October 09, 2008
Tougher Pitchers
Lone Star Ball links to two articles on how Nolan Ryan wants to transform the Texas Rangers pitching staff. He wants to move away from innings limits and pitch counts. Nolan is looking for talent and endurance. He's willing to accept injuries to see if this works.
I'm not sure if it's that different than what Leo Mazzone preached with the Braves. He had his pitchers throwing all the time. Did it really work? Glavine certainly pitched without injury for a number of years, but Steve Avery broke down fairly early and John Smoltz had his share of troubles. The Rangers may end up with the entire pitching staff blown out, but they also may wind up with fewer but better pitchers. Imagine a nine or ten man staff being able to handle a 162 game workload. That would give the Rangers a competitive advantage.
Will it work? I'm skeptical. Ryan seems to be projecting himself onto other pitchers, but Nolan was a freak of nature. He held up for so long most likely because his body was built for it. He was built to pitch lots of innings for a long time. Most athletes aren't. Maybe what the Rangers should do is figure out what in Ryan's genetic makeup made his so durable, then scout for pitchers with the same traits. Now that would be cutting edge.
Posted by David Pinto at
11:09 AM
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I'm sure some of these young pitchers' agents are thrilled to hear that Ryan is willing to accept injuries. What about when the Rangers acquire a pitcher from another oragnization? That pitcher would be conditioned by the limits put on him by another organization. I'm skeptical on this as well
The Texas staff has been so bad for so long that it's hard to see how any new approach could make things worse. The Rangers had zero (0) pitchers who worked 200 innings last year. They only had three pitchers who worked 100 innings. Their staff put up a nifty 5.37 ERA in a down year for offense generally.
The current approach isn't producing healthy pitchers or good pitchers. I can't blame Ryan for trying something else. Right now Texas' pitchers all stink or get hurt...or both.
I'm somewhat skeptical of it as well, however, on the Phillies, we have another example of a pitcher who throws a ton in between starts in Jamie Moyer who never seems to get hurt and is well into his 40's. As a matter of fact, Moyer has said he throws up to 100 pitches in between starts.
One common thread is that Glavine, Maddux and Moyer are all finesse type pitchers.
Get Nolan Ryan to teach them how to throw like Nolan Ryan. It's all a matter of mechanics.
" Get Nolan Ryan to teach them how to throw like Nolan Ryan. It's all a matter of mechanics. "
Can't say it any better but few people understand exactly what you mean by this. Ryan's mechanics were excellent - great kinetic flow.
jim