Sunday, April 26, 2009

Are Padres Pitching Injuries Connected?

Sunday April 26, 2009

I have to wonder how much the injuries to Padres starters Walter Silva and Shawn Hill are due to the lack of time given to each to build up arm strength.

Both Walter Silva and Shawn Hill had very few starts in Spring Training before being called upon to step it up and pitch in regular season games. Both were placed on a limited pitch count in their first starts and were injured in the 2nd and 3rd starts they made respectively.

Did the lack of time to build arm strength before being asked to go at full speed contribute to the injuries?

You can't help but wonder.

That calls to question whether the Padres should call up Chad Gaudin ahead of schedule or call up someone like Wade LeBlanc or Matthew Buschmann that has had a full spring training to make 2 starts until Gaudin is ready.

What do you think the Padres should do?

2 comments:

  1. Silva pitched all winter. He had plenty of arm strength. He might have been trying to hard, which is what happens when you confront major league hitters with minor league stuff.

    Hill's been hurt his entire career. This injury should not surprise anyone.

    The Padre rotation was fashioned out of bubble gum and scotch tape. Eventually the bubble bursts and the tape snaps.

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  2. Thanks for commenting.

    Silva spent a month of spring training not throwing the ball due to a foot or ankle injury.

    Just like a player coming off a DL stint, he obviously needed more than 2 spring training starts and 11 innings to get his arm strength back up. The evidence is there in the fact that he could not get past 5 innings in either of his regular season starts.

    Hill had 3 spring training starts but went only 8 innings. In my opinion he was not given time enough to build up arm strength and pitch accuracy either.

    After 8 innings most pitchers are still working on an individual pitch and location, not on throwing complete games.

    Gaudin pitched 5 good innings yesterday in Colorado, but he was pulled after 88 pitches because he really has not had time to build up arm strength either.

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