The Koufax Rule

What is the Koufax rule, well there isn't one, but there should be.

That rule would be that you must always be careful with young arms, they must mature, and you have protect them from themselves, greedy agents, and managers who care about saving their own jobs.

I have seen too many young arms ruined by rushing them, and I still hope there will be an organisation with some brains enough to follow a better blue print. Closest in my mind is the Rays in the American League. Part of their plan is geared towards maintaining more control over the players before they reach arbitration but it at least offers a way of controlling innings accumulated.

The Pirates had a system like this, but deemed it too costly to keep track of, Oh C'mon, are they for real. Give me a decent salary and a laptop, and let me track innings, and off day work outs and I will take that job.

Sandy Koufax, once he was finally an established pitcher had tendinitis in his left shoulder, and some say he had it at an early age, some would disagree that he through too many innings at a young age, and was not brought along properly. Whatever the reason, the game lost one of it's brightest stars when he retired, simply because he could not endure the pain anymore.

Sandy Koufax may not have been a victim of poor management, but look at your favourite team, and I bet many out there can recall a good young pitcher that had great potential and through more innings and was brought along too quickly. The road is littered with them.

Pitchers take longer to mature, it is just a fact of the game, and if that pitcher can avoid overuse early in their career, they stand a better chance of gaining enough experience without jeopardising their career.

Now I expect there are many of you out there saying, " Hey Stupid, you are just stating the obvious ", do not over pitch young arms, and partially you'd be right. But the point I am making is, if we all know that, why does it continue to happen.

So watch for young Strasburg in Washington, Linceum is San Fran and Price in Tampa Bay.

Strasburg will be the hope of the franchise, and will be rushed, Linceum has already thrown a lot of innings. Price has taken a slower path.

3 years from now, I do hope the 1st 2 pitchers are pitching effectively, but statistics show that 1 in 3 young arms are at risk from too many innings at too young an age, before sufficient arm strength has been achieved.

A players physical stature plays a part in this, but not always.

Until the kids are coached and trained to build up better arm strength at 18-22, then there will more victims. The lucky ones get another chance , and are turned into relievers after early struggles, or get injured and have 6- 12 months away from throwing, and teams will then take their time rebuilding those players.

The lucky ones can rebound, the unlucky ones, well perhaps they became College or University coaches, or just dropped out of the game.

Patience is hard lesson.

Losing patience has consequences.

End of Lesson.