Pitching Health
by oxforddave on Jul 3, 2007 3:07 PM EDT
9 comments
It seems to me that one of the least mentioned but perhaps most important part of the Indians success recently is keeping their pitchers healthy. When was the last time you saw a Indians pitcher with an arm issue? It seems like every other team has 3-4 guys on the DL with shoulder/elbow issues. I guess Matt Miller has had elbow issues the last couple of years, but he is not exactly held a big role. Wickman before that. But there has been no problems with the starting pitching besides abdominal issues (which I will take all day over elbow/shoulder issues) since I don't know when. They've even managed to keep reclamation projects like Howry, Wickman, and Elarton healthy.
Is the tribe just better than everyone else, or are they just lucky? If it is the former, this is HUGE, and in my opinion the most important thing that Shapiro and is staff have accomplished.
I hope I'm not jinxing anything by mentioning this, but in my mind it is a big deal, and I never see it getting any play in the media.
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Re: Pitching Health
From trainers to management, from GM to area scout, there's an organizational focus on proactive health. The one Achilles heel (no pun intended) is that the team doesn't do the best job at getting players back on time. Whether this is a more conservative tack for rehab or simply that they're just average at one part of the game is hardly problematic. Everyone has room for improvement, even this team.
Excerpt from the Indians Team Health Report, March 2006.
by Jay on Jul 3, 2007 3:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: Pitching Health
The most he had ever pitched was 210 IP in his second year.
by Toxicadam on Jul 3, 2007 4:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Re: Pitching Health
The thing that has really struck me about CC this year is that he goes every fifth day regardless of off-days. The tribe has CC for 1 1/2 more years, you gotta push him hard.
by oxforddave on Jul 3, 2007 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: Pitching Health
by world dictator on Jul 3, 2007 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: Pitching Health
Just in case, though, a quick B-Ref search shows his pitch counts for the year:
98, 101, 113, 110, 94, 101, 113, 101, 105, 92, 110, 104, 111, 112, 116, 104, 111, 100.
In fact, there's only one instance all year when a starter (any one) was allowed to reach 120+ pitches, and it was a start in which Carmona threw 121 in order to finish the 9th. I'm assuming this "don't let our guys go past 120" idea was made very clear to Wedge. If it wasn't, well, happy coincidence then.
Long story short, CC should be OK. /knock on wood
by nickjs21 on Jul 3, 2007 5:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: Pitching Health
Rather it is the high pitch counts in pressure situations that put even more strain on the arm/body.
Let's just say that CC is pitching 120+ everytime out. If he is doing that and all the games are blowouts (+6 runs), that probably is not a terrrible thing (chancy still I know). But if all the games are 1 run or tied and he is still making those types of pitches near 120, that is when the high stress really occurs.
I hope I recalled that correctly.
by talonk on Jul 3, 2007 5:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: Pitching Health
by nickjs21 on Jul 3, 2007 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: Pitching Health
by oxforddave on Jul 3, 2007 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: Pitching Health
by andland on Jul 4, 2007 12:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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