An excellent New York Times feature on fireballing pitchers like Reds closer Aroldis Chapman, who throw at the upper limits of human velocity, ends with a tidbit about former Cy Young Award winner Mike Marshall.

Mike Marshall, the National League’s Cy Young Award winner in 1974, said that if coaches listened to him, “they’d get 8 to 10 more miles per hour from every pitcher.” He says speeds of 114 to 116 are conceivable. Marshall, 70, has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology. Until a few years ago, he ran a baseball camp in Florida, where he taught pitchers a new way to throw, stopping them from bringing their arms out to the side. He instructed them to throw in as straight a line as possible toward home plate.

The first thing to know about Marshall is that he made 108 relief appearances and threw 208 1/3 innings in 1974 and his arm is still attached to his body, so he’s probably at least worth listening to when he discusses pitching mechanics.

The second thing to know is that he advocates an extremely weird-looking set of pitching mechanics that have never caught on, despite his expertise.

It’s a fascinating thing to consider: Could Marshall’s mechanics really help pitchers throw 10-15 mph faster and stay healthier?

It seems like if that were true, someone would have made it to the Majors using Marshall’s style by now. Keeping pitchers healthy, after all, is one of the greatest challenges that MLB teams face, and front offices should be examining every possible technique for doing so.

But then, baseball teams often seem to be driven as much by fear as they are by innovation: No pitching coach or general manager wants to be the first to blow out a promising arm after implementing radical new pitching mechanics.

Rockies reliever Josh Outman grew up pitching with a delivery his father Fritz developed, one that looks similar to Marshall’s.

But though Outman had success in high school and junior college throwing with his unconventional mechanics, he switched to a traditional windup in college because he was told he would go undrafted if he didn’t. Outman endured Tommy John surgery in 2009, and still advocates his father’s methodology today even if no club he’s played for has let him use it.

Still, as teams try harder and harder to find ways to keep pitchers healthy, and as parents and coaches everywhere gain access to more information on the Internet, it seems inevitable that if the Marshall or Outman methods work, someone will use it in the professional ranks soon. And if just one guy can show that it works, more will follow.

It’s a tricky thing, though. Anyone who endeavors using unconventional mechanics as a pro will likely have to do so without the help of pitching coaches trained in those methods, and if the first guy to try the Marshall style in the minors gets hurt — because pitchers get hurt — then it’ll probably be a long while before anyone tries it again.