Quote:
Originally Posted by Marinersfan51
Yes, modern pitchers undoubtedly could throw hundreds more innings each year if they pitched in the style of 19th century pitchers rarely if ever throwing max effort and pacing themselves for hundreds of pitches a game, but they wouldn't resemble the pitchers we know them as.
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We're not talking about the 19th century, though. We're talking about the difference between 2023 and 2003, 1993, 1983 or maybe 1953. If you've lived long enough to have seen baseball for at least four decades, then you know that pitchers in recent decades were pitching with the same effort as you see today. It's not as if they weren't throwing hard, not trying to put a lot of movement on the ball, or not trying to top out their fastballs throughout a game. You can go back and check radar gun readings, watch game footage, or even talk to former pitchers, hitters and scouts.
Yes, pitchers generally didn't throw quite as hard and didn't have as much velocity. The overall difference in velocity was only a few miles per hour in most cases, and much of it was due to the fact that, until the 1980s, pitchers weren't even weight training or focusing on diet and fitness like they do today. They didn't have the same maximum velocity or physical capabilities. But there were many who could consistently throw fastballs in the low- to mid-90s throughout a game, dating back to the 1950s and even earlier for some pitchers. They certainly changed speeds and paced themselves, but that was as much to fool hitters as anything else, and it's not as if pitchers don't do that today.
I would argue that everything has simply scaled a bit, and the superior fitness, training and diet of today's athletes can compensate for the slightly harder throwing. Physiologically, there is no reason a pitcher today can't throw 200+ innings, and the best could throw 250. It's not an issue of stamina. It's an issue of risk management and usage.