Stephen Strasburg talked about and over-reliance on his slider:
Strasburg thinks adding the cutter/slider contributed to his elbow trouble. Won't eliminate it moving forward, but will not use as much.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) December 11, 2016
Strasburg said the slider/cutter got him outs early in counts, so he fell in love with it. Arm wasn't accustomed to stress, and reacted.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) December 11, 2016
Strasburg said he felt he got lazy with the pitch midway through the season, got around it too much, which put stress on the elbow.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) December 11, 2016
In other words, Strasburg plans to use he cutter/slider less often, because frankly, he doesn't really need to rely on it.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) December 11, 2016
This is very similar to something Zack Greinke talked about in 2014:
Greinke, being Greinke, was perhaps just self-aware enough to change. He still throws plenty of sliders, but hopes to cap them at 15, maybe 20, per start, thereby balancing his desire to win with the hope to pitch again in five days. Perhaps the ulnar collateral ligament goes a thread at a time, he doesn’t really know, but if so, he was going to budget his threads, and not pitch straight through his elbow by the time he was 30 and then be no good to himself or his team for a year.
The slider is an out pitch. Greinke saves his for when he absolutely, positively needs an out. It looks like Strasburg is moving in that direction.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2hlVtWW
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