Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 4:59 pm Post subject: Dallas Buck
I've been meaning to post this for a few days now, but am just finally getting around to it.
Buck hopes lifting helps ailing elbow
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Yes, Dallas Buck has a problem with his pitching arm, and it's not minor. No, he's not having Tommy John surgery -- just yet.
"I want to avoid it as long as I can," the two-time Oregon State all-America right-hander said Monday. "It's probably inevitable at some point, but I don't want to do it yet."
Buck, the third-round draft choice of the Arizona Diamondbacks, said he has a 40 percent tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the same injury that caused former major league star Tommy John to have his elbow rebuilt in the 1970s and became part of both orthopedic surgery and baseball vernacular.
"It might have been a problem long before last year," said Buck, who got the win in Oregon State's NCAA championship-clinching victory over North Carolina on June 26. "It didn't just happen all of the sudden. I'm not putting out the possibility that (the tear) goes all the way back to high school.
"It never really hurt, and the arm was always strong from the weightlifting I was doing for football."
Buck is back in the weight room. He took out a membership in a fitness center near his Albany home and is working to build up the muscles around the elbow.
He said he hasn't lifted seriously since the winter of his sophomore year at OSU, when he was still playing football for the Beavers. He was at his best as a pitcher when he was lifting.
Buck is confident that the weight-room solution will work. He'll know more when he gets to spring training in Tucson, Ariz.
"It's hard to tell without throwing," he said. "I haven't thrown since instructional league in September. They (Arizona) told me not to do a whole bunch of throwing."
So he's putting off surgery for now.
"Some guys," he said, "pitch their whole career with tears."
See... i dont get this - you werent throwing anyway - just get it done - start fresh...
No one wants to do a year (or more) of rehab. It's absolutely exhausting, mentally and physically and emotionally
Well, yeah - but if the chances are high that you are going to have to do it sometime in your career - why do it late, when he will be fighting for a roster spot, or really getting into the high earning years of your career.. just seems like a good time to get it over with - i am no doctor though - really just depends on the probablilty of having a career with such a tear...
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Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 6:11 pm Post subject:
There is a natural and at times justified total aversion to surgery that is very much a base instinct. And I can testify that intensive painful rehab is a bitch. I agree he should probably have it done now, I'm just saying I fully understand why he is trying to make sure he has no choice. That realization will hit him sooner or later, I fear.
There is a natural and at times justified total aversion to surgery that is very much a base instinct. And I can testify that intensive painful rehab is a bitch. I agree he should probably have it done now, I'm just saying I fully understand why he is trying to make sure he has no choice. That realization will hit him sooner or later, I fear.
I understand - im not saying it would be an easy decision, and i probably should qualify my decision based on the doctors report as well... I was just assuming he would need it in the future...
If it's not a complete tear, the decision to NOT have surgery is not always a no brainer (how's that for a quadruple negative?)... I had partial tears in both my MCL and ACL on my right knee, after a ski fall in France, and I certainly wasn't going to have reconstructive knee surgery for partial tears... that being said, I am not a professional athlete... It did take me a solid year of extra physical therapy and rehab to my knee back to original strength. If you don't tear up your ligaments completely, they'll eventually scar over and hear. Of course, for a pitcher, not tearing up the ligaments completely means not pitching at all... and there's no guarantee in this business. Just look at what Liriano had to go through with a partial tear before having the surgery...
Joined: 10 Aug 2006
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Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 10:09 pm Post subject:
levski wrote:
I had partial tears in both my MCL and ACL on my right knee, after a ski fall in France, and I certainly wasn't going to have reconstructive knee surgery for partial tears... that being said, I am not a professional athlete... It did take me a solid year of extra physical therapy and rehab to my knee back to original strength. If you don't tear up your ligaments completely, they'll eventually scar over and hear.
I was told 15 years ago to have my left knee surgically repaired, elected to ignore the advice, and 15 years later without surgery I'm able to participate at 100% in my chosen sports. But just as in Levski's case, I don't make my living as an athlete.
The latest on eveyone's favorite third-round draft pick...
• Dallas Buck has been throwing twice a week for the past month, and the former Oregon State pitching standout hopes his injury problems are behind him.
The third-round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks went nearly four months through the fall and winter without throwing to allow the right elbow that bothered him all last season to heal.
“It’s feeling a whole lot better,” says the 6-2 right-hander, who was 13-3 with a 3.44 ERA and was winning pitcher in the CWS championship game for the Beavers last season. “I’ve been lifting hard all winter and have my weight up to 215, which is definitely good. I’m as strong as I’ve ever been.”
Buck had a 40 percent tear in his elbow, an injury he believes he incurred before last season began.
“I was so strong from lifting from football, it didn’t affect me that much,” Buck says. “But my arm wasn’t close to as strong as it was starting my first two seasons at Oregon State.”
After Buck toughed it out through last season, he was told by Arizona doctors in the summer they could fix the tear with surgery with an 85 percent success rate.
“That meant there was a 15 percent chance I might never throw again,” Buck says. “(Doctors) said there was a decent chance it would heal on its own.”
That’s the route he chose. Now Buck, who lives with former teammate Jon Koller in Albany in the offseason, will report to spring training Feb. 21, probably headed to high A ball.
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Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:26 am Post subject:
Does serious weight training hurt or help a pitcher? Off the top of my head, I can't recall any pitchers who were buff. Alot of different body types, from David Wells and Ray King, being wide, RJ tall and lanky, BK and Koppy fairly diminutive in stature. Being fit and limber is one thing, but doesn't weight training build muscle mass but can sacrifice flexibility as a result.
Joined: 10 Aug 2006
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Location: Gold Canyon
Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:21 am Post subject:
XB3 wrote:
Does serious weight training hurt or help a pitcher? Off the top of my head, I can't recall any pitchers who were buff. Alot of different body types, from David Wells and Ray King, being wide, RJ tall and lanky, BK and Koppy fairly diminutive in stature. Being fit and limber is one thing, but doesn't weight training build muscle mass but can sacrifice flexibility as a result.
Roger Clemens has packed on a lot of muscle since hitting 40.
Does serious weight training hurt or help a pitcher? Off the top of my head, I can't recall any pitchers who were buff. Alot of different body types, from David Wells and Ray King, being wide, RJ tall and lanky, BK and Koppy fairly diminutive in stature. Being fit and limber is one thing, but doesn't weight training build muscle mass but can sacrifice flexibility as a result.
As a former college pitcher, couldn't get past that, yes weightlifting is very important. You need to build strength and endurance in your legs (most starters have tree trunks for legs), in order to push off for nine innings. That push off can add a lot of power, so a powerful leg is crucial...
As far as upperbody, you can add some velocity by building up your lats,(the muscle that pulls your arm down when its over your head) but you have to be careful because too much lifting can weaken tendons. however, this is gonna sound like a contradiction, if you have naturally weak ligaments and tendons correct weightlifting can fortify them.
However most pitchers just have a natural ability to whip their arms faster than other people, thus you see people like Jesus Sanchez; he was a 5'7 left hander who threw in the 90's. And some people who just naturally have movement: Webb is a great example of this.
Personally, i had to lift a lot to increase my endurance, but bigger muscles mean bigger injuries, so its a constant and careful balance. as you get older you have to rely more on hard work, like lifting, to make up for the natural talent that declines.
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