In Reply to: Does chasing higher spin rate lead to more arm injuries? posted by Impgard on June 24, 2025 at 18:24:40
the last 20 years that I can tell. I was pretty involved in baseball in the 90's and early 2000's. At a high school level, I don't remember a lot of guys throwing consistently in the 90s. Back then the two pitchers I loved watching pitch was Maddux and Pettitte. Maddux was maybe low 90s in his prime and I don't think Pettitte really hit the 90s. Maddux was great at pressure points on the ball to get his fastball to move in or out.
Since I haven't followed a whole lot of baseball over the last few years, I was just amazed how many guys throw so hard now. Was at a DBacks game recently and every pitcher threw hard and batters hit everything. Kinda defeated the Ted Williams saying hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do. Why I was also amazed how hard they threw in the CWS.
My assumption now is they must really have been able to refine pitching techniques now that guys can play this late and continue to throw hard. I wonder if they've been able to get their legs and abs more involved in the motion or what is different now? As far as spin, I couldn't really say, but if the overall pitching motion has evolved and less wear and tear, I'd guess getting higher spin rates is the fine detail in the process.