Wednesday, June 3, 2009

A pitching revolution... ...Randy Johnson;Last of a dying breed




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The Revolution Will Be Televised... ...On MLB.TV
 
Major League Baseball is currently undergoing a changing of the guard at the starting pitching position.
 
Young hurlers like Detroit's Rick Porcello, Toronto's Brett Cecil and Seattle's King Felix Hernandez are all at different stages of the developmental curb despite all being under the age of 25.
 
However it is not just a prominence of blessed young arms that's pushing the revolution forward.
 
Only two active Major League pitchers are anywhere close to the magic 300 win plateau, a marker that comes with guaranteed inclusion into baseball's hall of fame (figuratively speaking)
 
Both of these player are over the age of 40 
 
#1 Randy Johnson - The big unit is just one wins away from capturing 300 and cementing his status as a Grade A fireball-er and a lock for Cooperstown (The Baseball hall of fame is located in Cooperstown, N.Y.)
 
#2 John Smoltz - Ok I'll be the first to admit that this one isn't really going to happen but it must be mention just how close to the top of the summit the 42 year-old, 8 time all-star really got.
 
A lost generation?
 
Some veterans like Roy Halladay (Toronto Blue Jays) and Mark Buehrle (Chicago White-Sox) would need to win a whopping sixteen games a season right into their mid-forties to have any hope of achieving what the Big Unit has work an entire 20 year career to accomplish.
 
Now I wouldn't put it past ol' doc Halladay to still be toeing the slab well into his fifties but the incredible wear and tear that his body has experienced over his work-horse like career is likely to catch up with the good doctor soon rather then later.
 
 
Roy Halladay 290 Game Total = 1875 innings pitched over 10 years and just 7.5 complete seasons
 
Ran. Johnson 296 Game Total = 1976 innings pitched over 11 years and just 9.5 complete seasons
 
With a combined 129 career starts over just 4 1/8 complete Major League seasons it's hard to say weather young up-starts like Porcello, Cecil and Hernandez will have what it takes to reach the elusive 300 win mark. What we can be sure of is that with MLB's current glut of young talented arms the long road forward certainly carries with it a tremendously bright future.
 
Zoltan Black 
 
Noteworthy:
 
Randy Johnson will attempt to become just the twenty-fifth player in Major League history to reach the 300 win mark when he goes to the hill for the San Fransisco Giants against the Washington Nationals, game time is 7:05 pm est. The Nationals for there part will send rookie sensation Jordan Zimmermann to the mound with hope of spoiling the Big Unit's capital coming out party.  
 
 


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