Clayton Kershaw is in pain

[Brodie Butland]

I was going to comment on syndergarrd too. It was such a BFD in NY that he got bigger over the winter, and then the press and commentators were so quick to blame his training for his injury. Meanwhile, with maybe one exception all of the Mets' pitchers have been hurt all year. But syndegarrd's injury is blamed on what seemed like some serious effort in the gym, and for 10 years if a pitcher wants to pick up a barbell someone will talk them out of it, pointing to this.

I fully expect I'll be having this conversation with a doctor sometime in the future when I inevitably have a right hip replacement. My great grandmother, grandmother, and mother all had serious degenerative problems with their right hips...one had it replaced and two were in clinical need of replacement.

But it'll be the deadlifts and squats that caused my problem, not the fact that I am the product of four consecutive shitty hip generations. And he'll know, because he's an MD.

Maybe I should just take up running. I hear that doesn't cause hip problems at all.

[Tiburon]

Anyone into baseball, pitching, injuries, Tommy John, etc should check out Jeff Passan's 2016 book The Arm. Best baseball book since Moneyball IMHO

[tom4646]

This is the New York Times. Works this way for everything they write about, not just the things we know about.

"All the News That's Fit to Print"

It's difficult to imagine a more conceited and vacuous tautology to use as the motto for a newspaper.

[Matt Stacks]

I played college baseball. Unfortunately, I wish I knew then what I know now. Too many 1-leg stabilization exercises and not enough heavy squats. I'm making up for time lost.

Unfortunately, the well-known MLB S&C coaches are all about the silly bullshit. Although, the Orioles have instituted more olympic lifting into their program, which seems to be a step in the right direction.

[Matt-Panz]

Nothing in the development pipeline of a Pro-level S&C coach teaches them about barbell training.

Is the light coming on now, Matt?

Yes, that's absolutely crazy. You would think a franchise with every incentive in the world to win would do better.

Has nobody from any professional franchise had any contact with you or any other SSC?

Someone in that circle has to know who you are or has heard of Starting Strength.

Is it their fault? For some yes. Particularly at the high school level there is a baffling degree of close-mindedness, stubborness, and lack of analytical ability to plainly see that what they are doing doesn't actually work.

My high school weight lifting coach was a S&C with a masters in kinesiology. He didn't know how to squat, deadlift, or press. We spent gym class doing dynamic warmup, rubber band exercises, and box jumps.

He honestly thought he was a genius.

It's funny looking back, but sad at the same time our tax dollars pay for this stuff.

Aren't you both jumping to conclusions here? How do you know he doesn't use barbells?.....to assume he only uses pink dumbbells and bosu balls seems a bit cynical.... He's not a small guy - 6'4, 228#

Using barbells, in the context of this site, refers to strength training. Clayton Kershaw is a long and thin person he obviously doesn't strength train or he would weigh more.

If Clayton Kershaw was strong, then ESPN would go absolutely crazy like they did when Bryce Harper did a 500 pound trap bar deadlift, and play a video of him lifting everyday for a month.

[LimieJosh]

I played college baseball. Unfortunately, I wish I knew then what I know now. Too many 1-leg stabilization exercises and not enough heavy squats. I'm making up for time lost.

Unfortunately, the well-known MLB S&C coaches are all about the silly bullshit. Although, the Orioles have instituted more olympic lifting into their program, which seems to be a step in the right direction.

Where I played we had a baseball team that was awful. This was mostly a lack of resources issue that translated into only being to attract subpar talent. However, the lads were huge. It was almost as if someone on the staff had realised what the most effective approach was of bridging a natural talent gap with the teams they had to play.

[pstein]

So it wasn't that he was weight training and bulked up, it's that he went overboard and was stupid about it. (And that's if you buy the idea that the injuries to his throwing arm and lower back are from weight training, not from the decade-plus of throwing a baseball as hard as possible.)

I'm a Mets fan and in a unique, depressing situation.

My view is that Syndergaard's muscle gain isn't really the issue. The issue is that his mechanics were able to change as a result. I would bet that the increased muscle mass in his upper body had him using his legs less and his arm/back more. This often happens with hitters when they gain significant muscle mass.

By the way, MLB organizations are getting better about this. Someone mentioned the Orioles doing WL as part of their training; I think the Nationals are starting to do it as well.

[DodgerDog]

I'm a Mets fan and in a unique, depressing situation.

My view is that Syndergaard's muscle gain isn't really the issue. The issue is that his mechanics were able to change as a result. I would bet that the increased muscle mass in his upper body had him using his legs less and his arm/back more. This often happens with hitters when they gain significant muscle mass.

By the way, MLB organizations are getting better about this. Someone mentioned the Orioles doing WL as part of their training; I think the Nationals are starting to do it as well.

Or pitching is just dangerous and you're likely to get hurt.