2010 Baseball Thread No. 2 (which was my Little League number!)

Do the math on the population the leagues were drawing from then versus now, and you'll find that today's leagues have a higher standard of talent.

 

This is true.

There were approximately 160 major league pitching jobs in 1960 (10 per team times 16 teams). The U.S. population was 180 million.

The majors drew from a few foreign countries back then --- most notably Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico (which is not technically a foreign country, but is not counted in the U.S. population). But there were no Japanese, Korean, Australian or Taiwanese major-leaguers and very few players from two countries that now sends hundreds of players into professional baseball every year --- the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

There are approximately 360 major-league pitching jobs now (12 per team times 30 teams), but I'm guessing the talent pool is probably at least three or four times as large.

It is true that the pitching is "watered down" for the first couple of years after expansion. But it normalizes over time.

 

And then there is Oliver Perez:

3 1/3 IP, 7 walks, 1 HBP, 98 pitches (54 balls) ... leaving down 2-0 with the bases loaded.

Thought about going to Citi today to see Lincecum. Considering it's 50 degrees, windy as hell and Ollie sucks, I'm glad I didn't.

 

I just read the other day about Scott Sanderson throwing 152 pitches in a complete game, 13-hit shutout for the Cubs. This was a guy with chronic back problems and a lengthy injury history. It would never happen today.

 

And in comes Raul Valdez to walk in a run and wild pitch home another
If the Giants had any offense they'd have scored 10 runs by now.

 

What a pussy. He's got 30 more pitches in that arm! Send 'em to the minors and toughen him up!

 

He should have been out in the third inning. He's fucking horrendous.

 

Be a blessing if Yankee radio on 880 did that for the season.

 

I've covered a few high school games where a guy threw 150 pitches in eight or nine innings. They're usually playoff games or big district games and it's a far different level than the majors, but still. The main answer I always get when I ask about leaving someone in that long is that it depends on what the guy is throwing as much as his body. Throwing 120 fastballs and 30 curveballs is nowhere near as strenuous as throwing 50 curveballs and 50 fastballs. It's why a guy like Curt Schilling was able to throw so many complete games in his career.

 

Rick Porcello threw 158 pitches in a HS tournament State semifinal game ... won it 9-8 in 8 innings ... also drove in the winning run.
Two years later he won 14 games in the majors at age 20.

 

SHP grooms them right.

This is a nice package.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100509/SPORTS02/5090440/1355/SPORTS/I-had-that-love-of-baseball-really-from-the-beginning

 

Doesn't surprise me. Younger pitchers seem more conditioned to throwing a lot. Had one explain it to me once after he threw a seven-inning complete game in Game 2 of a playoff series, then another in Game 3 the next day, for a total of 200 or so pitches in two days. He said he was used to it from playing tournament ball.
There's usually an innings limit (no more than six in consecutive days) and teams often play four or five games in three days. So coaches will use a pitcher for three or four innings, take him out, then use him for two or three innings in another game. It's not uncommon for a stud pitcher to pitch in three games (a total of nine or 10 innings) over the course of a weekend.
As those same pitchers progress up the ladder they get used less (assuming they're starters). College pitchers throw once a week. In the pros it's once or twice a week. The body adjusts to the different schedule.