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markj111
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The Pain of Pitching
Posted: August 24th, 2010 |
Go to http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/08/24/the-pain-of-pitching/ if you want to see the entire article.
News of the day: WASHINGTON (AP) — Stephen Strasburg is headed back to the disabled list, and his prized right arm will undergo yet another examination that will largely determine whether he pitches again this season.
* * *
Every scout has a story — every single scout. Stories come with the job. If you travel around for baseball, dusty town to dusty town, big city to small, and you watch young talents pitch baseballs for long enough, you are going to see a kid with the winning arsenal, a kid with the huge fastball, the devastating curve, the nasty slider, a kid who with the right breaks just might become the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball. And, if you’re an honest scout, you know they probably won’t get the right breaks. That’s the thing about pitching. The hard part is not the stuff. There are many, many, many pitchers with the stuff. The hard part is enduring.
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Let me throw a name at you: Jim Pittsley. Heard of him? Probably not. They still talk about him in certain circles in Kansas City. The Royals drafted him with the 17th overall pick in 1992, when he was 18 years old. And if you buy a scout a steak he will tell you that Pittsley had everything. Absolutely everything. Great fastball. Great breaking pitches. Great command. But more than any of that, he had something scouts treasure — he had presence, authority, an aura. He struck out 171 in 161 innings in High A ball the year he turned 20, and his first three years of minor leagues his strikeout-to-walk was 306-to-90. There was no doubt about him. “I’m telling you,” one of those scouts says, “he was like another Tom Seaver.”
How about Jay Franklin? Heard of him? Nobody in Virginia knows for sure how fast Franklin threw — probably 100 mph. He once struck out 29 batters in an extra-inning game in high school. San Diego took him No. 2 in the 1971 draft — that was the draft of Mike Schmidt and George Brett and Jim Rice and Frank Tanana and Rick Rhoden and Ron Guidry — but Franklin was a hotter prospect than any of them. He was so good at 18, that after winning eight of nine games in the minors, he was promoted to the big leagues, where he got one start. In those years when Nolan Ryan was trying to find himself, Jay Franklin looked like he could beat Ryan to the punch as the world’s premier power pitcher.
Of course you know Jay Franklin did not beat Nolan Ryan to the punch. That start was the only one he would ever make in the big leagues. He got hurt.
Posted: August 24th, 2010 |
Go to http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/08/24/the-pain-of-pitching/ if you want to see the entire article.
News of the day: WASHINGTON (AP) — Stephen Strasburg is headed back to the disabled list, and his prized right arm will undergo yet another examination that will largely determine whether he pitches again this season.
* * *
Every scout has a story — every single scout. Stories come with the job. If you travel around for baseball, dusty town to dusty town, big city to small, and you watch young talents pitch baseballs for long enough, you are going to see a kid with the winning arsenal, a kid with the huge fastball, the devastating curve, the nasty slider, a kid who with the right breaks just might become the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball. And, if you’re an honest scout, you know they probably won’t get the right breaks. That’s the thing about pitching. The hard part is not the stuff. There are many, many, many pitchers with the stuff. The hard part is enduring.
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Let me throw a name at you: Jim Pittsley. Heard of him? Probably not. They still talk about him in certain circles in Kansas City. The Royals drafted him with the 17th overall pick in 1992, when he was 18 years old. And if you buy a scout a steak he will tell you that Pittsley had everything. Absolutely everything. Great fastball. Great breaking pitches. Great command. But more than any of that, he had something scouts treasure — he had presence, authority, an aura. He struck out 171 in 161 innings in High A ball the year he turned 20, and his first three years of minor leagues his strikeout-to-walk was 306-to-90. There was no doubt about him. “I’m telling you,” one of those scouts says, “he was like another Tom Seaver.”
How about Jay Franklin? Heard of him? Nobody in Virginia knows for sure how fast Franklin threw — probably 100 mph. He once struck out 29 batters in an extra-inning game in high school. San Diego took him No. 2 in the 1971 draft — that was the draft of Mike Schmidt and George Brett and Jim Rice and Frank Tanana and Rick Rhoden and Ron Guidry — but Franklin was a hotter prospect than any of them. He was so good at 18, that after winning eight of nine games in the minors, he was promoted to the big leagues, where he got one start. In those years when Nolan Ryan was trying to find himself, Jay Franklin looked like he could beat Ryan to the punch as the world’s premier power pitcher.
Of course you know Jay Franklin did not beat Nolan Ryan to the punch. That start was the only one he would ever make in the big leagues. He got hurt.
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