Rich Harden and the Cubs - Are they hiding an injury?

And have watched every pitch of all his Cubs starts (as well as all his A’s starts).

He’s an interesting one, no?

It’s a little tough to figure him out right now: Is he TRYING to pitch softer, or does he HAVE to pitch softer?

This has been an issue for a long time. I recently bought a 2005 issue of Athletics Magazine that has a feature on Rich. In it, he talks about the fact that he only recently became a pitcher and used to think that he had to throw every pitch as hard as possible. He said that he was just learning that taking something off can be effective, and that his goal was to rely more on location & movement rather than speed. Learning to PITCH and not just throw hard.

He continues to talk just like this in recent interviews. As in quote from last night:

[When asked about his low velocity]: “Who cares?” Harden asked. “I don’t know why everybody puts so much on velocity. The most important thing is the change of speeds. I’ve realized that this year. I used to rear back and try to put everything I had on every pitch.”

Rich knows that taking something off on velocity will help him preserve his arm. If he can manage to keep velocity down AND still get outs based on stuff/movement/location/speed change, he absolutely will do it.

But DO we believe him that he really HAS the high-90’s stuff in his back pocket and CAN use it when he needs it? I somewhat believe him: In his last August start, he was keeping everything high 80s / low 90s, but for special situations (out pitches), he would dial it to 96/97. He also finished that night strong with all high-90’s velocities on his final 5 or so pitches. That leads me to believe he can still hit those speeds, but prefers not to when he doesn’t have to.

Did he have that extra gear LAST night? I’m not sure that he did. I think I saw him hit 94 once, and nothing above it. That might be some cause for concern, but then again, he had just had the 12 days off and maybe that threw him off a little. It’s hard to say whether the extra rest is to blame, or an injury. Could be either one. I’m sure time will tell us.

Another issue – Strikeouts. Yes, he had far fewer strikeouts last night (3) than the 10-11 per night he was pulling off in his first few Cubs starts. But is he TRYING to do that? When he gets a lot of strikeouts, it drives up his pitch count very quickly and limits him to only about 5 innings of work. I think he’s said he TRIES to get outs other ways in order to keep the pitch count down and stay in the game longer. Also, he’s less likely to be able to rack up those strikeouts if he’s not gonna use his heater. If he CAN get outs consistently in non-strikeout ways, it would serve him well to do so.

In conclusion – Right now, it’s hard to tell how much of his recent changes have been done on purpose, and how much have been necessitated by a current injury. I think it’s a mixture of the two, but time will tell…

I have not watched all of his pitches this year, but I am inclined to believe that Rich is learning how to be more effective on the mound with location and changing speeds instead of relying on the heater.

His small frame and the torque that his explosive pitching style took on his body as an A, simply could not be sustainable. I would submit that if Rich can contiune to evolve into a location and change of speed pitcher he will be a MORE deadly pitcher than he already is. Time will tell of course.

I think the mental angle is to be explored as well. Competitors like Harden do not want to sit on the bench or be in constant rehab sessions. They want to pitch. I would assume since it became apparent that his body could not handle the torque that he DID have to change his pitching mechanics/style in order to stay in games.

Count me as a Rich Harden fan and I wish him all the best (and will follow his career) as a Cubbie.

once during his rookie season (he started a converstion with me, and I though he was a ballboy at first!) I really like him and have always been a fan.

I think he’s learned to be a pitcher rather than a thrower. When he gets lots of strikeouts he doesn’t get deep into games, so it doesn’t surprise me that he may be trying to change that.

And who knows? He may be going through a bit of dead arm — since he’s so rarely had this many starts in a season he usually hasn’t had a chance to go through the dea arm period.

The Cubs have a 99+% chance of making the playoffs, so rarely using him and only letting him throw 86 pitches is fine. That is not indicative of a problem; it’s just smart to save his fragile arm for games that matter.

What should be worrisome is the velocity drop. When he was going well with the Cubs he was around 94. That’s the “not putting everything into one pitch” Harden that’s very, very good. But last night was something else. Maybe it was a bit of rust from not pitching for two weeks. I have no idea. But really, the Cubs only need to squeeze another month out of him. If they win the World Series with/because of Harden, they could’ve given up every single player in every level of the minors and it would be worth it to that organization (yeah, hyperbole, but it’s honestly not too far from the truth).

http://www.athleticsnation.com/2008/9/2/606609/here-we-go

imho, it’s arm fatigue because he hasn’t reached this many innings pitched in a while.

Oh and for the record, he’s always hiding an injury.