Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Minor League IPs

The Orioles are limiting the number of innings pitched for their young'uns. Should the Astros do the same with pitchers under 25 years of age?

(Note: The Crawfish Boxes posted a similar story regarding Bud Norris)

Within that CB link, Tom Verducci explains:
The unofficial industry standard is that no young pitcher should throw more than 30 more innings than he did the previous season. It's a general rule of thumb, and one I've been tracking for about a decade. When teams violate the incremental safeguard, it's amazing how often they pay for it.

Alright, so let's take us a gander at this: Which pitchers age 25 and younger have already exceeded 30IP over 2008 totals?

Bud Norris
2007: 102.2 IP
2008: 80 IP
2009: 147.2 IP

Felipe Paulino
2007: 131 IP
2008: 0.2 IP
2009: 98 IP
It's worth noting that Paulino's IP jumped from 55 in 2005 to 126.1 in 2006. He threw 131 in 2007, and missed just about all of 2008. That's why he's listed - as a precautionary tale.

Danny Meszaros
2008: 26.1 IP
2009: 65.1 IP

David Duncan
2008: 55.1 IP
2009: 115 IP

Shane Wolf
2008: 58 IP
2009: 100.1 IP

As we get into Lexington, it's a little tricky, as many of the players were in short-season ball in 2008. Nevertheless:

Robert Bono
2007: 34.1 IP
2008: 75 IP
2009: 124.1 IP

Kyle Godfrey
2008: 30 IP
2009: 72.2 IP

Jordan Lyles
2008: 55.1 IP
2009: 133.2 IP

Again, this should be taken for what it's worth - pitchers advancing their careers (and some making an adjustment from short-season to a moderately full-out season). But it's still interesting.