Texas is going to have an awful lot of busted up prospects soon. The running I’m fine with. Cardiovascular and whatnot. But essentially telling the pitchers they’re just babies? That’s ignorant.

been on this bandwagon for yrs now, on some levels this is brilliant, good for him. Why run out or carry a crap #4 or 5 if you don’t have to. Limit THEIR innings, use them as MRs, or groom as high leverage pitchers, since most 4’s & 5’s can’t effectively get thru a line up but once anyway. And if you’re loaded w/ young arms like his system (TB’s, Oak’s, etc.) the more the merrier.

I’m not advocating just throwing them out there blindly mind you, there’s a right & a wrong way to approach this. But by dumping a few starters you can make room for an extra groundball specialist or two, as well as a couple of flamethrowers where only a K or pop up will do. Get them to concentrate on what they do well, and go from there. I’ve been coaching HS ages for almost 10 yrs now, can’t even begin to say how many of these kids can fall outta bed throwin 90 but God forbid if you try to adjust anything. Most college/pro coaches that come by tell me its becoming more & more difficult to change kids’ habits than it used to be. You’re going to lose some to “attrition” regardless, you might as well get some use from them before they saunter off to TJ land. Sorta sounds heartless in print but think about how many arms we go thru after doing “everything right”.

Two thirds of them will suffer life altering injuries, but the ones that survive will be phenomenal.

he’s a complete moron who has a history of writing ridiculous stories with very little basis in reality

is one of the stupidest things anyone can do. If Ryan wants to turn the organization with the deepest pitching talent in baseball into a woodchipper, that’s pretty sweet as a Mariners fan, but terrifying for the Rangers.

that pitchers can throw 40 starts & the accompanying innings, and can do so effectively. It is a huge waste of resources if a team refuses to explore this option. Take a survey of every pro pitcher – will bet you can’t find but a handful that say their team pitches them “too much”. This isn’t LL or HS ball, players themselves know what they are getting into, they are adults, paid professionals and should bear most of the responsibility for saying if/when they cannot pitch. In reality this is how it is now at almost every amateur level. I don’t have pre set innings limit for everyone, each pitcher I have is different. Unless I see something horribly wrong out there he stays put until he is no longer effective or reaches a predetermined count, which again varies from player to player.

What has to happen (and already has begun in some org.‘s) is taking a different look at what truly makes a pitcher. Not just the prototypical build or stuff but of greater importance is how the kid throws. This is where the latest whats what in mechanics comes in, and the org. that figures this correctly stands to profit in a huge manner. Here kids play baseball yr round. Consequently any bad habits are reinforced to the point they become nearly impossible to change, or at least not without taking two steps back to take one fwd approach. Which in turn doesn’t sit too well w/ Daddy & Mommy because now you’re risking Jr.’s scholarship/pro offer. Because kids are becoming more & more immune to suggestions/changes pro teams need to teach their scouts to be able to identify the pitchers who already throw properly, or at least are close to doing so. This needs to be weighted just as much probably even more so than make up and radar gun readings. Right now it is not, not even close. Scouts (incorrectly) assume their coaches will fix the improper arm angle or the poor follow through. More often than not when this happens the kid begins to lose the “stuff” he was drafted for in the 1st place. But by signing a kid who pitches “correctly” in the first place then you can easily make whatever tweaks you need to advance him along.