Nolan Ryan is going to shape up the Rangers’ pitching staff, or kill them trying. Of the 31 pitchers on the spring training roster, 27 threw bullpen sessions and live batting practice on Sunday, the first day of Rangers’ Spring Training.
All this throwing is a part of Ryan’s philosophy (detailed beautifully in his book, The Pitcher’s Bible), a proactive, sort of old-school approach to conditioning which he hopes will result in effectiveness in the short term and durability in the long term. And he, along with Pitching Coach Mike Maddux, is wasting no time.
It was a long, sweaty day in Surprise on Sunday. The pitchers spent the day running and throwing and probably panting under the Arizona sun. Fighters say they try to go through hell in training so they won’t have to in a contest and, while the program doesn’t seem to be all that hellish, it resembles an NFL training camp far more than your typical, leisurely jaunt in the Grand Canyon State.
"It's going to take hard work and dedication," Ryan said. "I don't think there is anything magical about it. We need everybody throughout the system understanding what we are doing and how we go about it.”
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What we are doing, hopefully, is seeing a starter reach the 200 inning mark for the first time in three seasons. Vicente Padilla led the team with 171 innings last season. Kenny Rogers and Ken Hill are the only Rangers in history to have thrown 200 plus while maintaining a sub-four ERA.
It’s these kind of statistics that make “The Rangers need pitching” the most hackneyed phrase since “Where’s the beef?” or possibly “You go girl.” That’s not to say it isn’t true, usually, but things seem to be looking up somewhat under Mike Maddux and Nolan Ryan.
While the system could help beleaguered veterans (Derrick Turnbow, Brendan Donnelly), it will be paramount in the development of the Rangers’ young and (seemingly) outrageously talented stable of pitching waiting in the minors (Feliz, Holland, etc.).
Certainly, if anyone knows everything about the balance between effectiveness and durability, it’s Nolan Ryan. Ryan threw 5,386 innings, during which he fanned 5,714 unfortunate souls.
The Hall-of-Famer isn’t going to spike up anytime soon. But maybe, just maybe, we’ll be looking back on the Rangers’ first world series win in a few years; maybe someone will ask us how the Rangers turned it all around, and we’ll say: “Ryan created pitchers in his own image, in the image of Ryan created he them; Righties and lefties created he them.”
And it will be good.
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