The Butcher, Baker, & ex-Coach
By Rick Speciale - Feature Writer
10/15/2006
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - This Baker really butchered his pitching staff. Recently ousted Chicago Cubs coach, Dusty Baker, habitually abused his pitchers resulting in severe injuries to former superstars Mark Prior and Kerry Wood as well as recent injury woes to seemingly indestructible Carlos Zambrano.
Take a look at this pitcher abuse chart that shows a list of the most abused pitchers in baseball from 2003 based on pitching over exertion by managers. On this chart, note that Prior, Wood and Zambrano are all in the top 11 of abuse points. Ideally, young pitchers should go no more than 95 pitches in a game. Baker allowed these guys to pitch between 129-141 pitches in games!
Why did he do it? Pressure to win, that’s why. This happens throughout the minor leagues in the states where teams are desperate to win and force heavy work loads on young pitchers to WIN NOW. If the pitcher gets injured, there is a limitless supply of new young arms to replace them.
You can check out these posts from fans calling for Baker’s head. As far as I can see, Baker wrote his own epitaph in 2003 as none of Wood, Prior or Zambrano have been able to stay off the injured list since then.
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