What do you think about when you hear the word fastball? I think of Nolan Ryan and then the scene in the Sandlot when Ham tells De Nunez to throw him the heater, and then goes deep into Hercules' yard.
The two pitchers who have had that kind of pressure really stand out to me in recent history; Kerry Wood - who's currently 80-66 over 12 years with 1478 k's, and Mark Prior - pitched for 5 years went 42-29 and 757 k's. They we're supposed to lead the Chicago Cubs back to the World Series, but between their injuries and "Bartman" those bleacher bums remained "cursed" and until the Cubs do win a series they will remain part of that cast.
So while I hold high hopes for Steven Strasburg and his phenomal potential, I'm leary of seeing him pushed to fast or being suffocated like Joba Chamberlin of the Yankees.
If you want to know more about the fastball my I reccomendThe Secret History of the the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time by Tim Wendel, which not only covers some of the all time greats like Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson and my favorite Nolan Ryan, those who didn't succeed as well I'm not quite done but I highly recommend it.
*Book promo video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjOQatCEB4I
he also has blog here http://highheatwendel.blogspot.com/
1 comment:
First off, nice blog. Second, there is in no way that Strasburg should be placed in a group of the greatest pitchers ever. He has played two subpar teams and almost lost both of them. Don't get me wrong he does have an amazing fastball and 22k's in two games is very impressive. Third, there is always a buffer time that you need to give a pitcher for all the hitters get a look at him. Then you also have to take into account that managers nowadays don't understand the limitations these young pitchers need to prevent injury and prevent burning out their arms. That's why there will never be another Nolan Ryan in Major Leagu Baseball!
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