jackson Holiday is slow out of the gate, but I am confident he will come around. Good surprises gone bad: A few teams looked really good right out of the gate, but now seem to be turning. These include the Yankees, who started strong, but are not hitting, the Royals, and the Pirates. Bad surprises: The AL West is kind of a bad surprise. Nobody is playing that well in that division, but the Astros are playing notably poorly for being the Astros. They have a tough schedule coming up. Their starting pitching has been ravaged although a bright spot is Ronel Blanco. Bullpen underperforming. The NL West is also a bad surprise. No teams are playing that great, but the Dodgers, while not bad, are not where expectations were set. Their pitching, both bullpen and starting, is not where it should be. However, the starting pitching will get better when some players return from the IL. Yamamoto has not yet settled in, but he may need time to adjust. A couple of quick mentions in the AL Central, the Twins have been a bad surprise and the White Sox, while no one expected them to be good, have been surprisingly bad.

The Draft Analysis The War Room Scouting Tools Marino Elway Kelly Two Sport guys The Combine and Pro Days

A disservice to the discourse Mitigating the Risk vs. Solving it Strider's 4 pieces to the puzzle Arm injuries … will it travel to the back page My favorite topic - Velocity Harder throwing has contributed to injuries: The average four-seam fastball velocity was a record 94.2 mph last season, up from 91.8 mph in 2008, according to MLB Statcast data. Parents buy youth players weighted balls and track them with radar guns, 2008, velocity tracked by PITCH fw/x - camera-based, measured closer to the plate The Athletic The Wind Up Levi Weaver and Ken Rosental How Mason Miller started throwing 100 Last week, we told you about Mason Miller, the A's closer who is throwing harder than anyone else in baseball. Today, Stephen Nesbitt has the story detailing how Miller went from throwing sub-90 mph in college to routinely hitting triple digits. It turns out, Miller had Type 1 diabetes. Miller has gained 65 pounds of muscle, and double digits on his fastball. When we wrote last week, he had six of the 10 fastest pitches this year. He now has eight of the top 10, with Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals (sixth place, 102.4 mph) and Justin Martinez of the D-Backs and Nate Pearson of the Blue Jays (tied for 10th, 102.3) the only interlopers into Miller's domain. 102. - 103 96 = 97 My other favorite subject - Tommy John recovery Since returning from a second TJ, Nathan Eovaldi is 41-27 and became a two-time All-Star, Daniel Hudson has made 420 appearances over a decade and Chris Capuano pitched in 192 games over seven seasons. “You tell them that this is unfortunate, but this is your MRI," he explained. “This is probably why it happened — meaning you threw outside the envelope of your tissue quality — but we have a procedure that can repair your ligament and reconstruct it, kind of a belt/suspenders way that once it heals, the likelihood of you going back to pitching at the same level or above is 95%. Book of Joe will not mention Fleisig's name - will refer to as a prominent bio machnanics expert “We really improved the mechanics or biomechanics of many pitchers from major leagues down to little leagues,” says Glenn Fleisig, the research director at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham who is also an adviser to MLB and an established leader in pitching biomechanics. “Improving the mechanics means getting more velocity and maximizing your force of using your whole body, but that has come with a price,” Fleisig says. “The weak links are the ligaments and tendons. They have ligaments and tendons holding their joints together, like the Tommy John ligament in the elbow and their rotator cuff tendons in the shoulder. Pirates Paul Skenes unleashes 100 mph heat 34 times during unreal night on mound The Pirates aren't in a rush to bring Paul Skenes up to the big leagues, but the Pittsburgh prospect is making a case to be up there sooner rather than later. Skenes threw 3 ⅓ innings scoreless on Thursday night for Triple-A Indianapolis in an outing where he reached at least 100 mph on 34 of the 43 four-seam fastballs he threw Skenes, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft and MLB Pipeline's No. 3 overall prospect, averaged 100.5 mph on his fastball Thursday. “With Paul, we've been very intentional about how we're building his volume coming into the season with a goal of really accomplishing two things,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said recently during an interview with The Fan,. “The goal is to try to get him to an appropriate total volume for 2024 coming off last year, when he pitched a full college season and then just a little bit of pro ball. “We don't want to go from zero to 100 right away. Paul's so important to us long term, so we want to be really thoughtful about that.” 4 days rest To manager Derek Shelton, it didn't matter that Jones had thrown just 59 pitches, a staggering 50 for strikes. The Pirates had determined in advance that Jones would pitch only five innings, because he was working on four days' rest for the first time. It starts with good intentions. That's the point that should quiet the howling, if only a little, about the way teams handle young pitchers. Think about it: Who has more incentive to keep pitchers healthy than the teams that depend on them? The problem is that nobody knows how to do it. “I wish I could say there is a perfect formula for it — there is not,” said Ben Cherington, the Pittsburgh Pirates' general manager. “At least, we don't have it. We're just trying to be as thoughtful as we can.” Cherington, who has spent more than 25 years in baseball, offered a nuanced explanation for how we got here. “There's a bit of a paradox, because on one hand — not just as an industry, but the whole pitching ecosystem, which includes amateur baseball — I truly believe pitching people and pitchers themselves understand much more about how to move on the mound to be able to protect the body and be efficient,” Cherington said. “And we have, obviously, much more precise ways of measuring right now than we did when I was a farm director and, honestly, we were just sort of guessing. Around the Horn Judge because of the size of his talent, contract, track record and, well, size draws the most attention for the offensive downturn. He has two hits in his last 20 at-bats with 12 strikeouts — though one of those hits was a winning single in Toronto. So when he struck out in the ninth against Jason Adam when one Judge-ian blast could have sent 47,629 home happy, he was booed by a segment of the crowd. Nestor Cortes, admitted not liking the reception considering all that Judge has done for the organization. Judge said, “I have heard worse and would probably be doing the same [booing] in that situation.” Judge said he feels great and that there are no physical maladies. He said there is not a singular reason for his slow start, noting both mechanical and pitch recognition issues, but mainly saying that he knows he will not be given a lot of pitches to do damage against based on his reputation and he must seize those moments — and so far has failed. He cited the long season and not being worried. About himself or the offense in total. The Athletic: David O'Brein Spencer Strider He also addressed the growing controversy surrounding what some have termed an epidemic of MLB pitching injuries. “There's so many things that go into it. It's such a complex situation, …seeing people talk and implying that they somehow are in a position to know why injuries are happening. Strider is correct, many pieces of the injury puzzle, but they're not all the same size. Complex to solve does not necessarily mean complex to understand. “Yeah, there's just so many people in any topic, in any field, that are probably speaking out of their depth,” Strider said. “You know, we want to solve this problem. Will never solve, goal is to mitigate, Do they understand? “I's a long (discussion),” he said of what is contributing to increased pitching injuries. “Of course, the pitch clock. The condition of the balls. The banning of substances to gain grip. The effective shrinking of the strike zone. All those things are playing a factor in injuries. Guys are bigger, faster and stronger than they've ever been. I mean, you can't take that away. Not mentioned “How you throw the baseball.” Bigger Faster Stronger is the go to phrase, but we're not speaking of Lineman/Linebackers. “The environment of the game should be such that guys are able to compete at their highest ability and stay healthy, or have a chance to.” “It's gonna be a while before I start throwing or anything, but I'll trust the rehab process,” Strider said. . Complex to solve depends upon one's ability to assess, distill, implement 1. Compile the issues which the experts believe impact arm health 2. Rank them according to their severity/ impact 3. Decide what MLB can realistically impact and what they can not 4. Decide which issues can be addressed short term, which ones long term 3. Develop a strategy and time line for each and implement accordingly 5. Get the experts in one room - all speak to the issue through their own narrow lens. 6. Needs to be an individual who can widen the collective lens Around the Horn Boone and Torres After Stanton's home run, he watched Torres keep the rally alive with a 101.9 mph ground-ball single up the middle. Torres had struck out swinging in all three of his at-bats before the hit, and he came into the game hitting just .206 and after making a crucial error in Tuesday's loss. “Offensively, I don't worry about Gleyber,” Boone said. … he's just too talented of a hitter to be held down.” .243 / .259 / .257 / .273 .724 / 6.97 / .761 / .800 It's an ultr-marathon Yankees' offense slipping back to ugly 2023 ways despite Juan Soto's torrid start Instead, the overall offense is too in the Venn diagram with last season — a .237/.332/.378 slash line vs. a 2023 of .227/.304/.397. Judge camouflaged many offensive sins in 2022 with his historic 62 homers and the eight weeks he missed in the heart of last season after injuring his right big toe fully exposed a lineup that was overreliant on one star. Judge because of the size of his talent, contract, track record and, well, size draws the most attention for the offensive downturn. He has two hits in his last 20 at-bats with 12 strikeouts — though one of those hits was a winning single in Toronto. So when he struck out in the ninth against Jason Adam when one Judge-ian blast could have sent 47,629 home happy, he was booed by a segment of the crowd. Nestor Cortes, admitted not liking the reception considering all that Judge has done for the organization. Judge said, “I have heard worse and would probably be doing the same [booing] in that situation.” Judge said he feels great and that there are no physical maladies. He said there is not a singular reason for his slow start, noting both mechanical and pitch recognition issues, but mainly saying that he knows he will not be given a lot of pitches to do damage against based on his reputation and he must seize those moments — and so far has failed. He cited the long season and not being worried. About himself or the offense in total. Tom Brady and his Boss…College football coaches/ NIL / the Portal Character is not gained by intelligence it is forged through adversity

Fun and Winning ... why are the mutually exclusive Earth Day and Tybee Island Teammates Umpires and Refs Lindor and Soto -- approach and mechanics Barrel to brain Pitching Lab Play Hard vs Compete

NFL Draft- Washington's peculiar move Jayden Daniels-Anthony Richardson 2 interesting draft stories/ 2 sleepers NBA Playoffs- a Boston-Dallas Showdown MVP Finalists- who gets it ... who should Jackson Holiday ... should we be concerned

Are we destroying more talent than we are creating? Contributing Factors to the epidemic- horizontal ball movement is a HUGE RISK! Beware ... we haven't hit the spike yet The responsibility of higher levels to the youth The factory mentality We're going to see a market correction- economics will ultimately drive a change Importance of having fun, staying healthy, and developing naturally before adding unneeded variables TC Tip from the field - hydration Key words: Pitch Clock, Max Velocity, Designer Pitch Industry, Horizontal Ball Movement, Spin Rate, eccentric load on the medial elbow, tackiness,

Tributes to Whitey, Pete Rose, Hank, Jackie, ErskineLessons from the legends that could help change the gameAnalytics run amuckSkrubalMeaningless graphicsWatching Golf

Truths and Lies Things that endure Accelerating the contradiction Training vs Physical Capabilities ... one has surpassed the other Analytics and ego A market correction is coming

Oblique issues Force The Kinetic Chain Stabilizers vs Prime Movers Weight room & The Russians Release point is the holy grail Creating force vs Controlling Force What's standing in the way of "Feel"

Dr. James Andrews interview. Baseball is a development game. High School pitchers, when stress of the UCL is initiated 80 mph, danger zone 85 mph, UCL can tear at any moment 90 mph. Genetics play a role in the strength of the UCL (former MLB pitcher's son for example. Showcase baseball, ban radar guns from high school down to younger levels. Max effort throwing with heavy balls and baseballs, max effort long toss. Dr. Meister interview. Manipulation of the baseball to create new designer pitches, Dr. Meister can look at MRI and see what pitches are being manipulated based on the type of tears. Elbow positioning - this research has been around for over 30 years. Birmingham clinic DR. Andrews and Dr. Fleisig. At proper elbow position, at foot strike, 90 degrees shoulder abduction and 90 degrees elbow flexion. Allows for proper external/internal rotation. When shoulder works correctly there is less stress on the elbow. Jim Curnal shows this through pics of pitchers at foot strike. Prime movers are prime movers and stabilizers are stabilizers should be the focus. Hip Mobility - Baseball Flows Max Effort Throwing - The lost art of pitching. The built in safety valves (both mental and physical have been circumvented. Modern pitchers (throwers) are trained to bust through the barricade, instead of improving movement patterns and improving rhythm and timing to eliminate these barricades, ex. Hinge the front hip in order to get through the hip, create extension out front then rotate the trunk. All conversations that assess individual pitches to pitchers' success (Pitch Ninja video analysis) does not provide answers for what makes a successful pitcher. We compare pitches and relate it to success but we don't realize that a pitchers' combination of pitches is the package for success. Developing pitchers who can pitch is difficult. The technology shows us the result but who can teach the how to a variety individuals? Justin Orenduff - 94% of HOF pitchers went overhead with their hands. He calls it rhythmic cadence. Nolan Ryan often stated when he was struggling that he had to find his rhythm and timing. Koufax - levers in proper position. Gallo - transitions. Rooney - TripleSpin We have eliminate this to eliminate rhythm and timing problems (which has had the reverse result). We have taken the athleticism out of the pitcher. The difference between guys who can research, guys who can teach and guys who did it TC - chiropractic medicine story. My rehab from fractured neck and facial nerve damage. Dr. Ferguson Energy systems and recovery - you need all of the the energy system to be a complete pitcher. Aerobic conditioning aids in recovery. Workload / Intensity / Rest Why are pitchers out of breathe throwing a bullpen (recent experiences). Try harder mentality, max effort Anaerobic threshold training.

The 8th Wonder of the World ... the origin story

PED's and Tiger An Apology too late Algebra and Equity The indoctrinated brain

Mailbag day- The Defensive role of a Pitcher ... questions from the audience

1. Velocity: Play broadcast audio …and though Jenkins was never known as a flame-throwing intimidator, his ability to pitch in the strike zone made him just the seventh pitcher in history to reach the 3,000 K mark.” Fergie threw 93-94 at a very conservative 5% difference (scicnce says 7-9% difference out of the hand vs. crosssing the plate). Evolution of the radar gun, Speed Gun, clocked measured in front of plate - Statcast, out of the hand) Fergie today clocked at 98-99. Apples to Apples: 1978: Fergie 93-94 / Gil 93-94 2024: Fergie 98-99 / Gil 98-99 Can not be Apples to Mercedes Question, “Fergie was never known as a flame thrower, Luis Gil is, Why ? Chili Davis: Speaking of Gooden: Let me say something, man: He had gas. Natural gas, you know? Had they used the gun they're using now, wirh the technology and calibration, Doc would have been 100 2. Spin Rate - Koufax/Blyleven /Gibson/Carlton /Ryan - what was their Spin Rates - How do they know pitchers are Spinning the ball more than Blyleven. How do they decide waht # is poor, average, good, great. Curve 70% 4.00 + 30% 4.50+ #1 2,978 3.06 #30 2,591 Spins 3x more 3. Pitch Clock - make it simple end the arguement - :18 April/May :20 June/July :22 August :20 September :18 Oct/Nov 4. TJ Recovery 2016 147 73% 2017 154 56% 2018 133 62% 2019 89 71% 2020 57 67% 580 67% Quotes from the articles re: Arm Injuries Red Sox righthander Lucas Giolito is out for the season after having surgery for a torn elbow ligament. It's the second such surgery he's had in his career. “Every single pitch is scrutinized, even when you throw in the bullpen. You get instant feedback,'' Giolito said. “For a guy trying to make the team, you have to hit certain numbers. That's always going to put more stress on the arm.'' Verlander winces when he sees video on social media of youth players throwing as hard as they can and working on breaking balls. Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, “It's a really difficult situation to wrap your head around, “If anyone had a perfect solution, we'd be all ears. “Teams are now investing in motion-capture technologies to try to understand how and when forces are applied to different joints. Elbow injuries are plaguing the entire sport. No one has unearthed a singular cause nor a surefire means of prevention. “There's really going to be no stopping of this pandemic,”said Reds pitcher Tejay Antone, who underwent his third Tommy John procedure on Friday. 2017 / 2021 / 2024 "I think I have an opportunity and responsibility to do this not only for myself, but other kids out there dealing with this," Antone said on Tuesday. "The cool thing about baseball is [that] contracts are guaranteed. There's kids out there in high school or in college, their careers are over and they don't have the best medical attention in the world. “Anybody's at risk,” said Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt, “at any time.” “If you're not trying to add velocity or add a pitch,” said Cubs starter Jameson Taillon, another member of the Two Tommy Johns Club, “you're probably falling behind.” What can be done? Taillon overhauled his delivery after his second Tommy John surgery because he “figured that was my body telling me that something's not right.” Hall of Famer John Smoltz warns that's a slippery slope, though. “It's a misconception that has been out there forever,” he said, “that people think, ‘Well, look at every guy's comeback: They've thrown harder and they've been better.' It's a myth. “Tommy John's not normal. And we've normalized it.” The Real Crisis is how this is harming the 15 yr. old hurler