WEEI links to an article in Japanese in which Daisuke Matsuzaka blames his shoulder problems on the Red Sox training techniques and says he wants to go back to his Japanese workout:

“If I’m forced to continue to train in this environment, I may no longer be able to pitch like I did in Japan,” Matsuzaka is quoted as saying in the article, which was written by Taeko Yoshii. “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.”

According to the story (to which WEEI.com was referred by Harvard Professor Andrew Gordon), Matsuzaka still laments the fact that the Sox do not permit him to practice nagekomi, or marathon throwing sessions. The pitcher believes that such between-starts work increases arm strength and the touch for breaking pitches. The article suggests that Matsuzaka exhausted his shoulder in the WBC because the Sox would not permit him to practice nagekomi in his build-up to the tournament.

On the other hand, Brad Penny believes the Red Sox program saved him from surgery on his shoulder. Interestingly, one of the reasons Matsuzaka says the Red Sox gave him for not allowing a different workout was racism:

In conversations between the pitcher and the club, Matsuzaka’s theories have been treated with skepticism and perhaps even discomfort. Indeed, the article suggests as much.

“Recently, when he mentioned physical difference between races, team officials were simply baffled,” the article said, in a passage that appears to represent Matsuzaka’s recollection of a conversation. “One of them responded to him in a cracked voice, ‘If I ever recognized such a thing, I would be severely bashed by the media as a racist.’”

I highly doubt Japanese shoulders are any different than other groups shoulders. (It’s possible, since the Japanese were isolated on an island, their shoulder evolution could be different.) Of course, it could all come down to the theory that there are only so many pitches in an arm, and when you reach your limit you’re done. Dice-K threw a lot of pitches in Japan, so maybe he just got to his limit sooner. It could also be that nagekomi is a better way to develop the shoulder. Does anyone know of a study that compares Japanese pitcher longevity with that of players in Major League Baseball?

Hat tip, RedSoxNow.