The straw that never broke Hamels back

In today’s game it’s harder to get a good starting pitcher than it is to get a decent cheese steak outside of Philly. That’s why Phillies fans everywhere rejoiced when Cole Hamels made it to the Majors last season. Hamels has all the work ethic, physical ability, and mental aptitude to live up to the expectation of frustrated Phillies fans.

The one bump in the road to Hamels ascendance to the Majors has been injuries. In one case of youthful indiscretion Cole broke his pitching hand in bar fight preventing him from throwing for months. The number one health concern for Hamels is his back. Hamels has exercises to help prevent an injury, but they aren’t a solution. Hamels will have to do the exercises for his entire career.

The Phillies have coddled Cole to such a degree they must honestly believe that someday soon he will just collapse and never pitch again. Phillies executives, beat writers, and fans have to relax. Baseball players get injured, it happens. Everyone seems to think that the only outcome is the worst-case scenario. These Phillies prognosticators point out that Hamels may have been over worked. Hamels did pitch 181.1 innings last season between the Minors and Majors. That is a lot of work for a pitcher who has only 333.1 innings of professional baseball under his belt. That overstressing is supposed to be the straw that will break Hamels fragile petite back.

Coming from a family of first-rate worriers and through personal experience I know the act of being anxious creates more feelings of worry. Might a Cole Hamels injury prevent the Phillies from making the playoffs and simultaneously cause the world to end? I can’t say for sure either way. What I do know is that Cole Hamels is a professional athlete. He dutifully performs his prescribed regimen of physical therapy. He has a staff of highly trained medical professionals behind him watching his every move. He also has the veteran’s veteran Jamie Moyer to guide him. Moyer at the sprite old age of 44 is still going full speed ahead and has pitched 200 innings or more in 8 of the last nine years. Cole has commented how much he has learned from Moyer and hopefully Jamie isn’t holding back the secret location to the fountain of youth. I’d say chances are better he will pitch a full season than the chances he won’t. So I hope for all us that we move beyond worrying and start to look forward to watching Cole Hamels lead the Phillies charge towards the playoffs.

Sources:
Keeping an eye on Cole
By Rich Hofmann / Philadelphia Inquirer

First picture of Cole Hamels from delaware online