ESPN.com: MLB – Report: Angels’ Ortiz three years older than he claims
When we learned a couple of years ago that El Duque Hernandez was 35 rather than 32 our perception of him changed. He went from being a pitcher in his prime to being a pitcher who was racing the clock. Suddenly, his health problems became real problems, rather than the usual blips a hurler might face from year to year.
Oddly, the perception of the suddenly older Ortiz goes the other way. Suddenly his debilitating 1997 campaign, when he threw 170 minor league innings at age 21 becomes a developmental bump that happened when he was a much more reasonable 24.
Generally, pitchers have a better chance of burning out when young than once they’ve reached their late twenties. I don’t know if it’s because young arms are more vulnerable, or because the vulnerable arms have been weeded out when young, but as pitchers get older they get more durable. Up to a point, anyway.
I think this means that one may be a little less wary of Ramon’s health this year, though you still have to worry those hits he allowed. He isn’t yet dominating enough to be entirely confident of, but he certainly moved nicely in that direction last year.