There’s always been a fascination with pitchers who throw hard.
Velocity isn’t the be-all and end-all, though, and the Boston Red Sox are trying to hammer home that point with how they operate before Opening Day.
Red Sox interim manager Ron Roenicke confirmed Friday the team isn’t showing radar gun readings during home spring training games at JetBlue Park for the time being. This is to prevent pitchers from focusing too much on how fast they’re throwing early in camp.
“You guys all see what pitchers do later on. They throw a pitch, then it’s rub (their faces) and the eye is right on the radar,” Roenicke explained to reporters in Fort Myers, Fla., via WEEI.com. “Right now, that’s not a good thing. So I think as much as we can stay away — and I realize the fans want that radar up there, we’ll get it up there when (Red Sox pitching coach Dave Bush) feels like, ‘OK, they’re beyond the point, we can start putting it up there.’
“But yeah, it’s there. It’s real. You see it in every big league game. A pitcher comes into the game, he throws that first pitch, and those eyes are right up on the radar. When they don’t see what they are used to seeing, maybe if a guy is 95 (mph) and all of a sudden he looks up there and sees 92, he’s like, ‘Whoa.’ Whether he’s going to throw harder on that next pitch or what, it makes a difference.”
To be clear, velocity is important. Many pitchers thrive off their lively fastballs, and sometimes a little extra heat can help a hurler navigate an opposing lineup when he’s struggling with his control or doesn’t have his best secondary stuff.
Too much of an emphasis on the radar gun can prove detrimental, however, especially early in a pitcher’s development. Not only are some pitchers compromising their mechanics for the sake of adding a few extra miles per hour. They’re also putting themselves at greater risk of arm issues by constantly throwing with max effort.
“The biggest thing for me is the injury factor,” said Roenicke, clearly not a fan of radar guns . “Obviously, we love to see guys coming in out of our bullpen throwing 96 and above, they’ve got movement, they’re spinning the ball. It gives you a lot of comfort when those guys are coming in the game because you know they’re getting away with the mistakes. But it’s all about the injury with me.
“As we move forward in years, is this injury thing going to get worse as we learn how to increase velocities, increase the muscle mass that whatever strength your tendons and ligaments can hold up to, is this going to get worse? If it gets worse, it’s bad. I know we’re smarter than we’ve ever been medically, but yet we’re seeing more injuries than we’ve ever seen.”
As the average velocity across Major League Baseball continues to increase, so, too, does the fascination with radar gun readings. The Red Sox are trying to nip that mindset in the bud, but it certainly entails them going against the grain.
