High school pitcher Brady Myers is receiving coaching on proper pitching techniques to prevent arm injuries. As players push for faster pitches, the risk of long-term damage increases.
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HERNDON, VA - JUNE 11: James Madison High School pitcher Brady Myers, 16, of Vienna, Va., gets instruction on how to hold a baseball before throwing a pitch during a training session at MVP Baseball School on June 11, 2025 in Herndon, Va. As high school and college baseball players try to get their pitches faster and faster, it's doing major damage to their arms. Pitching coaches are working with these young athletes to correct their pitches and keep them from long-term injuries. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
If everything has gone to plan, I will have arrived back in Minneapolis last night from my Washington, D.C. jaunt. Iām sure Iāll have some pics/stories in a later post, but for today: a book club recommendation.
Brady Myers' training session highlights the importance of proper pitching techniques to prevent arm injuries among young athletes.
Pitching coaches are working with young players to correct their pitching mechanics and reduce the risk of long-term injuries.
High school and college baseball players face increased risks of arm injuries as they attempt to throw faster pitches.
Brady Myers' training took place at MVP Baseball School in Herndon, Virginia.
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Unhittable by Rob Friedman.
Any baseball fan plugged into the National Pastime in the current age gets a sense that the pitchers are way ahead of the hitters. Batting average is down, contact is down, and strikeouts are up. In Unhittable, Friedman (of PitchingNinja fame) provides some great context for why/how this came to be and what exactly pitchers are doing to refine their movements and arsenals so perfectly.
There are basically two trains of thought that run through Unhittable:
First is Friedmanās in-depth explanation of the various technological and analytical tools that pitchers currently use to maximize velocity, perfect their delivery, sequence their pitches, and all the while try to keep their golden appendages healthy. Friedman cites programs like Driveline and technology like Edgertronic cameras, Rhapsodo, Trackman, & Trajekt (among many others) that are being used to dig into the fine details of why the ball moves like it does and how to repeat that over and over again. Though perhaps slightly over the head of even a dedicated baseball fan like me from a technical perspective, all these concepts are fascinating. Friedman even goes so far as to delve into physics concepts like seam-shifted wake and pitch tunneling. He makes a compelling case that pitchers in the modern era are as much scientists as artists.
A second thread running through Unhittable is the historical context. Friedman essentially starts by explaining how pitching used to be coached/taught on āfeelā and abstract concepts. Building the body or strengthening the arm via weight training was even discouraged. But then hurlers like Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan (using the then-unorthodox methods of pitching guru Tom House) broke the mold by showing how conditioning & deep analysis could extend both velocities and careers. The advent of full-capture stadium cameras in the 2010s spurred this on even further, with pitchers like Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes representing a new wave who are actively studying all aspects of their craft in ways previously unimaginable. The really strong writing here is a welcome break from the more technical aspects of the narrative.
Yes, there is a significant chapter devoted almost solely to Trevor Bauer. This will immediately turn some readers off, but I hope it doesnāt. For all of Bauerās personality and off-field foibles, his story absolutely deserves (needs, really) to be recounted here. He truly was on the cutting edge of pitching analytics and in some senses paid a price for being first through the gate (a lot of criticism and scorn). Not that anyone is really feeling sorry for Bauer the individual at this point, but Iām glad he wasnāt excluded entirely from this story.
Overall, I found Unhittable to be a fascinating explanation of why pitchers continue to dominate batters in Major League Baseball. In one of the only major sports where the defense controls the ball, pitchers have the ability to always be a step ahead of their offensive counterpartsāand that is exactly what is happening at the moment.
The Cleveland Guardians have established a pitching pipeline nearly second to none in MLB over the last decade or so. But letās hope the Minnesota Twins can scratch out a few safeties and maybe dent the big Progressive Field wall a few times this early-afternoon.
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