Many readers will notice that Justin Duchscherer will undergo arthroscopic elbow surgery. Here on Driveline Mechanics, I said that The Duke has some of the best mechanics in baseball, and additionally was one of my favorite pitchers to watch with his underwhelming arsenal of stuff.

I would like to point out (as I always seem to do) that I can't control the fact that 99.9% of pitchers in the major leagues throw at least one breaking ball with a supinated grip. Due to this, they'll all have inflamed elbows and eventually will suffer elbow damage - regardless of how their mechanics grade out otherwise.

This is a major hurdle for the Pitcher Risk Database - without high-speed up-close video of every pitch a pitcher throws, I can't say for sure if a pitcher releases his curve or slider with a pronated grip - but it's extremely unlikely, since the bulk of instruction is a thumbs-up pull-down-the-lampshade garden variety stuff that will damage the back of the elbow.

All I can do is grade the tempo, arm action, ball release, and followthrough. Perhaps, with time, I'll acquire the means and the facilities to biomechanically analyze pitchers like ASMI does. I can only say that this is a major life goal of mine, and that all of the money I earn from coaching indvidual players (which isn't much) is saved to bring that concept to reality.

EDIT: I should clarify - I teach curveballs thrown with a supinated grip, however, I teach pitchers pronate through release. The only pitch thrown with a pronated grip is a screwball (and to lesser extents, fastballs and changeups). Sorry for the confusion.