Why is it that every year we lose pitchers? They drop like flies...

I just want to know what happened to pitchers, in general.

I've heard the excuse many times about travel ball and too many games at a young age. But pitchers used to throw way more innings, period. Relief pitching used to not really be a thing. Guys just went out there and pitched until they were totally worn out, and yet injuries were never this prevalent until the last 20 years or so, and especially the last 10 years.

The only thing that makes any sense to me is that too much emphasis is placed on velocity, even for those who don't possess overpowering fastballs. Nearly everyone is TRYING to throw so hard all the time, instead of trying to pitch. It's hard to get excited about pitchers anymore, because I'm constantly waiting for them to blow their arms out. And almost all of them do, at some point. Some, multiple times. And given the nature and frequency of these injuries, if a guy feels "a little sore" he misses a month, even if he really could pitch, out of an abundance of caution.

It's frustrating.

It would be interesting if Dunn is the reason because he was the one who came here in 2012 and really slapped Mainieri around and made Mainieri start treating pitchers better. The biggest example is no more flex pitchers like Jared Bradford or Louis Coleman who throw in relief and start in the same weekend. It would mean Dunn is doing something differently than he was doing in 2012 and his early years at LSU which could be possible it complacency and laziness have set in for him at LSU.

Other teams lose pitchers too.

Alabama’s ace has been out. Nikhazy at Ole Miss missed time. Miss State has had its share the last few years.

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If hitters are so good now that pitchers need to throw 95 to have a chance, then we should have a concerted effort to deaden the balls so pitchers can get back to throwing slower. And we should ban the shift.

Balls would be flying everywhere, defense making plays, twould be awesome.

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I'm not sure if you genuinely want that, or if you're being sarcastic. This is one of those where my sarcasm meter is a little in between.

At any rate, I don't believe it's true that pitchers "have" to throw harder to have a chance, regardless of what we do with the balls. There are still examples of guys who don't light up radar guns, who have great success at the highest level. But you see less of those guys, not because it's harder to succeed without elite velocity than it was before, in my opinion, but because far more emphasis is placed on throwing hard, rather than having a deep repertoire and being able to hit your spots.

There is no shortage of velocity, and yet most of these guys can't throw it over the ocean, and when they do, hitters have a pretty good idea what's coming, because few throw more than two pitches with any consistency. But guys who can actually pitch are very difficult to predict, and thus difficult to hit. If you can pitch WITH high velocity, congratulations, you're going to be a hall of famer one day. As long as you don't overdo it and blow out your arm.

He’s a Bama operative. Here to ruin LSU baseball.

I think it’s a combination of things. Not warming up properly from a young age, throwing curveballs at an earlier age without correct technique, coaches pushing kids to throw harder and not use their legs, and only playing baseball year round. I worked 3 months out of the year before summer ball from age 10 thru 12 with a guy that coached at La Tech. We would stretch for at least 30 minutes before we ever threw anything. I used to hate doing it but as I got older, I appreciated it more.

Training and recovery program needs tweaking?

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Meanwhile, over in Bocage, Trevor’s wife Allysyn is having an affair with Rico the pool boy.

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BINGO

I would guess this is pretty close. The rise of true travel ball and trying to get kids to specialize in one sport is breaking them faster. It leads to actual burn out and dead arms.

There was a time not long ago that many of the best athletes played all sports and then would specialize in college.

shite RP had insane numbers in football, basketball and baseball.

Some of this probably falls on coaches in all sports that don’t want to risk a kid being out due to injury in another sport. It’s self serving.

I noticed it a few years ago in the nfl when it was a rash of hamstring injuries and ankle injuries that while being much better athletes the smallest injury now can sideline them.

We might also be much better at identifying injuries than in the past and at a point that specializing in a sport puts the athlete in a condition where any tweak is going to sideline them.