Baseball America: Can Young Pitchers with Stuff Be Taught Command?

[weams]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/lee-exits-exhibit-effect-command/#4hKdZzh5ThrRX2rL.97

Lee's story is not unique. Similar stories have been told about Randy Johnson, Koufax and many others over the years. A large number of big league starting pitchers who developed average or better control and command had significant control troubles early in their pro careers.

Dodgers lefthander Clayton Kershaw is arguably the best pitcher in baseball now, but when he was a 19-year-old in his full season debut he walked 67 batters in 122 innings (4.9 BB/9). Two years later Kershaw was an excellent big league pitcher, but he did so while walking 4.8 batters per nine innings. Now he has cut his walk rate to a well above-average 1.6 batters per nine innings. For his minor league career, Cubs lefthander Jon Lester had a 3.8 BB/9 IP; the last two seasons, he has dropped that to 2.0/9 IP.

And then there's the story of Rays righthander Chris Archer.

[Tony-OH]

Interesting article, thanks for sharing.

[weams]

Interesting article, thanks for sharing.

You are welcome.