A bounty of young pitchers

Take a look around baseball and you can't help but notice them: young, hard-throwers who are proving that there can be just as much power in pitchers' arms as in sluggers' bats.

Even with homers flying out of ballparks at record rates, this era might eventually be known as much for its hard throwers as its long hitters.

"This might be one of the greatest crop of young pitchers we've ever seen," Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro said. "In five to seven years, people are going to look back and talk about how many great pitchers are around."

Shapiro has one of them in 21-year-old C.C. Sabathia, who was second in the voting for AL Rookie of the Year last season after going 17-5.

But the Indians aren't alone. If only people would stop all the griping about where all the pitching has gone, they'd see it all over baseball.

It's in Houston, where the Astros hope Wade Miller and Roy Oswalt can lead them to a second straight NL Central title. Or in Oakland, where the Athletics' trio of young aces -- Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito -- conjure up memories of the Atlanta Braves' staff a decade ago.

Or Florida, which is putting together one of the best young staffs in the game headed by Ryan Dempster, no-hit pitcher A.J. Burnett, Brad Penny and can't-miss phenom Josh Beckett.

"We could have a fun year here," new Marlins manager Jeff Torborg said. "We really could. I just feel very fortunate to have been thrust into this."

Minnesota, Seattle, Montreal, St. Louis, the Cubs and White Sox also have developed some top young pitchers as baseball's balance is beginning to tilt a little back toward the pitcher after a decade of dominant hitting.

This surge has even caught the attention of some veteran hurlers, who enjoy watching the young guys pitch.

"I really like that young staff in Florida," said Arizona's Randy Johnson, who won his fourth Cy Young Award at age 38 last year. "I enjoy watching Dempster pitch. I remember Oakland came in last year and we faced Mulder, Zito and Hudson and when they were finished with us, it was like, 'What happened?"'

That's a common reaction from players when they get done seeing some of the game's top young throwers. More and more teams have at least one pitcher who hasn't reached age 25 and throws the ball 95 mph.

"I think pitching has been on the rise the last couple of years," said Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone, who has run the best staff in baseball the past decade. "It seems like every team has two or three starters that can really pitch. It wasn't that way a few years ago."

Last year, there were 21 full-time starting pitchers who were 25 or younger on opening day. While these youngsters might have still been learning how to pitch, they did it with success.

They combined for an impressive .565 winning percentage and a 3.93 ERA -- three-quarters of a run lower than the rest of the starters in the majors.

While some baseball people joke about "something in the water" to account for all the pitching, most credit this development to improved weight training and the cyclical nature of the game.

"There were no shortstops for a while and now suddenly there are four or five who hit 40 or 45 home runs," Oakland general manager Billy Beane said. "When there's a weakness at that position, there's a vacuum effect and you focus on that position. Soon you see the focus in succeeding years."

No young staff has had as much success as Oakland's. Hudson (26), Mulder (24) and Zito (23) went 56-25 with a 3.44 ERA last season to lead the Athletics to 102 wins. That impressive trio reminds some of Atlanta's John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Steve Avery in the early '90s.

"I grew up a Braves fan so I was able to watch a lot of their success. Those guys were a lot of fun," Hudson said. "It's a lot of fun watching these guys here do what they do."

A few years ago, every young pitcher seemed to be a junkballer who tried to finesse his way past hitters. Scouts said that pitchers were afraid to throw fastballs because they weren't successful against aluminum bats.

That's not true anymore as baseball is witnessing a power surge not seen since guys such as Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal burst upon the scene 40 years ago.

"It's funny because it seemed like you couldn't find any good, hard throwers a couple of years ago," Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker said. "The last two or three years everything has started to turn around and it seems like every new pitcher is throwing 95."

There are other factors as well for the surge in young pitchers, most notably expansion. The addition of four teams in the past decade spread pitching out even further and forced some teams to rush players to the majors.

For some, the accelerated track works well. For others, it hasn't been so successful.

"Ten years ago, the guys had to prove themselves at Double-A and Triple-A before making it to the major leagues," Atlanta slugger Chipper Jones said. "Now they're rushed up. Some do well and some don't. The ones who don't sometimes have confidence problems that are detrimental to their careers."

The most notable in that category is St. Louis' Rick Ankiel, who went from being one of the top young pitchers in 2000 to the rookie league a year ago when he couldn't throw a strike. Ankiel will start this season on the disabled list with an injured elbow.

That's why some are waiting for the results from this talented group of youngsters before anointing this as the next great pitching era.

"What we have is a lot of good young arms," Expos general manager Omar Minaya said. "There's a difference between good young arms and good young pitchers."