Mike Marshall has been getting a lot of publicity of late. His radical views on pitching have gotten some high-profile attention in both Will Carroll’s Saving The Pitcher and in a superb column by Lindsey Willwhite of the Daily Herald. Marshall’s contention in the latter article is that Mark Prior’s mechanics are fundamentally flawed and that these mechanical flaws are responsible for his current injury. He also contends that Prior’s problematic mechanics will inevitably result in a career-ending injury. If you haven’t figured this out yet, Marshall’s argument is heresy to the mainstream pitching coaches that view Prior’s pitching motion as ambrosia from the Heavens.

Marshall’s website features a lengthy (!) “FREE BOOK!!!” called Coaching Pitchers that gathers together his teachings on the pitching motion, proper preparation for pitching, pitching injuries, and a multitude of other pitching-related topics. He also posts “Question/Answer Files” that are epic in length. At times enlightening and at times utterly annoying, these Q&As are nonetheless riveting reading. Marshall comes across as “the living embodiment of passion, but it’s both positive and negative,” as Will Carroll puts it in a recent blog entry about the Daily Herald article. In other words, Marshall’s writing style is that of a zealot, undying in his dedication to the cause, unrelenting in his confidence in his methods, and always with an axe to grind with traditional pitching coaches. Much of his commentary is unnecessarily dense, filled with high-level medical terminology and his own pitching vernacular (e.g. “Torque Fastball Slider” and “Maxline True Screwball,” as he ridiculously names two of his pitches).

Yet despite his abrasiveness, I can’t help but think that Marshall has something important to say, something that could very well be valuable in the marketplace of pitching ideas. I have started reading his book and am interested in learning more about the debate between Marshall and “the establishment.” Maybe I’m just a sucker for outsiders, but this discussion is riveting to me and I hope that more “baseball people” are willing to investigate his claims with an open mind. Marshall could very well be wrong, but to discount his theories entirely because of his lack of people skills is not going to do anyone any good.