I've already talked about Anthony Reyes and his poor mechanics in the past, but as I was going through some clips of mine, I realized I had one from when he was pitching with Cleveland.

Take a look...

As you can plainly see (I slowed it down to make sure), Reyes still gets his elbow way up there in hyperabduction and takes his elbow well behind the acromial line in forced horizontal shoulder abduction. What I didn't notice before is a bad grab (tension in the wrist) and an absolutely terrible followthrough - look how he slams the brakes on his arm after he releases it!

This pitching motion is absolutely unique to Anthony Reyes and Mark Prior (teammates at USC and taught the delivery from Tom House who was inspired by Paul Nyman), though Stephen Strasburg reminds me a lot of both (though not as bad). Reyes has done stints on the DL for the following injuries:

• 2004: Missed two months to shoulder tendinitis.
• 2005: Missed two weeks to a sprained acromioclavicular (AC) joint.
• Mid-2008: Missed two weeks with an elbow injury.
• Late 2008: Missed the rest of the regular season with an elbow injury.

I'm probably missing information between 2005 and 2008, but regardless, the evidence is all there. A sprained acromioclavicular joint (junction between the acromion and clavicle) is pretty uncommon amongst pitchers, and I suspect it has a lot to do with the hyperabduction that he places his pitching upper arm into. This can be pretty serious - repeated damage to this joint can cause avulsion fractures, where the ligament pulls shards of bone away from the main mass of bone.

Prognosis: Steadily dropping velocity, a lowering of his arm slot to protect his shoulder, repeated stints on the DL for shoulder and elbow inflammation, and eventually major reconstructive surgery on his shoulder (to be followed by elbow surgery a few years later). I would be more worried about his shoulder than his elbow, but his mechanics are dangerous to both and cascade injuries are common when a pitcher lowers his arm slot to protect his shoulder (see also: Carlos Zambrano).