Old guys can throw balls, man.
You probably haven’t been to the gym in a minute, but just imagine/remember the locker room.
Young guys’ tend to have a little less movement. More velocity, fewer wrinkles, less wiggle.
Ah, the pleasures of youth.
Command is where the locker room analogy falters. Old guy pitchers’ balls have movement and command. They are stars of their own Viagra commercials, popping their car’s hood on the side of the road because they’ve learned a thing or two about engines by now and just plain know how to get stuff done.
Youth reigns in dynasty baseball, but it’s nice to have some oldsters in the locker room when readying a crew for extensive ball-work.
This old-balls bit is gaining momentum in my mind, and I’m not loving that, so let’s bounce to the first fifty.
Rank | Player | Age | Team |
1 | Gerrit Cole | 29 | NYY |
2 | Walker Buehler | 25 | LAD |
3 | Jack Flaherty | 24 | STL |
4 | Shane Bieber | 24 | CLE |
5 | Jacob deGrom | 31 | NYM |
6 | Shohei Ohtani | 25 | LAA |
7 | Mike Clevinger | 29 | CLE |
8 | Lucas Giolito | 25 | CHW |
9 | Luis Castillo | 27 | CIN |
10 | Blake Snell | 27 | TB |
11 | Tyler Glasnow | 26 | TB |
12 | Jesus Luzardo | 22 | OAK |
13 | Stephen Strasburg | 31 | WAS |
14 | Chris Paddack | 24 | SD |
15 | Mike Soroka | 22 | ATL |
16 | Julio Urias | 23 | LAD |
17 | MacKenzie Gore | 21 | SD |
18 | Clayton Kershaw | 32 | LAD |
19 | Chris Sale | 31 | BOS |
20 | Frankie Montas | 27 | OAK |
21 | Trevor Bauer | 29 | CIN |
22 | Max Scherzer | 35 | WAS |
23 | Justin Verlander | 37 | HOU |
24 | Nate Pearson | 23 | TOR |
25 | Aaron Nola | 26 | PHI |
26 | Jose Berrios | 25 | MIN |
27 | Patrick Corbin | 30 | WAS |
28 | Brandon Woodruff | 27 | MIL |
29 | Zac Gallen | 24 | ARI |
30 | Yu Darvish | 33 | CHC |
31 | Noah Syndergaard | 27 | NYM |
32 | Charlie Morton | 36 | TB |
33 | Eduardo Rodriguez | 27 | BOS |
34 | Tarik Skubal | 23 | DET |
35 | Sonny Gray | 30 | CIN |
36 | Jameson Taillon | 28 | PIT |
37 | Zack Greinke | 36 | HOU |
38 | Spencer Howard | 23 | PHI |
39 | Forrest Whitley | 22 | HOU |
40 | A.J. Puk | 25 | OAK |
41 | Michael Kopech | 24 | CHW |
42 | Max Fried | 26 | ATL |
43 | Matt Manning | 22 | DET |
44 | James Paxton | 31 | NYY |
45 | Casey Mize | 23 | DET |
46 | Asa Lacy | 20 | ?? |
47 | Dinelson Lamet | 27 | SD |
48 | Zack Wheeler | 29 | PHI |
49 | Hyun-Jin Ryu | 33 | TOR |
50 | Kyle Hendricks | 30 | CHC |
Thanks for reading! I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter, Reddit and Words with Friends.