Can't Miss Prospects
by NastyNate82 on Sep 4, 2010 2:18 AM EDT
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PrintThe whole Strasburg situation vexes me. To me, you really can't fault the Nats. They took every precaution, followed very "rule" for young pitchers, and they still got burned. It alternately makes me feel we know both more and less about young pitchers than we ever did. TI still think that having a pitcher like this is driving; you can be the best driver in the world, follow all the rules and laws of the road, and still get into a car accident.
This article; its just an interesting take. Tough love for Strasburg, and I suppose for young phenoms everywhere. An interesting perspective, and I don't know how many people reference this site, but I enjoy it because I think he looks harder for flaws in the ginormous prospects like Harper and Strasburg. Sink your teeth in, folks.
http://baseballbeginnings.com/2010/09/01/strasburg%e2%80%99s-deal#more-8971
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Tough love
I agree with most of the column, but there are other factors here, too.
One is the media, which naturally enough built Strasburg into the Second Coming. What were fans—or Strasburg himself—supposed to think? I think this also applies, to a lesser extent, to the Bucs’ wonderful draft signings. We expect these guys to be in the front of the rotation in a couple of years, but with all the variables, injury chief among them, the odds are still fairly long.
The second factor is coaching. I don’t think there’s an accepted style across all teams for developing young pitchers. Some teams do it well; others don’t. The Rays aren’t just lucky. They have a system, and it works. And the Pirates aren’t just unlucky. . .they just don’t seem to have it down yet, but maybe they will. Even the very best teams screw up good arms. Look at the Yankees. Chamberlain is a mess, and a few years ago, New York had a half-dozen good pitching prospects. Only Phil Hughes came through, and the jury is still out on him.
That's why we signed three of them.
So that even if we lose one or two along the way, we still (theoretically) end up with one still standing.
young arms, old arms
i cant explain this: why is that these pitchers who get hurt, always get hurt once they become professionals? maybe its because they are not pitching enough?? when you can throw 100mph, shouldnt you always be working on this so that your arm can take that kind of stress? he was fine in college, pitched a ton of innings. old skool pros like nolan ryan, carlton, etc, they pitched 300 innings a year and rarely had problems. maybe the innings limit is a huge mistake…
Once again:
1. The Ryans, Gibsons, Carltons etc. generally did not sniff 200 innings until they were considerably older and stronger than Strasburg. With 16-18 teams and a four-man rotation, they generally had to pitch out of the bullpen and wait their turn until they were 23, 24, 25.
2. They also pitched during a time (the second deadball era, 1962-1968) when the pitcher had every advantage: sky-high mounds, a huge strike zone, and teams moving from places like Ebbets Field to Dodger Stadium.
3. In the 1890s, pitchers threw 500 innings a year. Those guys probably thought Nolan Ryan was a pussy, conveniently ignoring the fact it was a different game in the 1890s, just like it was in the 1960s.
by bucdaddy on Sep 4, 2010 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Heh.
Re: point #3:
See this link.
If it just gives you the front page of the magazine, go to page 41. The article you want is “Pitchers are Sissies Now”, by Kid Nichols, written in 1948. Among other things, he says that there are too many pitchers on modern staffs (ten! why would you ever need more than three?!) and complains about modern pitchers focusing on “tricky deliveries” like the curveball.
Nichols was a tough dude. Seven seasons with 40+ complete games, with a high of 49 in 1892.
Top pitchers get hurt a lot...
…before they become professionals, too. It just isn’t a big news story.
Throwing a baseball that hard is an unnatural motion, and it puts a lot of strain on the body.
i agree completely
im just playing devil’s advocate. but i still think that the arms are being babied way too much. plus weight lifting is way more prevelant this day and age and i truly belive that it affects the joints. im a former power lifter and i can barely throw a baseball any more.
Strasburg's injury was due to bad mechanics...
Everyone who followed Strasburg before the draft knew that the only real knock on him was that his mechanics (the inverted W) were very risky. I think teams, and high school/college coaches, should now realize how important a pitchers mechanics are.
The inverted W is a bunch of hoo-hah
Not to get too technical.
I agree . . .
and feel, to a certain extent, it undermines the credibility of MLB.
Everything that guy just said is bullshit . . .thank you
What I mean by that . . .
is random chance is the enemy of any competition (no one would be interested in a coin toss league). If, no matter what a team does, pitchers get hurt, it brings a feeling of random chance to baseball.
Everything that guy just said is bullshit . . .thank you
I didnt like the aritcle
Too much “I told ya so” type stuff where the guy seems to paint himself as the only one who saw it coming.
Im not sold on Mike Leake being a better pro than strasburg. A lot of guys ahve had TJ as young hard throwers, Josh Johnson comes to mind immediately
RIP NATE. RIP TONY PLUSH.
"I'D BE A CHEF"
-TONY PLUSH
Frankie Liriano is another...though it took him awhile to get back
For the most part, this guy steer clears of the “I told ya so,” stuff I think. But this article sure reads that way, no other way to really read it. The thing I like, however, is looking hard for flaws in guys like Harper and Strasburg. And I don’t mean like the scout who said Harper can’t hit the fastball on the outside corner (how many people can at 17?! One of the dumbest criticisms I’ve ever seen).
The one thing Keith Law mentioned was how big jumps in veloicty over a year or so and its connection to arm injuries. Would be very interesting to see other guys who fit that bill of a big jump in velocity and who’ve blown their arm.
A lot of this is individual physiology
Some guys survive tons of innings year after year, and other guys have bombs ticking in their arms. That said, some pretty savvy folks I know faulted his mechanics for a while. One consults with Dr. Andrews, and told ms that the Nats and Wiemieh Douoguieh, the DC orthopedist who treats Strasburg’s arm and used to treat my wife’s knew, blew him off.
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