Jacob deGrom most Ks in first 200 games

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

deGrom's story has been compared to Stephen Strasburg's.

But, at least deGrom has a chance to come back, albeit small.
Strasburg's nerve damage keeps him from having a normal active life.

On Pardon-the-Interruption last night, Michael Willbon reminded us all that the pitching motion is unnatural and is why so many pitchers endure so much 'down time' with injuries associated with their deliveries.

It was enjoyable to watch Strasburg and deGrom when they dominated, but, alas, their time is most probably past.


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I'm not sure if the motion is itself unnatural or that many pitchers don't have good mechanics or aren't doing the proper training. Nolan Ryan looked awfully natural to me, how often was he hurt?

[packs]

I don't think there's any one thing that causes a pitcher to get hurt but there's lots of little things you can usually spot. Like with Syndergaard; who in their right mind thought it was a good idea for him to bulk up the way he did? How could he possibly preserve his arm and look like that? And how did it benefit him in any to be a pitcher that bulked up?

Lincecum was obviously a mechanics issue. Despite what he thought were "perfect mechanics" he was destroying his hip.

Same with Prior. A guy thought to have "perfect mechanics".

I just think the pitchers who tend to suffer injury after injury aren't as much pitchers as they are throwers. A guy like Maddux didn't get hurt. He wasn't out there throwing though. He knew how to pitch.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't think there's any one thing that causes a pitcher to get hurt but there's lots of little things you can usually spot. Like with Syndergaard; who in their right mind thought it was a good idea for him to bulk up the way he did? How could he possibly preserve his arm and look like that? And how did it benefit him in any to be a pitcher that bulked up?

Lincecum was obviously a mechanics issue. Despite what he thought were "perfect mechanics" he was destroying his hip.

Same with Prior. A guy thought to have "perfect mechanics".

I just think the pitchers who tend to suffer injury after injury aren't as much pitchers as they are throwers. A guy like Maddux didn't get hurt. He wasn't out there throwing though. He knew how to pitch.

As I recall several of DeGrom's injuries were from batting not pitching. Just a delicate guy.

[Seven]

While not a direct one to one comparison, I feel like DeGrom is somewhat close to a modern day Sandy Koufax. An absurdly talented pitcher, that everyone wants on the mound in the big game, but that struggles with health problems. Granted Koufax was able to string together the final six seasons of his career, a magical six seasons!

I hope DeGrom can come back and have a respectable end of a career

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Seven

While not a direct one to one comparison, I feel like DeGrom is somewhat close to a modern day Sandy Koufax. An absurdly talented pitcher, that everyone wants on the mound in the big game, but that struggles with health problems. Granted Koufax was able to string together the final six seasons of his career, a magical six seasons!

I hope DeGrom can come back and have a respectable end of a career

I think that Degrom is more like Tim Lincecum that was Amazon start to his career (except he won 3 World Series) had a short career with highs being highs ie 2 Cy young’s and 3 NL strikeout leader awards and even pitched for Texas (and even started his Texas Career on the DL) but injuries and health issues (degenerative hip condition) ended his career to early

[Seven]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

I think that Degrom is more like Tim Lincecum that was Amazon start to his career (except he won 3 World Series) had a short career with highs being highs ie 2 Cy young’s and 3 NL strikeout leader awards and even pitched for Texas (and even started his Texas Career on the DL) but injuries and health issues (degenerative hip condition) ended his career to early

I think that is a fair comparison too. I don't think DeGrom's career is over just yet, Maybe a transition into a closer could be in order for him? Could perhaps the stress of a starting pitcher be too much on his elbow? Closing would allow him to go max effort, all the time for 2 innings a pop. Or Maybe utilize him how the old school, traditional closers were, and have him throw 3 innings? I'm just spitballing here.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Seven

I think that is a fair comparison too. I don't think DeGrom's career is over just yet, Maybe a transition into a closer could be in order for him? Could perhaps the stress of a starting pitcher be too much on his elbow? Closing would allow him to go max effort, all the time for 2 innings a pop. Or Maybe utilize him how the old school, traditional closers were, and have him throw 3 innings? I'm just spitballing here.

I agree I do not think his career is over but as he battles injury and Father Time it makes it harder and as for relief pitching or closing games
that is doable and John Smoltz did it for a few years when he has injury issues and he was amazing at it (even was the NL Saves leader in 2002 )but was younger also when he did it and then came back and started some more