Well, it didn't take long did it? Apparently young hurler Clarke Schmidtt felt discomfort in his throwing elbow after a bullpen session yesterday. An examination revealed an tendon strain. Luckily, there was no sign of ligament damage. Regardless he will be shut down for about 3-4 weeks and will miss at least the first month of the season. Hope it is not a sign of things to come.
he already had TJ surgery, he was drafted during his recovery. If he needs a 2nd TJ, his career may be in jeopardy.
And who can forget Ty Hensley?
And who can forget Ty Hensley?
Schmidt was NOT a prep pitcher. He was a 3 year SP at the University of South Carolina.
And who can forget Ty Hensley?
And James Kaprielian, 2015 1st round pick, included in the Sonny Gray trade after TJ surgery.
Quote:
I may be biased, but the Yanks sure seems to have terrible luck when it comes to health with their prep pitchers. I don't want to jump the gun, but nobody would be surprised if Schmidt doesn't pitch again for 2 years. What about Saur, the second round pick the same year, will he actually pitch a full season in the minors, let alone the majors?
And who can forget Ty Hensley?
And James Kaprielian, 2015 1st round pick, included in the Sonny Gray trade after TJ surgery.
Ummm, do people here really understand what the term “prep pitcher” actually means?
It means a pitcher who was a draft pick out of HS or prep school.
Neither Kaprielian nor Schmidt were prep pitchers- both were drafted as juniors out of college. Kap from UCLA and Schmidt from the University of South Carolina.
With that said, drafting pitchers is not a science- every pitchers arm is a potential ticking time bomb. There is no tried and true way to prevent injuries, nor are there certain “types” of pitchers who hold up better than another.
Teams cluster draft pitchers of all types every year with the full understanding that a large number of them will never make it to the bigs for performance or injury reasons. However, the generally accepted best practice is that you try and grab more than 10 pitchers in a draft that you intend to sign with the percentages telling you that only 1, maybe 2 will reach the bigs- and fewer than that will amount to more than replacement level arms.
Sometimes it isn’t even what happens on the field that does a player in. Some may remember the story of the Yanks most famous prep draft pick- Brien Taylor- who was actually the #1 pick in the entire draft. He was an enormously talented LHP who had real front of the rotation stuff- with some command and control issues that he was showing signs of getting over. Then, one off-season, he got involved in a bar fight trying to protect his brother. He ended up getting body slammed to the floor- onto his left shoulder. Major damage and surgery. Even though he made comeback attempts, he never regained his stuff and never made the bigs.