Manny Banuelos has been all the talk out of Yankees camp lately, and rightfully so. He's been the most exciting Yankees pitching prospect since Joba Chamberlain (jinx). Of course, he's only 20 and shouldn't see much action in the majors this season... right?
It's About The Money weighs on in the subject here, and something in this article really got me thinking:
Do the math: of the 20 pitchers since 1971 who threw at least 199 major league innings before age 22 (Banuelos is currently only 20), only 15% went on to have great careers. 60% of these pitchers showed a significant early career drop in durability and effectiveness.
Don't get me wrong; if you read this blog, you know that I'm definitely NOT an old school "let 'em throw 180 pitch complete games every 4th day" kind of guy. But it's probably safe to say that only 15% of pitchers of any age with any amount of MLB innings on their arms have greatness in their future, whether they're 20 year-olds with 200 innings or 31 year-olds with 1,200 innings. It comes down to the simple fact that throwing a baseball overhand at 90 mph is just unnatural for the human shoulder.
Whether that means the Yankees should be more protective of CC Sabathia, or loosen the reins a bit for Manny Banuelos I'm not sure, but I think the (rightful) emphasis on protecting young pitchers has caused us to overlook the bigger point, which is that all pitchers are a significant injury risk.
- Joe Torre will be at Old Timers' Day this year.
- Buried in this news roundup is this:
"I wouldn’t be surprised if (Robinson) Cano hit 40 home runs," Kevin Long said. "He hit 29 (last year). Could he hit 40? Why not? It’s a big number – and not something that’s a goal – but could he do it? I don’t think there’s anybody standing here that thinks he can’t."
- If you have a few minutes, read this, which I'll call the primer on patience.