If you have been around baseball for the past 30 years, you have seen lots of changes. Let’s just look at pitching for now. Why are there so many pitchers with injuries we are unfamiliar with? Not to pick on “The God Thor,“ Noah Syndergaard but he is the most recent “Super Star” to go down. He is a product of the brilliant people, who think they know the game.
There are plenty of good pitchers in division one baseball who throw 88-90 mph and get outs. They know how to pitch. But no one is going to sign them because scouts are told to find a guy who throws flaming darts. The new generation of wide eyed young kids hoping to become big leaguers, throw to the gun. Lots of them become very good at throwing upper 90 mph pitches for strikes but at what cost.
A few years ago I was talking to a retired big time major league pitching coach and asked him, why do I not see pitchers running like they used to do in the past? He told me they don’t run. He said as a pitching coach, he would run their butts off. And then he told me, that’s why they had the stamina to pitch 9 strong innings. throwing 130 pitches or more in a game and pitch for 15 or more years.
And guess what? None of them had arm problems.”
Players like Syndergaard will take it upon themselves to bulk up with the aid of strength and conditioning coaches sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the clubs paying their bloated salaries and trying to hit triple digit figures on the speed gun atop the scoreboard as their agents lineup endorsements.
Home run hitters and flame throwers make the most money.
I blame the state of pitching injury disasters equally on parents, Little League coaches, and even high school programs who have these kids over extending themselves at an early age. Before they have had a chance to grow into their bodies, they are being encouraged to throw curveballs, sliders, changeups and speed, speed, speed. Many of them only play one sport and never develop the other parts of their bodies. That’s a problem.
I don’t blame the Mets for the rash of serious injuries, there is no point in putting blame on anyone in that organization. All these clubs are followers and if it works for another team than that’s what they want to do. I believe the powers that be in baseball, starting with youth programs, should reassess their methods of conditioning and how they groom pitchers.
Pitch counts and innings pitched mean nothing if pitchers continue to do things that the human body was not designed to do.
William Coppola is a freelance writer with the Bronx Chronicle and been in the game of baseball 40 years as an umpire, coach, and advanced scout.
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