Have Pitchers become more fragile?

[boomboom]

Interesting stuff here, What I would really like to see is pitches thrown, if that has gone up or down at all...

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/ar...-more-fragile/

Have pitchers become more fragile?
We can easily define some rough eras in terms of pitcher usage:


* 1871-1892, when pitchers were regularly throwing over 600 innings a year.

* 1893-1900, a period of steep decline, bottoming out in 1900 when Joe McGinnity led the National League with “just” 343 innings pitched.

* 1901-1917, which saw a few 400-inning pitchers and league leaders regularly approaching that number.

* 1918-1956, when the league leader in innings averaged a little over 300 innings pitched.

* 1957-1961, a five-year period in which no one threw even 300 innings.

* 1962-1979, when 300-plus innings seasons came back into fashion.

* 1980-2007, a period of slow but steady decline in innings pitched.

[WATERY]

This decline in innings pitched coincides pretty well with a startling inflation in baseball salaries. Perhaps as teams have invested more and more in pitchers, managers have been pressured to push them less, as injuries become costlier.

As run scoring has increased, perhaps innings have become longer, increasing the number of pitches thrown per innings and decreasing total innings pitched per start.

Or perhaps, just maybe, as hitters have improved, it has become tougher to be a pitcher. Each pitch requires more exertion and a pitcher’s best stuff can’t be saved for the opposing team’s best slugger because even the shortstop can hit the ball out of the park.
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God, the world is coming to an end - I agree with those conclusions.

[HoustonGM]

I read this article this morning and was actually going to post it here, but you beat me to it!

Great read and interesting conclusions, although as he said, there's still more work to be done.

[shepster]

Hang nails and itchy fingers seam to be of a problem in MLB lately.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

They aren't more fragile, they're more protected.

[RickD]

Today's pitchers are wimps compared to the durability and strength of the pitchers of old.