Leavengood: Dick Bosman on the Strasburg innings limit
From SABR member Ted Leavengood at Seamheads.com on October 22, 2012:
As the roving minor league pitching instructor for the Tampa Bay Rays, former Senators pitcher Dick Bosman has helped groom some of the best pitching talent in the majors. I asked Dick to comment on the Washington Nationals handling of Stephen Strasburg this season on our podcast show Friday night. The response was one of the most well-informed sources of enlightenment on the issue I have heard or seen.
Dick was probably the best arm the expansion Washington Senators ever sent out to the mound. He was the team ace from 1969 when he won the American League ERA title with a 2.15 mark. He was still the best arm Washington had when the team fled to Texas.
Since the end of his career, Dick has been a pitching coach for the Baltimore Orioles, the Chicago White Sox, the Texas Rangers and he has presided over a Tampa Bay Rays minor league development program that has produced Matt Moore, Jeremy Hellickson, James Shields and other prominent American League starting pitchers.
I asked Dick specifically about the philosophy of the Rays in bringing along young pitchers like Jeremy Hellickson, David Price and Matt Moore, considered to be among the best pitching talent in the American League. Price is the oldest of the three at 26 years of age, but all three have arrived in the majors in much the same manner, gradually building their pitch counts, their innings totals and the number of breaking pitches they are allowed to throw as they move toward maturity.
Read the full article here: http://seamheads.com/2012/10/22/dick-bosman-talks-strasburg-innings-limit-and-more/
Originally published: October 22, 2012. Last Updated: October 22, 2012.