Jason Isringhausen reveals how young pitchers used to be treated
Pitcher development has changed drastically over the past 20 years. In the past, guys routinely threw 300 innings. Complete games weren’t a rare accomplishment, but an eventuality. If a pitcher had arm pain, they would rather throw through it than tell anyone.
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Those attitudes have changed in recent years. Pitchers, especially young ones, are being handled with more care than they have in the past. There are a number of reasons for that. Arm injuries can be devastating, and teams have every incentive to make sure their pitchers stay on the mound as long as possible. On top of that, research focusing on pitch counts and stressful innings have produced interesting findings.
Sixteen year major-league veteran Jason Isringhausen came up at a time where those old mantras still existed. In an interview with MLB Network Radio, he gave a quote that highlights just how much developing young pitchers has changed over the last 20 years.
That’s not surprising, given what we know about how pitchers used to be treated. By today’s standards, though, that seems like a ridiculous way to bring up a young pitcher.
Just think about that notion for a second. What if the prized pitching prospect on your favorite team was being told they better toss a complete game each time they get out on the mound? It doesn’t matter if they are 20 years old and still developing, they need to find a way to last all nine innings. Nobody cares about his pitch counts, they just want him to grind it out.
You would be pretty upset about that, right? And it would be pretty irresponsible by that organization.
That line of thinking doesn’t exist anymore, and it’s probably a good thing. Sure, people will argue that pitchers today are being coddled and need to toughen up, but Isringhausen is the perfect cautionary tale in this regard.
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[Elsewhere:As a youngster, Isringhausen was pushed pretty hard on the mound. In his first 47 starts, Isringhausen had 27 starts with over 100 pitches. He threw over 120 pitches 9 times. Looking at those numbers, it was no surprise Isringhausen missed the 1998 season due to shoulder surgery.
Isringhausen started five more games over his career. Once he returned from his injury, he was mostly used as a reliever.
While he was incredible successful in that role, it’s still disappointing to look at his usage when he was younger. Maybe he could have been a special starter? Isringhausen probably wouldn’t go back and change things considering his success, but we’ll never know if the injury prevented him from being better. At the very least, it drastically altered his career path.
That macho attitude has faded a bit in recent years. Teams have more data on pitchers recovering from injuries, and that data says it’s unwise to push guys too hard. In recent seasons, Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg and Matt Harvey have successfully come back from Tommy John surgery.
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Injuries are going to happen. That’s a certainty when pitching is involved. But smarter practices have at least attempting to make things safer for pitchers these days. The attitude from Isringhausen’s era no longer exists, and that’s a step forward.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik