McCullers

Yeah, those were some interesting stats they brought up last night during the game with the other pitchers who got injured during their rookie season and the innings pitched.

I guess I would switch to a start every other week. It's tough being in the playoff chase though so not really sure how they will handle it. They may just push him and hope for the best.

 

Tough question. My general bet is that Luhnow realizes there's high volatility once you get to the playoffs, so you want to have all of your bullets available. At the same time, we have to get there first, and our window will be open for a few more years at least.

I'd shut him down in the middle of August - if he skips 2 weeks (3 starts), that would put him at closer to 150 innings going into the playoffs.

The other option would be to have him and Velasquez go to some sort of modified tandem to keep their innings down. The upside to that would be to get Velasquez some experience coming out of the pen in preparation for the playoffs. I suppose they've done something like this in the minors already, so it wouldn't be completely foreign. Either way, it's a little bit of uncharted territory.

 

I think Astros are focused on making playoffs first. McCullers will likely not be shutdown until then. I could see a tandem system trying to save some innings, but would expect a 6 man rotation more likely. Astros will likely have Keuchel, Cueto or another rental, McCullers, McHugh, Feldman, and VV.

 

Straily is another option to lessen innings to the young kids

Also, i believe Appel will make it to the majors this year

 

I don't think I've ever seen a ballclub try to raise inning count gradually. More like you're either going to be okay or you're not. They'll certainly monitor him closely in terms of fatigue and any sort of arm issues. But if he's healthy, he's definitely going to pitch every 5 days.

 

Dusty Baker posts on Clutchfans.

 

Astros have to follow their protocol about pitchers and their health. If McCullers is pitched to exhaustion and he blows out his arm, then who wins?

The Astros and McCullers need to stay focused on the big picture. Chasing a title one year is good but being a perennial world series favorite for a decate plus soynds a lot better.

 

I would predict they cap him around 150 IP based on his previous high of 104 IP. Though I'm sure Luhnow and Co. have a more advanced way of looking at high stress innings/pitches.

This is just another reason that the Stros need to trade for a veteran SP to eat up some quality innings.

 

Young arms that throw too many innings get hurt more frequently... this point is pretty undebatable.

 

Washington shut down Strasburg in the middle of a playoff chase. He had TJS the next year or 2 anyway. I'm sure the team will balance what is best for him and the team in the short/long term, and I'll just trust whatever they decide to do.

Was reading about the Rangers' Yovanni Gallardo this morning. He's coming off the best month in team history, .56 ERA or something. The biggest change they attributed his success to was his throwing fewer 4-seam fastballs and a ton more 2-seamers (sinkers). He started getting a bunch of quick groundball outs instead of working deeper into counts and getting strikeouts.

I'm curious if that's something the club will have McCullers work on this offseason. Of course, a lot of his pitch-count issues are due to his shaky control, but any way he can get some quicker outs would do wonders for him.

 

Unfortunately, and uncontrollably, many of those innings are thrown before they even join pro baseball.

 

Question is, are those injuries truly preventable, or just a matter of time? Why with the 5 man rotation, pitch counts, and innings limits are pitchers getting hurt more than ever?

Strasburg was shut down the year after he had TJS, not before it.

 

Thanks! I had it bassackwards. That makes much more sense.

 

I personally don't understand why TJS is so prevalent now?

Faster you throw the likelier it happens?

Crazy how guys in the 1900's would throw back to back games at times and wouldn't have issues.

Hmmmm.

 

With more precise imaging, and more successful surgical outcomes now, the diagnosis rate of a UCL tear is far more prevalent now than it used to be (in some cases, finding tears when the player is asymptomatic).... I don't think they're truly "preventable", but overworked arms experience more strain and are more likely to suffer injuries/tears (or you could have arms that are possibly just pre-dispositioned to tearing, like Aiken's could have been).

Wasn't he shut down his rookie season as well when they were in the playoff race?

 

That's what I misremembered, too. He made his debut in June, hurt his shoulder in July, came back for 3 starts in August, then blew out his elbow in his rookie year.

 

re: higher pitch counts, MT asked Nolan Ryan about it, and he said pitchers with excellent control (like LM and VV) who can work effectively around the zone tend to see more foul balls as hitters try and squeeze the strike zone.

 

I think the surgery is better now... and the imaging tools to diagnose tears are better now.

Thus, you're seeing more surgeries.

But to say that people back in the old days didn't injure their arms is being a little presumptuous. They likely had all sorts of injuries and pitched through it.... or they didn't spend their entire youth's/formative years putting a lot of strain on their arms like some of these kids go through now.

 

They won 69 games his rookie year.