Washington Will Take Strasburg

[allstar1579]

TINSTAAPP is not perfect, everything has exceptions and I agree, this philosophy has plenty of them.

But the idea is these pitchers are not just "guys", we are talking about pitchers who are blowing away the minors. Why do teams keep them in the minor leagues if they are risking injury and they would get the same production from this prospect right now instead of next year at the MLB level. A FB pitcher most likely will not turn into a GB pitcher in a year because he is throwing in the minors. A guy with great stuff but has trouble with command most likely will have great stuff and trouble with command in the minors and majors.

But if you have a pitching prospect that is ripping away batters at MiLB level, why keep him down there and risk the injury? You most likely are going to get the same production now as you will now than a year later. IMO, the philosophy is not about letting players sink or swim, it is about getting the best value out of your investment with trying to eliminate the risk of injury.

Because there is a HUGE difference in competition from even AA to the majors. A guy could have huge success in Frederick, but get absolutely shelled in the majors. The way the hitters in the minors work is: low A usually the pitchers are better than the hitters, high A it's getting even, the hitters are catching up but still have holes, AA guys can kill a fastball, but have trouble with offspeed stuff and secondary pitches, AAA, a lot of majors retreads who can hit whatever, making them AAAA players because they can do it in the minors against pitchers with less experience, but not in the bigs.

I'm split 50/50 if you have a guy dominating AA if you could skip AAA altogether and let him learn the rest in the majors, it's gotta be a case by case scenario. Some guys physically can just get by with amazing stuff, but might not have the mental aspect of being able to bounce back from getting rocked because some guys at this level never have been. Better for guys to figure out each level (I don't think they need a full season to show that) then move up, than it is to promote him, think he's going to learn in the majors, and just get rocked and never bounce back. These pitchers are still people and have the same issues with confidence and trust that anyone else does.