The List

I am often asked what I think of certain pitchers. In an effort to answer these kinds of questions, I have put together this document which lists all of the pitchers that I have an opinion about.

Josh Beckett
Josh Beckett has an Inverted L in his arm action and throws fairly hard. To be honest, I can't explain how he's stayed healthy this long. He's ripe for a blow-up.

Jonathan Broxton

A.J. Burnett
AJ Burnett is another pitcher whose career has been made, and then compromised, by the Inverted L.

Chris Carpenter
Chris Carpenter is a tremendous pitcher who has trouble staying healthy due to his Inverted L.

Joba Chamberlain

Aaron Crow
Aaron Crow is another Inverted L pitcher who is going to have trouble staying healthy if he's not in the bullpen.

Ryan Dempster
One of my favorite younger pitchers mechanics-wise. Similar to Greg Maddux.

Kyle Drabek
His arm action isn't terrible, but he still has what looks like a major timing problem.

Yovani Gallardo
Yovani Gallardo is basically a right-handed Cliff Lee, and thus a pitcher than younger pitchers should study.

Jaime Garcia

Gio Gonzalez

Tommy Hanson
Tommy Hanson has a major timing problem and needs to be turned into a reliever ASAP.

Rich Harden

Luke Hochevar

Josh Johnson
Josh Johnson is a (typically) very hard thrower who has already had elbow problems and whose velocity is down. That is often a harbinger of shoulder problems and makes him a very risky bet.

Ian Kennedy

Josh Kinney
Josh Kinney was another slider throwing, Inverted W arm action pitcher who had trouble staying healthy as a result.

Cliff Lee
Cliff Lee is one of my favorite pitchers and one I tell younger pitchers to study.

Tim Lincecum
I love Tim Lincecum's stride and lower body, but he has an Inverted L in his arm action that makes me nervous.

Kyle Lohse
Arm action isn't terrible, but he has what looks like a timing problem.

Carlos Martinez
Carlos Martinez is a prospect in the Cardinals system whose arm action I generally like a lot.

Brandon McCarthy
Brandon McCarthy's favorite pitcher when he was growing up was Mark Prior, which explains his arm action. In the past few years he has worked to improve his pitching mechanics, and that work explains his relatively good health of late.

Jason Motte
Jason Motte is currently the closer for the Cardinals. His arm action is fairly good.

Ivan Nova
Has a bordeliner Inverted W in his arm action, combined with slow, slow, fast pacing that often leads to shoulder problems.

Jake Peavy
Jake Peavy was one of the pitchers who led me to notice the Inverted V arm action.

Andy Pettitte
Andy Pettitte has been both effective and durable. The only knock on him is how he finishes with his leg sticking straight out behind him. I believe that that shortens the deceleration path of his arm and has led to some problems in the back of his shoulder.

Michael Pineda

Mark Prior
Mark Prior is the poster child for the Inverted W and the problems that can result from it.

Anthony Reyes
Anthony Reyes has (had?) a significant Inverted W, and elbow and shoulder problems as a result.

Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera has a beautiful arm action and great timing.

BJ Ryan
BJ Ryan had the worst timing I have ever seen. Ever.

Johan Santana

Ben Sheets

John Smoltz
While it's true that John Smoltz had a long, successful career, he did so while experiencing numerous injury problems due to his Inverted W arm action.

Stephen Strasburg
Stephen Strasburg throws ridiculously hard and does so using the Inverted W, which doesn't bode well for his shoulder.

Jess Todd

Justin Verlander
While Justin Verlander's lower body is a bit funky, and his stride is a bit too linear for my tastes, his arm action and upper body are textbook.

Adam Wainwright
Adam Wainwright is a very good pitcher, but Adam Wainwright has an Inverted W. As a result, I am concerned about the longevity of his shoulder.

Jake Westbrook
Arm action isn't terrible, but he has what looks like a timing problem.

Scott Williamson
Scott Williamson is another pitcher whose arm was ruined by the Inverted L.

C.J. Wilson
C.J. Wilson has a significant Inverted W and a timing problem as a result. I'm surprised he hasn't broken down yet.

Kerry Wood
Kerry Wood's elbow was destroyed by his love of the slider and his shoulder was damaged by his Inverted L and a resulting timing problem.

Barry Zito
Barry Zito was never able recreate his success with the A's due to lingering effects due to his Inverted L. However, he no longer throws hard enough to overload his arm.

Joel Zumaya
Joel Zumaya keeps having elbow problems due to his Inverted V.