During the record setting second inning yesterday, Fox Sports, not known for the accuracy or neutrality of their analysis, surprised me. Showing a super-slow motion replay of Wang's delivery to the plate, they pointed out, very clearly and accurately, that Wang's arm was lagging behind his body as it moved forward. What this means is that once the body has moved forward too far, the arm and shoulders have to do all the work to get the expected velocity and bite. Imagine a batter that steps forward too soon with his swing: Once his weight is forward, he has to use his upper body to generate speed on the bat.
This is the situation with Wang. We can speculate about the root causes; it could be rust, lack of practice, an unconscious adjustment he made because of last season's injury, or something more fundamental, like his focus. But that's up to Wang and the coaches to address if they need to. The only thing that really matters is that Wang's mechanics are obviously flawed, as was depicted by the slow motion replays.
It's not new or unusual for a pitcher to suddenly lose his mechanics. It happens from time to time. It's actually kind of normal. And when it does, the pitcher needs to NOT PITCH until they're right. This can take time, but in Wang's case it's essential for his mechanics to return because:
a. clearly he cannot pitch even passably without them.
b. bad mechanics increase the risk of injury.
There's talk of him skipping his next start at Fenway. That's a good idea. But there is hope. According to Girardi, Wang will not go to the minors, because if he did, another team would be able to aquire him. And Eiland had this to say:
"He’ll start getting results. But you don’t get confidence by not pitching. So he’s going to pitch. He’s going to pitch, and he’s going to get confidence, and he’s going to get better.”
Make it happen.
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