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Pitchers battle their own bodies |
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Monday, 07 April 2008 |
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By TERRY NAU Sports editor The sounds of spring are in the air this week, even if the temperature outside barely rises about 50 degrees. Take a walk through the park and you can hear the resonating sound of aluminum bats hitting the ball at various youth baseball and softball fields across the Blackstone Valley. It will never replace the purer music of wood against ball but that’s only one of the ways our sporting lives have changed over the years.
High school baseball teams are swinging into a second week of action, hoping to compress three games per week into their schedule so that the Rhode Island Interscholastic League playoffs can begin around May 20. That’s quite a strain on young pitching arms. Most high school teams are lucky to have two capable starting pitchers and now they are being asked to play three games per week, even four if Mother Nature postpones a few contests, as she did last week.
Pitchers are making news on the local professional scene as well. Bartolo Colon’s appearance as Pawtucket’s Opening Day pitcher last Thursday drew 10,600 fans to McCoy Stadium. Many of them had to be “walkup” ticket buyers, people who got in their cars and drove to Pawtucket from all over New England, just to see the 2005 Cy Young winner do his job.
And Colon did not disappoint, throwing five shutout innings and tossing his last pitch at 95 miles per hour. The burly Dominican is scheduled to pitch against Tuesday afternoon at McCoy and might be promoted to Boston before the week is out.
Pawtucket’s own Jay Rainville made his Class AA debut on Sunday in New Britain, pitching for the Minnesota Twins’ New Britain Rock Cats. Rainville, who was chosen as a “sandwich pick” in the first round of the 2004 Major League draft, lost his 2006 season to shoulder surgery, then battled through 150 innings in Class A ball at Fort Myers, Fla. last summer.
When Minnesota traded pitchers Johan Santana and Matt Garza during the offseason, that created a ripple effect among the franchise’s pitching prospects. The Twins could have taken a cautious approach with Rainville for the first month of 2008, keeping the righthander down in Florida again, but they decided it’s time to start pushing their former first-round pick and see what he’s got.
Rainville must welcome this arrangement as he has been itching to get into Double AA ball, especially after going 12-5 during his first full minor league season in 2005. The ensuing injury, which involved a nerve muscle behind his shoulder blade, set him back at least one, possibly two years. It’s not an uncommon occurrence for young pitchers. Many of them have to overcome injuries early in their pro career as their bodies adjust to the increased workload that comes from pitching for a living. Mariano Rivera had elbow surgery in his early 20s, long before anyone knew his name.
We’ve seen many examples of that reality at work in Pawtucket over the years. Clay Buchholz had to be shut down last September as Boston chose to be careful when it’s latest top pitching prospect instead of risking injury to the 23-year-old righthander.
Remember when Carl Pavano and Brian Rose were the “Gold Dust Twins” of Pawtucket a decade ago? Rose barely got a whiff of the big leagues as injuries curtailed his effectiveness. Pavano made it through five seasons before breaking down completely after signing a $40M deal with the New York Yankees.
When Pavano’s contract runs out after this season, it will be interesting to see if Boston GM Theo Epstein considers signing him to the same kind of incentive-laden contract that Colon got in late February. Most likely, Boston won’t need to take a chance. If Jon Lester and Buchholz develop into regular members of the rotation this season, and with Justin Masterson and Mark Bowden only a year or two away, Boston’s pitching could be set for years. Remember, Josh Beckett is only 28 and Daisuke Matsuzaka is 27.
Colon’s signing became necessary when Curt Schilling’s shoulder injury was revealed in January. The timing of that news allowed Epstein the opportunity to search around for a veteran pitcher and he did his due diligence, finally arriving at the door of Bartolo Colon, who could be the life raft that floats Boston’s rotation for the first half of the season, perhaps even longer.
In the end, we should all remember that the Angels released Colon for a reason. After their medical staff evaluated the shoulder and elbow ailments that plagued Bartolo over the past two seasons, they must have decided he would break down at some point in the near future, which is why the team never offered him any kind of contract. Of course, they’re probably regretting that decision now that their top two starters – John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar – are sidelined with injuries to start the season.
My guess is that if Colon gives Boston 75 innings this year, he will have been well worth the price ($1.2M). And if he comes back and has a “second career” in Boston, he wouldn’t be the first pitcher to overcome injuries and embarrass his former employer. Luis Tiant did that back in the 1970s after Atlanta released the sore-armed righty. Old-timers will recall Robin Roberts having four good seasons in Baltimore after the Phillies and Yankees gave up on the one-time fireballer who re-invented himself as a soft-tosser with great control.
That’s an often overlooked aspect of professional baseball, watching pitchers like Colon and Rainville and Pawtucket’s Dan Kolb, the former Milwaukee Brewers closer, bounce back from injuries. Shoulders and elbows are not constructed for the type of punishment that pitching requires and sooner or later every pitcher is going to get hurt, or at the very least learn how to pitch with pain.
And that’s why we should all appreciate Bartolo Colon’s comeback. This is a man who is trying to get professional hitters out while protecting and even rebuilding his shoulder and elbow. Throwing 100 pitches on a chilly afternoon in New England isn’t always the best formula for success but it is a major part of the bargain athletes must make with their bodies as the years roll on.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 12 April 2008 )
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