Quote:
Originally Posted by dougdirt
If Prior were 29 at the time, there probably wouldn't be so much outrage over it. But he was 22. With a prior career high of 134 innings. Then he threw 231 innings at age 22, with a huge pitch count over the last 100 of those innings.
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If anything, that is a point in favor rather than a point against.
Younger guys' bodies are less fragile than older players. I'm sure you felt better when you were 20 than you do now, right? The bones and muscles are much more durable at a younger age.
I don't see age as having much to do with it. You could certainly argue that young players not be stretched out too quickly relative to what they're used to pitching, but Dusty only used him in 2003 about 10 innings more than Prior was used in 2002 between Chicago and the minors. So if he were overused as a rookie, that is an organizational problem, not a Dusty problem.