Major League Baseball 2010

[sahyder1]

Randy Johnson had control issues early on. He didn't have the control that Prior, Pedro and Strasburg possess at a similar age. Prior being 3rd in Cy Young voting means nothing. His arm got abused in 2003 when he hadn't pitched anywhere close to the amount of innings he ended up throwing that year. That's what hurt him.

[rocksta]

Yah but none of those issues have anything to do with being a power pitcher which was my point.

Edited May 22, 2010 by rocksta

[naiwf]

Now that teams have seen "can't miss prospects" blow out their arms, they're much more protective of those guys than they were just a handful of years ago.

Mark Prior

2002 - 19 starts, 116.2 IP in the bigs (6.14/start)

2002 - 9 starts, 51 IP in the minors (5.67)

TOTAL - 28 starts, 167.2 IP (5.99)

2003 - 30 starts, 211.1 IP in the bigs (7.03, that's basically Halladay territory in a guy's second year)

There's no way any other guy drafted that early in the draft will pitch nearly 400 innings in their first two seasons anymore.

Joba Chamberlain

2007 - 15 starts, 88.1 IP in the minors (5.89)

2007 - 0 starts, 24 IP in the majors

TOTAL - 15 starts, 112.1 IP

2008 - 12 starts/42 games, 100.1 IP in the majors

2009 - 31 starts, 157.1 IP (5.08)

In essence Joba has pitched less innings in his first 3 full seasons than Prior did in his first two, and they're still babying his arm by making him a set up man this year.

David Price

2008 - 19 starts, 109.2 IP in the minors (5.77)

2008 - 1 start/5 games, 14 IP in the majors

TOTAL - 20 starts, 123.2 IP

2009 - 8 starts, 34.1 IP in the minors (4.29)

2009 - 23 starts, 128.1 IP in the majors (5.58)

TOTAL - 31 starts, 162.2 IP (5.24)

Price just crossed the 300 inning mark this year and he has the makings of being an elite pitcher.

Strasburg should be just fine. He'll pitch about 150 innings this year, 175 or so all in the bigs next year and then work up to 200 by year #3. Everyone has learned that it takes time to build up your arm strength these days and murdering your top prospects because you're trying to win now ends up with a whole lot of disappointed fans.

Edited May 22, 2010 by naiwf

[HailtotheYo]

Yah but none of those issues have anything to do with being a power pitcher which was my point.

And it's wrong. Mark Prior being a power pitcher killed his arm when he was rushed to the majors. He had a grand total of 54 minor league innings before debuting. All he knew how to do, was "throw" in terms of pitching in the major leagues. He hadn't learned anything and was just thrown on the mound. The Cubs tried to rely on an underdeveloped and inexperienced arm. The fact that he was a power pitcher, made it worse. The entire deal with power pitchers is that you "throw till it blows" ... a power pitcher relies on velocity of all his pitches and not the accuracy, placement, or anything else.

In contrast, Randy Johnson threw 373 innings in the minors before his big league debut. They taught him how to pitch first ... and then let him loose. He's a power pitcher that ended up throwing 4135.1 innings in the majors ... Prior threw 657. Wonder why. Oh, because Prior's arm blew because he was nothing but a power pitcher that hadn't been developed.

The fact that Prior was a power pitcher ... and nothing more than a power pitcher, is why his arm blew.

How many of those Wakefield arms have you heard about going sour ? There's a reason that the "busted arms" list is chock full of guys that throw serious gas.

[SeanDMan]

Arm motion on a slider or a curve is more harmful than just throwing a fastball. Trying to throw a sliding curve or a slurve makes things even worse. It depends on what it is that finally goes. If it's a shoulder or neck related issue, it's from straightforward hurling. The elbow bears more of the strain of horizontal motion.

[Lowerdeck]

I think Dice-K's performance tonight makes him the biggest clusterfuck in the major leagues.

Flashes of brilliance, between periods of "why are you not in Pawtucket already?"

[sahyder1]

Yah but none of those issues have anything to do with being a power pitcher which was my point.

And it's wrong. Mark Prior being a power pitcher killed his arm when he was rushed to the majors. He had a grand total of 54 minor league innings before debuting. All he knew how to do, was "throw" in terms of pitching in the major leagues. He hadn't learned anything and was just thrown on the mound. The Cubs tried to rely on an underdeveloped and inexperienced arm. The fact that he was a power pitcher, made it worse. The entire deal with power pitchers is that you "throw till it blows" ... a power pitcher relies on velocity of all his pitches and not the accuracy, placement, or anything else.

In contrast, Randy Johnson threw 373 innings in the minors before his big league debut. They taught him how to pitch first ... and then let him loose. He's a power pitcher that ended up throwing 4135.1 innings in the majors ... Prior threw 657. Wonder why. Oh, because Prior's arm blew because he was nothing but a power pitcher that hadn't been developed.

The fact that Prior was a power pitcher ... and nothing more than a power pitcher, is why his arm blew.

How many of those Wakefield arms have you heard about going sour ? There's a reason that the "busted arms" list is chock full of guys that throw serious gas.

Uh....do you know baseball at all? Sliders and curves are far more harmful for a pitcher compared to a fastball. He broke down because he wasn't used to pitching that many innings.

I'm headed to Citi Field for the 2nd time in 2 weeks for the Sunday Night Mets/Yankees game. My brother ended up winning tickets on Twitter from Chris Carlin. Hoping the seats are great (not that there really is a bad seat in the park).

Edited May 23, 2010 by sahyder1

[SeanDMan]

I'm not sure whether it was Mark Prior (it might have been Kerry Wood), but I remember reading an interview where they said they had tried to change their curve from a vertical drop to more of a sweeping curve, and managed about 5 games before they needed elbow surgery.

[sahyder1]

I'm not sure whether it was Mark Prior (it might have been Kerry Wood), but I remember reading an interview where they said they had tried to change their curve from a vertical drop to more of a sweeping curve, and managed about 5 games before they needed elbow surgery.

I'm pretty sure Prior was the one that had arm angle issues. It really is quiet a shame what happened to him. I was a huge Prior fan. Even picked up a Prior shirt outside of Wrigley on my one trip to Chicago.

[Meacon Keaton]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5212413

Jose Lima dead at 37. How unfortunate.

[HailtotheYo]

Uh....do you know baseball at all? Sliders and curves are far more harmful for a pitcher compared to a fastball. He broke down because he wasn't used to pitching that many innings.

Uh yeah, I do. I also majored in Kinesiology and had an entire year of study in body mechanics in relation to sports.

In baseball particularly:

Overload, Overuse, Conditioning, Throwing Mechanics.

Those are the four keys to a pitcher's arm. If you use him too much, too often, don't condition the entire body correctly, and don't teach the proper mechanics then you're highly likely to end up with a blown arm. There's also a basic, physiological, and universal truth for the mechanics of the body: The more power and force generated, the greater the chance of injury.

Sure, the mechanics of some pitchers are "worse" than others when pitches/pitching isn't taught correctly. Done correctly though none are overtly damaging. Too be honest, the overhand throwing motion in itself is horrid on the body.

[naiwf]

The Mets just completed a 3 game sweep against the Phillies and gave up a grand total of 0 runs. They hadn't done that against Philly since '69.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

WELL WHO'S GONNA WIN 30 GAMES

DOC HALLADAY

WHO'S GONNA WIN 30 GAMES

DOC HALLADAY

I did not know that there was a song about the best pitcher in baseball. Nor that it was written by a Peter Buck side project.

[Trey]

Cardinals and Cubs play each other for the first time this season today. Being from the area it feels like it took way to long for the rivalry to get started this year but it's still a great watch.

[Lowerdeck]

And yet the Red Sox and Yanks have already played each other eight times, and won't again until August.

The schedule is strange. This weekend is the last time the Sox play the Royals.

[Ananas]

I dare any Phillies fan to say again that they'd rather still have Cliff Lee.

[naiwf]

Halladay's a beast.

In other news today, Kendry Morales hit a walk off Grand Slam and then had to be carted off of the field when he landed on home plate.

"Morales fractured his lower left leg while celebrating his game-ending grand slam in the 10th inning to give the Los Angeles Angels a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.

Morales is scheduled to undergo surgery on Sunday."

Crazy.

[sahyder1]

Love Halladay getting a perfect game. It's a shame I wasn't able to catch the game because I wasn't home. It is next to impossible for anyone to say that they predicted a perfect game but if there is one guy you can say it about it is Roy Halladay. I had a good feeling that we would be seeing at least a no-hitter from Roy Halladay. I honestly would not be surprised to see more from him. We've been amazing blessed to watch him pitch. He's taken the title of best pitcher in baseball and just ran away with it. I've always been a huge Halladay fan. Still have my Roy Halladay Jays jersey. It kills me that he's on Philly because there is no way I would ever buy a Phillies jersey or tee. I will probably end up picking up a Halladay NL All-Star tee though (it's the loophole I used to get a Josh Hamilton shirt!) I would have no problem with Roy Halladay winning every start he makes for Phillies just as long as the Phillies lose when the other 4 SPs are pitching.

As an Angels fan it absolute pains me to watch the Morales injury. There are reports that he could me out for the year.

[sahyder1]

Hats off to Ken Griffey Jr. One of the greatest players ever is retiring today. It's a shame that injuries have dominated the 2nd half of his career.

[Lint]

indeed a real shame. He was always a stand up player and seemed like one of the few genuinely good guys left in MLB