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15 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP PLAY BALL Tohelpsciencecatchup, Reinold teamed with Andrews for a study on the effects of using weighted baseballs to increase velocity. Their findings remain preliminary, but appear to fall in line with baseball's larger trend. The good: 86 percent of Rein - old's participants added 4 percent to their mph readings. The bad: 27 percent of the par- ticipants wound up injured. And Reinold said that was with an extremely conservative approach over a mere six-week program. What really raised red flags for Reinold during the study was that they found using weighted balls yielded almost immediate phys - iological changes. Participants developed more external rotation in their shoulder, which is good for velocity but also correlates with higher injury risk. These arms were being pushed past their limit. Troubled by the landscape, Reinold not long ago wrote a cau - tionary tale on his blog: "We have enough evidence to know that weighted ball training helps to increase pitching velocity. We've known this for decades. But at what cost? "I hear this comment all the time from injured baseball players: 'I started a weighted ball training program this winter, gained 3-5 mph on my fastball, and then hurt my arm for the first time during the season.' I can't tell you how common that is." ASPITCHERSREACHFOR anything to give their fastballs a boost, hitters are forced to keep pace. At what point does a pitcher throw so hard it's unhittable? Is it 108 mph? 110? 115? None of the above, Giants out - fielder Hunter Pence said. "No matter how hard you ClevelandIndians'BobFellerdeliversa pitch against the Boston Braves in this 1948 World Series sequence. Feller's arm earned him the nickname "Rapid Robert." THE LEAGUE