Father has concerns about Joba Chamberlain’s move to pen

Harlan: The First Dangerous Vision?

Make no mistake Harlan Chamberlain, Joba’s father, is happy for his son. But he was rather quick to admit in a telephone interview earlier this afternoon that he has some health reservations about his 21-year-old son pitching out of the bullpen at this stage of his blossoming career.

...“Immediately, I thought down the road,” he said. “I kind of looked at long-term gratification and success, instead of immediate return, immediate success, and all those thoughts went through my mind – they’re going to take you out of your zone that you’re in and put you in something that basically is real new to you. It’s a whole different set of circumstances as to the recovery of your body, arm, what have you. I just finally came to the conclusion that his body can acclimate itself to the five-day rotation versus the seven-day that he had in college.”

...And Harlan also made his son promise to him that he would speak up the very second he feels any twinge of discomfort. “I stressed to him that he needs to be vocal about it from the very beginning and not to let it fester,” Harlan said, “and he assured me he will do that.”