Pags: Pavano Is Injury Prone

Former Yankee Mike Pagliarulo split the atom this morning, contending Carl Pavano is an injury risk. But in all seriousness, Pags breaks down why and how Carl the Crutch has been able to scamper onto the disabled list with such frequency:

Carl Pavano is at a very high risk for injury he has problems in pitching stage 2 (balance position over the rubber) and stage 4 (his tendency to leak his front side). Pavano has trouble repeating his arm-slot, therefore adding more strain to his shoulder and elbow joints.

And what does “leak his front side” mean? Good question. It’s used to describe when a pitcher opens up too soon. As a right-handed pitcher strides to home plate, his chest should be facing third and his front shoulder pointed toward home plate. The key to this process is effective balance over the rubber. The optimum position is reached when the pitcher is able to stay balanced over the pitching rubber long enough to allow his throwing arm to get in the proper position to throw. Pavano has horrible balance and tends to fall toward home plate too early. Because his body motion is ahead of his throwing arm too early, he has to speed up his arm in order to throw the pitch in the strike zone. This results in additional shoulder stress and hanging breaking balls and elevated fastballs.

And all this time we thought Pavano was just a brittle-boned wuss incapable of fighting through pain.