The Padres placed Chris Young on the DL today - retroactive to August 11 - with what is being called a "strained right forearm." It is believed that he sustained the injury in a 16-7 loss against Colorado. He will miss his next scheduled start , but it is unknown if he will miss any additional time, though Doctors are optimistic that he will be able to return this season.
Though the injury occurred during that game, is it possible that this strain could be in any way related to his lack of production earlier this season? In other words, was this something that was developing all along, and just reached the breaking point during the start against the Rockies?
Back on July 11, I wrote an article for The Hardball Times outlining Chris Young’s less-than-stellar performance even before the injury to his face, and posed the possibility that he was dealing with a forearm or elbow problem. It is certainly possible that this was the case.
With a drastic increase in his walk rates, decreased vertical and horizontal movement of his pitches, a drop in velocity, and an altered release point, something clearly was not right even before his face met the Albert Pujols liner.
In my article, I wrote: "Typically, when an elbow injury is brewing (or present), a pitcher with normally good control will begin to issue more free passes."
Young typically has good control, so his 5.27 BB/9 this season is terrible when you compare it to his career 3.42 BB/9, or to the 3.46 and 3.75 he posted in ‘06 and ‘07, respectively.
Aaron Harang has also had a similar output trend, though not as noticeable. He has a 2.48 BB/9 this season, compared to 2.17, 2.15, and 2.02 in 2005, 2006, and 2007, respectively. Both pitchers have also been hit harder this season, as evidenced by the line drive percentage allowed (Harang 23.9 % - career high; Young, 27.4% - career high).
While it is open to discussion as to whether or not this problem was brewing earlier in the year, his production (or lack thereof), as well as the PITCHf/x data seems to hint that something was awry.
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