I'm grumps.
Seriously.
I'm grumps at the Giants management/organization right now for how they manipulated this 2 time cy young winner, MLB all star, strike out/shut out winner and changed him (probably for the rest of his career).
In 2011, it was Timmy's last great season. He had just missed his 3rd cy young, just by a little but was an MLB all star. That year was the last year he did his old style of pitching.
Timmy had an unconventional style of pitching. He was a string bean (tall & lanky). Despite his slender build (was about 5'11" at 150-170lbs in his earlier years) and because of his uncanny ability to turn his body into basically a human slingshot, he was able to pull of high 90 fast balls on average. I don't think he ever reached 100, but definitely got really close.
Just to show how he used to do it.
In 2012, they changed his pitching style. They wanted him to be slightly more 'conventional' because they had stated that, throwing this way would lessen how long he could really play in the long run. He had been putting his body through much more than normal stress and that this could make for easier injury.
Idiots.
The man has been throwing this way since he was 5. He had developed his musculature to have a certain amount of elasticity - to cater to his throwing style. 20 years. 20 years of conditioning to be able to throw like this and ONE year, they decide - lets keep him around longer and completely re-engineer this amazing talent.
I call bullshit. I don't think it was to save him from easier injury. I think they switched him up for greed. We all know that the greats in the hall of fame who threw similarly, retired earlier. They wanted to keep him to his mid 30's and didn't want to let go of his lucrative franchise presence. They couldn't just leave a perfect pitcher alone and let him ride out his talent till his early 30's and go out with a bang.
So they bulked him up. They wanted that fast ball faster. He gained 20lbs of fucking muscle. 20lbs is a huge amount for a slender guy.
I was in ballet for a really long time. I know how flexibility works. Not to mention, I studied physiology and anatomy for like 4 fucking years.
His underlying musculature has been conditioned to bear the strain of his throw. The newly built muscles are built tight. He's not building those muscles through yoga, he's building those muscles through repetitious weight lifting. Yeah okay, it may look nice - but it doesn't build flexibility. It doesn't allow elasticity in muscles. It just bulks you up - makes you physically stronger. That doesn't help you when your pitching style is designed to use your entire body as a slingshot - using the hyperextension, torsion, momentum from the elasticity of your movement. I'm so pissed.
They realized that the pitching style wasn't working for him. 2012-2013, it was awful seasons for him. When he did play, he'd have strained and pulled muscles. He was taken out quite a bit due to injury. NO FUCKING SHIT. He's officially benched. My 2x cy young winner is a bench warmer. Barry Zito #2. It makes me sad.
So they brought him back in 2014 and said, "Hey I know this new style is not working for you - lets just get you conditioned back to what you were." What they're really trying to say is that you're not making anymore money for us - go back to what you did, because they'd rather have that to his mid 30's instead of nothing at all. FUCKING IDIOTS.
You can't make elasticity in musculature like that *snap*. It takes YEARS of conditioning. YEARS.
A cousin of mine is a professional ballerina in Japan. She got a full scholarship to Julliard in New York. She went, and they asked her to gain some weight. She was 5'10" (i know, she was the giant in the family) and was super skinny - like 130lbs. They asked her to put on 20lbs of lean muscle because they were afraid that she wouldn't have the stamina to do some things. She was super flexible prior to gaining the new musculature, then after, was not able to do the splits horizontally again. Her hyperextensions became average.
He played an inning and a half in game 2. Did awesome and THREW OUT HIS FUCKING BACK. I almost cried. Seriously!! Like gave it his all, did a great job for the sake of his team, the pressure of the world fucking series, and the fans, and threw out his fucking back!!!!!!!! OMG!!!
I hope they take him out for a season (or play him lightly) and give him extensive stretching over the course of the year. He doesn't need conditioning as much as the average pitcher in the off season because he, unlike many other pitchers, has so much natural born talent - that he doesn't need to copy anyone. He JUST is him and that's fucking awesome.
So sad but waiting in anticipation for the rest of this World Series.
xo
M
