Year of the young pitchers
The 2010 Major League Baseball season has been dubbed “The year of the Pitcher.”
Seasoned veterans are off to impressive starts this season and have been on top of their game. There's Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia, 30, who leads American League lead in wins and Rangers ace Cliff Lee, who at 31 years old leads the AL with a 2.56 ERA.
Let’s not forget about Roy Halladay, who has thrown one of baseball’s two perfect games this season. All these guys are playing the position at an extremly high level right now and have experience on their side.
But the new generation of pitchers are also making a case for themselves and are proving to be well-armed.
Home runs are rare, high scoring games are being replaced by shutouts and ERAs are down. Ironically, so are the ages of some of baseball’s new pitching stars. It’s no secret that young pitchers have been dominating and are receiving instant gratification for their early success.
Young aces such as Ubaldo Jimenez, 26; Josh Johnson, 26; Clay Buchholz, 25; David Price, 24; and Stephen Strasburg, 22, have all made names for themselves during the 2010 season and will be looking to show more pitching talent for many years.
Colorado Rockies’ Jimenez was 15-1 with a 2.20 ERA and a no-hitter to end to first half of the season and was the National League’s starting pitcher at the All-Star in Anaheim.
On the flip side, Tampa Bay Rays’ Price was the American League’s choice to start the All-Star game for his conference. These two young pitchers have made an impact this season. Strasburg has also lived up to the hype that was surrounding him prior to his first start in June for the Nationals.
“It’s been crazy,” said Boston Red Sox right-hander Buchholz. “We talk about it in the clubhouse every day. (Before) teams were hitting home runs. Now, it’s all about strikeouts and no runs scored. Young guys are coming up that nobody’s ever heard of and throwing almost-perfect games.”
In fact, this could be the third straight season that not a single player reaches the 50-homer mark and for the second straight year there were no home runs hit at the All-Star Game. Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays leads the MLB with 26 home runs. Miguel Cabrera is tied with Prince Fielder and Joey Votto for second with 24.
"You kind of scratch your head and you wonder what's changed," Atlanta Braves veteran pitcher Tim Hudson told reporters covering the All-Star Game. "Are pitchers better or are the hitters worse? Now, a 91, 92 (m.p.h.) fastball is bottom of the barrel. Guys just have better stuff nowadays."
Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell has a theory about young pitching standouts’ success this year and possibly an answer for Hudson.
“A lot of exceptionally talented pitchers have been able to combine their physical abilities with technology that’s been available to them,” Farrell said.
“I think video has offered the biggest element of change. Because they’ve come up in the video game world, I think there’s a lot of acceptance and a lot of familiarity and willingness to use that as a tool. Many are visual learners. When they’re able to see (what they and other pitchers) are doing, it really equips them.”
At the All-Star break, 14 pitchers had at least 10 wins and only three were older than 30. Of the top 10 strikeout leaders in the league, only Halladay, 33, was older than 29. And among 18 pitchers with ERAs below 3.00 only Tim Hudson, Lee, Andy Pettitte and Johan Santana are older than 30. Maybe 30 is the new 20.
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