Commissioner For A Day

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(04-30-2019, 04:53 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote:  I remember a game several years ago where Aaron Harang actually got a hit and had to run the bases. He didn't even know what to do out there and you could tell he was winded from it all (he was a big dude) and it affected his ability to pitch the remainder of the game. And that's not even getting into the danger of your pitcher getting injured doing stuff that they aren't really good at (As their practice time is much better invested in their pitching than their hitting and base running), especially if they signed from an AL team to an NL team.

It also adds value to aging players who you don't want fielding every day. Or players like Jesse Winker who is very gifted at the plate but just can't seem to get this whole defense thing under control.

1) Starting pitchers are supposed to run a lot. Nolan Ryan didn't throw hard as long as he did because of a strong arm. He did so because he had some of the strongest thighs of any starting pitcher ever. I hated the first few practices every year because I was a starting pitcher. Pitching coach to all of our starting pitchers "Gentlemen, we have an exercise called 'Go Put On Your Running Shoes' and go do it quickly." That's the first three days of practice for all of the starting pitchers. No gloves, no baseballs, no throwing unless you count throwing up. I played organized sports for 50 weeks a year in High School. The only two weeks of sports that didn't overlap was between wrestling season ending and baseball season starting up. I spent my two "off weeks" running three times a week to prepare my legs and lungs for what was about to come.
2) I like watching baseball players, not guys who can only hit or people like Billy Hamilton who can only run and play defense. Is that the next evolution? A football style roster of one set of players that only bat and another set of players that only play defense?