The Attrition War, Rockies
Part of a continuing series, follow-ups to the initial post detailing the Mariners history over the same period.
Do the Mariners, in comparison to other teams, suffer a higher rate of injury to their pitching prospects than other teams? Here, I look at the Rockies.
Please note that I am trying to refrain from drawing any conclusions or making any comparisons, guessing at causes or relationships, or doing anything but presenting straight data. When the series is finished, I’ll have a summary post where I talk about those things.
In every organization so far there have been are several cases where those stats seem to ignore something important. I’m going at attempt to address those in the summary post, as well as methodology and thoughts on future research directions.
The Rockies had 28 pitchers who appeared at least once on a Baseball America Top Ten prospect list from 1995-2004.
Of those 28, pitchers who injured their elbow and required surgery: 1 (Tsao)
Of those 28, pitchers who injured their shoulders and required surgery: 3 (Kalinowski, Kibler, Tsao)
(generally, I’m looking for major surgeries that require ~1y off)
Unknowns and weird disappearances: Ivan Arteaga, Mike Kusiewicz, John Thompson (95-97?)
Suspicious: Mark Thompson’s shoulder mid-1998
Barely missed counting: House
Contributions welcome!
Readers are, as always, encouraged to to add/correct information here in the comments or by email. Resolving unknowns and citations are particularly welcome.
Detailed data
Juan Acevedo, 2/1995
Traded to the Mets in July 1995 as part of the Bret Saberhagen deal.
Ivan Arteaga, 10/1995
Unknown. Pitched winter ball in Venezuela in 2000, last seen coaching pitchers at the Twins’ Dominican academy.
John Burke, 5/1995
Pitched 96-97 for the Rockies.
Shawn Chacon, 7/1997, 2/1998, 10/1999, 8/2001
Traded to the Yakees in July 2005.
Aaron Cook, 4/2001, 2/2002, 1/2003
Pitching in the majors.
Jeff Francis, 9/2003, 3/2004
Pitching in the majors.
Lariel Gonzalez, 4/1998, 9/1999
Traded to the Mets in January 2000 as part of the Masato Yoshii deal.
Craig House, 7/2000, 7/2001
Though he’s had shoulder issues, House has not met the out-for-a-year standard. Traded to the Mets in January 2002 as part of giant crazy deal. Was a Tacoma Rainier briefly in 2003.
Jason Jennings, 3/2000, 6/2001, 7/2002
Pitching in the majors.
Ubaldo Jimenez, 4/2004
Pitching in the minors.
Josh Kalinowski, 7/1998, 8/1999, 4/2000, 9/2001
Two shoulder surgeries with the Rockies, then joined the Red Sox org and had further issues (specifics elude me). Currently pitching for Bridgeport in the indy Atlantic League (and getting rocked, but jeez… you gotta take your hat off to the guy for his dedication).
Ryan Kibler, 4/2002
Shoulder surgery in March 2003 seemingly ended his career.
Mike Kusiewicz, 9/1996, 10/1997
Unknown. It appears something happened in 1999. He came back in 2002 w/Boston, bounced around. Currently pitching in the indy leagues. Montreal-born.
Ching-Lung Lo, 8/2002, 10/2004
Last sighted in A ball in 2004. I can’t search for him on MILB.com because they require you to type in at least three letters of player’s last name, which totally, obviously ignores players from China and Taiwan, Korea, and other countries where two-letter last names are common. For shame, MILB.com.
Mark Mangum, 10/1998
Traded to the Expos in the 1998 offseason. Retired from the indy leagues in 2002.
Doug Million, 1/1995, 5/1996, 9/1997
Died of asthma in September 1997.
Zach Parker, 8/2003, 8/2004
Pitching in the minors. Elbow scare in 2003.
Ryan Price, 8/1998
Cut in 2003, signed in the indy leagues.
Scott Randall, 7/1999
Traded to the Twins in December 1999 for Chris Latham.
Bran Rekar, 9/1995
Drafted by the Devli Rays in the November 1997 expansion draft.
John Thompson, 7/1995, 9/1997
Injury in 1995? Traded to the Mets in July 2002 as part of the Jay Payton deal.
Mark Thompson, 3/1995
May have had shoulder surgery in June? 1998. That followed shoulder issues in 1997.
Chin-Hui Tsao, 8/2000, 1/2001, 1/2002, 2/2003, 1/2004
Elbow ligament replacement surgery in May 2001. Labrum surgery in May 2005 barely makes it under the wire to count. Shut down earlier this year with “rotator cuff tendinitis” and had shoulder issues in 2004 that did not require surgery.
Jermaine Van Buren, 3/1999
Released after 2002, signed with the indies, now in the Cubs system.
Jake Westbrook, 4/1997
Traded to the Expos in November 1997 as part of the Mike Lansing deal.
Jamey Wright, 8/1995, 2/1996
Traded to the Brewers in December 1999 as part of a three-team pointless deal.
Jason Young, 5/2001, 5/2002, 4/2003, 7/2004
Claimed off waivers by the Indians in August 2005.
Comments
3 Responses to “The Attrition War, Rockies”
C.-H. Tsao is from Taiwan and his arm was way over used when he was in high school. His injury may have more to do with Taiwan but not the Rockies.
Ching-Lung Lo is repeating the Sally league this year; he’s 5-6 in 109 innings for the Asheville Tourists.
I swear John Burke had shoulder trouble that shut him down in ’96 or ’97. Can’t remember the details, tho.