Time to give Mel Stottlemyre credit where credit is due

Gemmy10

Aaron Small owes his new found success to Mel Stottlemyre. Stottlemyre had a very good career as a Sinker Ball throwing starting pitcher for the NY Yankees in the 1960's and 1970's. When asked about his new found success, Sinker Ball pitcher Aaron Small credited Mel on altering the way he held the baseball before he threw the sinker. It will be a real stinker for the Red Sox and their fans. LOL

DeutscherGeist

Good point. What some fans don't realize is that the pitching coach can really transform a mediocre pitcher into an effective one. Not all pitching coaches are that good. Some pitching coaches may only be useful to just a few types of players and not others.

I think Dave Duncan is the best contemporary pitching coach. Look what he did with Stewart, EcK, Benes, etc. Leo Mazzone is also a master at his craft. Look at the Cards and Braves today. Their pitching is not shabby at all.

ctsoxfan

Here we go again! Today's New York Yankee savior of the moment is - the great Aaron Small! Taking the place of former Yankee saviors such as -

Randy "Little Unit" Johnson
Carl Pavano
Jaret Wright
Mike Mussina
Shawn Chacon
Chien Ming Wang
Al Leiter
Scott Proctor
Wayne Franklin
Sean Henn
Jorge DePaula
Buddy Groom
Colter Bean
Kevin Brown
Several others I can't remember - just wade through Spammy's 2005 threads (if you have, say - a few days to kill) for names.


Forgive me if I don't get too excited.

dgbaseball

I've always thought Stottlemyre was probably the worst pitching coach in the majors. I think major league pitching coaches deserve little credit for the success of young pitchers, as their talents are developed in college and the minors where they benefit from great pitching INSTRUCTORS. The ML pitching COACH is there to help manage the pitching staff, provide batting and pitching data to help the team, devise approaches for different hitters, and learn the pitchers mechanics to help keep them from getting hurt, and help them recover what they already know if they happen to lose it for a bit. His actual value as an instructor is minimal. Guys don't make it to the majors needing the kind of instruction you wrongfully credit to Stottlemyre. If he didn't have it already, he'd still be in the minors.

By all accounts, the best measure of a MLB pitching coach is the extent to which the staff, including relievers, pitch up to their reasonably expected potential, as well as avoid pitching related injuries. Going back to the beginning years as a coach in NY, Stottlemyre has consistently failed in those regards.

Just as Joe Torre has been exposed as a miserable coach w/out Zimmer, so has Stottlemyre with the disaster that is the underperforming, oft- injured Yankee pitching staff this season. The only question remaining is which of them gets the ax first come Yankee elimination day later this month.

ctsoxfan

I'd guess neither will be back next year. It's going to be time for a change next year for them, and I'll bet George shakes things up a bit, in an effort to hide the poor payroll management, and bad player signings.