Oh, what the hell - what's another update? I've been waiting to play Team Fortress 2, but with the new update (Level 3 Teleporters and Dispensers OMG), the servers I play on don't yet have the patch installed, which includes a modification to my favorite level, pl_goldrush. As such, I have to wait until that's installed, and in the meantime, why not update with some reader requests that have been pending for awhile!

Aaron King is a 19-year old left-handed pitcher in the San Francisco Giants organization and did quite well in his professional debut. He was drafted 207th overall out of Surry CC in Dobson, North Carolina. King's fastball runs at about 87-88 mph and he pairs it with a slider and changeup (I think).

Let's check out his pitching mechanics:

No sir, I don't like it.

Tempo: King is 25 frames from maximal leg lift to footplant, which is Bad. He has the same problem as Kyle Gibson, though it is not as pronounced: King has wasted motion in his tall leg kick that does not contribute to forward motion.

Arm Action: Really bad. Take a look at this image:

Like Kyle Gibson, he drags his arm and forcibly loads it beyond his acromial line in a pattern of horizontal shoulder abduction. This leads to minor hyperabduction and a major timing problem, as his arm just barely passes through the vertical plane as he turns his shoulders. Additionally, a closer inspection of the video shows that he turns his shoulders before his foot is planted and his hips are maximally rotated; this inefficiency will sap potential velocity. Very Bad.

Ball Release: Pretty good, actually. King achieves triple extension by locking out his gloveside leg, which will add to final velocity but also could cause damage to his hip and knee (I don't think it's much of a concern, to be honest). He has his glove in a high position and sets himself up for a good followthrough. Good.

Followthrough: King takes all that's good during the ball release phase and ruins it here. He drags his glove arm back and abruptly stands up rather than continuing his center of mass forward and allowing his shoulders to turn to take stress off his arm. Bad.

Like the past few pitchers I just analyzed, Aaron King forcibly scap loads, has a major timing problem, and has an overall bleak outlook on his future health.