Wow. Is this thread still going? 11 pages to discuss overworking a pitcher. Hmmm.
No thanks.
I wonder how much of a change the college system is today. It seems to me (and this is simply my impression- I have not looked at numbers) is that more potential players go to college now instead of into the minors. (didn't the Cardinals once have over 30 minor league affiliates?). With the minors being there teams could develop a player for longer as it saw fit. Colleges, however, do not necessarily have a long term view for the player and if they do it is not necessarily consistent with how a pro team wants to use him. this can delay a pitcher's inning growth or have it occur in an inconsistent pattern. I wonder if this effects long term ability to handle innings.
I think there are a lot of colleges out there that abuse arms.
dabvu2498 (03-08-2013)
Barry On Baseball Also blogging at Banished to the Pen.
How has Prior actually been doing out in Spring Training thusfar?
Has he actually seen any game action as of yet or are they still giving him a look?
Isn't Rice one college that is notorious for abusing pitchers?
College coaches aren't responsible for getting college pitchers to the pros. They're paid to win games, and a lot of times they do that by riding their best pitchers too hard. Not saying it's right or wrong, it's just the way it is.
...the 2-2 to Woodsen and here it comes...and it is swung on and missed! And Tom Browning has pitched a perfect game! Twenty-seven outs in a row, and he is being mobbed by his teammates, just to the thirdbase side of the mound.
According to TheBaseballCube.com he was in 19 games his senior, starting 18 of them. He had seven complete games and 2 shutouts; also recording one save. He threw 142 innings.
That compares to his first two years where he appeared in 23 games (12 starts) and 19 games (16 starts). Both seasons he threw two complete games. His inning counts were 117.2 and 121.1 respectively). These were his age 19 thru 21 seasons.
As a comparison, here are Arroyo's numbers for the same three seasons (his 2nd thru 4th minor league years). All were starts except one relief appearance in season three.
26 games, 135.2 innings
24 games, 160.1 innings
23 games, 127.0 innings
I'll leave the call to others who are more familiar with what a heavy workload is.
“In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"
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That is good info.
It would be interesting to see how many pitches Leake threw in those complete games. There are two ways to overwork a pitcher. Too many innings in a season without sufficient rest between outings, and too many pitches in a game (or even an inning). Things like insufficient time to warm up, pitching while hurt or fatigued, or poor mechanics also affect how much you can throw without being overworked.
One additional factor is the pro season is much longer than the brief college season, so those innings were likely spread out more thinly for Arroyo than Leake.
Last edited by AtomicDumpling; 03-12-2013 at 01:30 PM.
Yeah it is not a huge difference, but I would rather see my young hoss spread his 140 innings over 5 months instead of 4 months. It gives his arm more time to recuperate between outings. It is just a point to keep in mind when comparing innings thrown between amateurs and pros.
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