Link Love and Minor Musings for 10-27-09

BCB: That 90 to 93 vs. 85 to 88 is four-seamer vs. two-seamer, though, right?

EA: No, not entirely. I mean, when I pull out my four-seamer now, I get it up to 88, 89 usually. And back then, I’m not sure whether my arm was in better condition or just the easy schedule of starting once a week and the season only lasting two months. That, and I also just threw in high school. I mean, I had a general idea of where I was throwing it, but not nearly the kind of control I’ve obtained over the past few years.

BCB: The fact that you said your arm took a beating in high school, you feel like there’s some sort of physical cause behind your velocity loss too?

EA: Well, I’ve pretty much looked back at everything to try and figure out why my velocity dropped. All I can really think of is either throwing 85 innings in about 12 starts, with no care on how many pitches I threw per game, or just I realized that I needed to learn how to pitch and I have just lost some of those quick-twitch muscles that I need to build up again.

Despite Anundsen trying to find other reasons for his decreased velocity, there is enough research about high pitch counts and the repercussions they have on pitchers to conclude what the biggest factor was behind Anundsen’s decline. The moral of the story? Pitch counts matter! Hopefully for Anundsen’s sake, he’ll be able to find the velocity that has deserted him since high school. That he’s a been as good as he’s been without even average velocity is a testament to him.