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Intriguing Reitsma Follow-Up

From the Seattle Times we get an intriguing article about how Chris Reitsma had an extra muscle that was apparently the cause of the numbness he has experienced parts of the last two years.

An extra muscle lay undiscovered in his right elbow, pressing on nerves until his hand became too numb to throw a baseball.

Doctors discovered the extra muscle, and now that it's been removed Reitsma feels stronger and can stretch his arm back farther in his windup than before.

So Antonio Alfonseca (yes, a former Brave) had an extra finger, and now Reits had an extra muscle. And yes, this apparently is rather rare:

But the freakish nature of Reitsma's injury -- his surgeon, the renowned James Andrews, actually made a case study out of it -- has Seattle hoping its latest risk is a calculated one.

Andrews even told Reitsma that the only other person he'd ever seen with his condition was Kenny Rogers -- the singer, not the pitcher.

It really will be interesting to see if Reitsma can have a solid and healthy year. We might say that this case is analogous to Adam LaRoche finally getting on the right medication - once that happened the obstacle to greater success was removed.

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