The Attrition War, Diamondbacks
Part of a continuing series, follow-ups to the initial post detailing the Mariners history over the same period. For the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks, the comparison period is limited to years the club existed (and also by Baseball America’s listings).
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 Diamondbacks.
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 Diamondbacks had 20 pitchers who appeared at least once on a Baseball America Top Ten prospect list between 1998-2004 (Baseball America’s Top 10 Prospects Archive did not list 1997).
Of those, pitchers who injured their elbow and required surgery: 4 (Capuano, Nippert, Patterson, Ward)
Of those, pitchers who injured their shoulders and required surgery: 0
(generally, I’m looking for major surgeries that require ~1y off)
Readers are, as always, encouraged to to add/correct information here in the comments or by email. Citations are particularly welcome.
Nick Bierbrodt, 3/1999, 5/2000
Wounded in a June 2002 drive-by shooting. Claimed off waivers by the Indians in June 2003.
Brian Bruney, 9/2003, 8/2004
Pitching in the majors.
Jason Bulger, 9/2002
Missed a lot (but not all) of 2003. Pitching in the minors.
Chris Capuano, 8/2001
Ligament replacement surgery in May 2002. Traded to Milqaukee in December 2003.
Ben Ford, 8/1998
Traded to the Yankees in March 1999 for Darren Holmes.
Jerry Gill, 5/2001
Unknown — no idea.
Edgar Gonzalez, 6/2003, 9/2004
Pitching in the minors.
Mike Gosling, 2/2002, 2/2003, 10/2004
Had labrum surgery after the 2003 season (September?) but did not miss a full year.
Geraldo Guzman, 10/2000
Released in November 2001.
Byung-Hyun Kim, 3/2000
Traded to the Red Sox in 2003.
Dustin Nippert, 3/2004
Ligament replacement surgery on his elbow in July 2004.
Ben Norris, 9/2000
Unknown — disappeared entirely after 1999 season.
Vladimir Nunez, 4/1999
Traded to the Marlins in July 1999 as part of the Matt Mantei deal.
John Patterson, 2/1998, 2/1999, 1/2000, 4/2001, 4/2003
Reconstructive elbow surgery (?) on his elbow May 2000. Traded to the Expos in March 2004 for Randy Choate.
Brad Penny, 6/1998, 1/1999
Traded to the Marlins in July 1999 as part of the Matt Mantei deal.
Bret Prinz, 9/2001
Missed almost all of 2003 with a torn groin muscle. Traded to the Yankees in July 2003 for Raul Mondesi.
Adriano Rosario, 5/2004
Turned out he was really Ramon Antonio Peña Paulino. I don’t think they let him back in the country.
Jose Valverde, 10/2001, 6/2002
Had labrum surgery in September 2004 but is pitching already.
Jeremy Ward, 4/2000, 7/2001
Ligament replacement surgery in July 2000.
Brandon Webb, 5/2003
Pitching in the majors.
Comments
5 Responses to “The Attrition War, Diamondbacks”
It’s not applicable to the study, but Adriano Rosario is now Ramon Pena, and he’s pitching this year – AA, I think.
I am curious about these guys who appear ocassionally who are “missing”, like Ben Norris above. It’s possible these players had career-ending surgery.
Found a couple tidbits on Ben Norris that catches him up to at least 2001…first an article of USA Today’s prospect report from early 2001 that says he stunk it up at Tuscon in early 2000 then got hurt.
Second is an article of one of his two starts in Single-A Lancasterin July of 2001…I’m not sure why his numbers haven’t shown up anywhere, but he at least seemed to still exist as of 2001.
I am curious about these guys who appear ocassionally who are “missingâ€Â, like Ben Norris above. It’s possible these players had career-ending surgery.
I’m sure that’s the case for some of them, which is why I’m so disappointed I can’t hunt them down.
I had entirely forgotten that Nick Bierbrodt was shot. He should pitch for the Devil Rays.
#4 Nick Bierbrodt DID pitch for the Rays. in 2001-2002. I believe he was shot while a Devil Ray.