I recently read an article by a writer for ESPN's fantasy section concerning pitch counts and their effects on young pitchers. Some of it is very interesting (particularly the mention of the '79 Athletics and their young pitching staff), although there really isn't enough evidence provided to show conclusive evidence of the effects of overpitching young starters. One thing not at all taken into account in this article is the body type and size of the pitchers it describes, which is a major factor when deciding how much abuse a pitcher's arm can take. 6'5" Wade Miller handles pitching 200+ innings a season much better than the smaller Roy Oswalt, for instance. Anyway, here is the article: http://games.espn.go.com/content/flb/2002/story?page=moonlight09 At the bottom is the tie in to the Astros, as the writer discusses Roy Oswalts pitch count this season and gives his own (one he created) rating of how likely that pitcher is to suffer injuries later in his career as a result of too many pitches thrown early on in the career.
