Dice K: Sox Training Program Stinks

WEEI reports that Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka complained in the Japanese press this week about the Red Sox' training program, citing it as the cause of the shoulder injury that has twice sent him to the disabled list this season.

In Dice-K's words:

The only reason why I managed to win games during the first and second years (in the U.S.) was because I used the savings of the shoulder I built up in Japan. Since I came to the Major Leagues, I couldn't train in my own way, so now I've lost all those savings.

Japanese pitchers are used to training nagekomi, or using marathon throwing sessions. Dice-K claims that the practice, anathema in the Major Leagues, where strict pitch counts and light throwing regimens are thought to prolong careers, is necessary to build proper pitching strength, citing the ignominious Major League careers of other Japanese pitchers as evidence. The Sox, for their part, claim that the organization's training techniques build long-term pitching strength.

Dice-K isn't alone in his skepticism about modern pitching training. Texas Rangers general manager Nolan Ryan, no slouch himself, has banished pitch counts from the Rangers' strategy, stressing rigorous conditioning programs that build pitchers' strength so that they can go deeper into games. Ryan's program has yet to be fully evaluated, but he remains adamant that it works. Perhaps a trade to Arlington is in order. Without a pitch count, Daisuke might even get out of the fifth inning.