Why are there no workhorse pitchers?

It used to be that every team had at least one or two “workhorse” starting pitchers. These are the guys who started 33 to 37 games a season and pitched 25 complete games! In 1966, the Dodgers used a four-man rotation, which was composed of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen, and Don Sutton. Let’s look at the stat lines:

• Sandy Koufax – 41 GS/27 CG/323 IP/1.73 ERA
• Don Drysdale – 40 GS/11 CG/273.2 IP/3.42 ERA
• Claude Osteen – 38 GS/8 CG/ 240.1 IP/2.85 ERA
• Don Sutton – 35 GS/ 6 CG/225.2 IP/225.2

Before I continue, we need to watch this:

“The good old days weren’t always good!” Remember that part because what I am going to say next is probably going to get me crucified for baseball heresy. We will never see those kinds of numbers again (on a consistent basis). Today, the pitchers are so much better athletically. They are stronger, throw harder (faster), and the sliders and curveballs are filthier. In the process, they put so much stress and torque on their arms that injuries are a huge part of the game. Yes, there are a few “throwbacks,” such as Verlander, Cole, Scherzer, and a few others, but the human arm, shoulder, and body are just not designed to operate under that degree of stress. When asked about Sandy Koufax, an Oldtimer said this:

“He is sacred.” Koufax was an American baseball legend. He possessed a 100-mph fastball and what announcer Vin Scully called “a twelve-to-six curveball” that started at 12 o’clock then dropped to 6 o’clock. From 1963–1966, he had the best four-year span of any pitcher in baseball history.“

— Unknown

The thing is, that was the man, the myth, the legend. Some say he threw 100 MPH, but the consensus seems to be that it was around 95 MPH. It’s just that his amazing curve ball that just fell off a table made his fastball seem that much faster. Back in Sandy’s day, it was unusual to see someone throw as hard as he did. Today, the Dodgers may have 30-50 pitchers in their system who throw in the high 90’s and low 100’s! The result has been a plethora of Tommy John Surgeries and numerous other maladies induced by extreme pressure exerted upon the human body and, specifically, the arm.

If you had a time machine and dropped Micky Mantle, Willie Mays, and a number of old-time Hall-of-Fame players off into 2023, there is no doubt in my mind that they would struggle to hit. They would figure it out, but I also believe they would not have the career numbers that they did then. All of this speed and torque put on a pitcher’s arm as well as the era of specialization and analytics, has made baseball a different game.

Athletes are bigger, stronger, and faster, but ligaments and tendons are the same. What role adding 20 pounds of muscle played in blowing out Gavin Lux’s knee may never be known, but logic says it could have played a part. Let’s face it, we have never seen this great game played at such a high level by such amazing athletes as we have today.

Back in the good old days, we knew nothing about “spin rate,” launch angle, exit velocity, and the like. We did not have advanced analytics that told us a certain player could not hit a ball in a certain part of the zone. This is not written to denigrate or diminish what old-time players have done… just to show that the times have changed and are a changing.

The Dodgers AA Tulsa Rotation

Jim Callis, Sam Dykstra, and Jonathan Mayo were assigned by MLB.com to write a column on “Here is an encouraging prospect story from each farm system” Evidently, they could not find a simple player to write about for the Dodgers… so they picked six:

“Dodgers: the entire Tulsa Drillers rotation
We’re doing something different here because we couldn’t pick just one Drillers starter. Right-handers Nick Nastrini, Nick Frasso, River Ryan, Emmet Sheehan, Landon Knack and Kyle Hurt — all members of our Dodgers Top 30 — have quality stuff and are dealing in Double-A, combining for a 1.74 ERA and 165/34 K/BB ratio in 124 1/3 innings. Los Angeles has plenty of imminent pitching help and trade fodder.“

What a huge compliment. Six starters – all with nasty stuff and the Dodger’s Top Two pitching Prospects are not even there. Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone are at OKC.