One more thing... He was told it would be next June before he could throw in games again...

Those were Nick's words... I don't have alot of insight into how his new versions mechanics have affected his arm, and this injury. From everything I know about UCL damage, it really weakens over time. I will say from my own experience, that sometimes working on a new pitch disrupts timing... that disruption can lead to added stress on one part of the body. I'm sure there is alot of pressure on the arm of a 6'5" 230 kid falling down a hill.

As far as his mechanics prior to the Red Sox.... Nick definitely began pitching with a more "athletic" mindset when he went to Washington. Basically, the theory was to gain as much linear momentum as possible, and limit the traditional steps that make the motion somewhat robotic for many pitchers. I don't know the exact changes the Red Sox made beyond the fact that they wanted him to "stay back" more, in Nick's words.

As an editorial... there's quite a gap between some schools of thought with pitching. It seems like the big league clubs (all of them) are much more traditional with their approach. The colleges seem to be more experimental/on the cutting edge of new understandings of mechanics. I think that experiment can go both ways, in terms of effectiveness. Big league clubs in my experience, much like their scouts... are very predictable in their way of doing things. They are very skeptical to new ideas...

I know that Nick was originally very leary of being taught a new way to throw (I think any of the big league teams were going to address it), because he really thrived and made large gains in his performance at UW. However, he told me that he was very happy with what the Red Sox had done with him... his velocity reached even new heights just within the last few months, from what I understand. He'll be back... it's hard to imagine he could get much stronger, but hey... if this ligament has been weakened all this time... maybe so? I'm sure he'll one day punish my Mariners :-)