Modern pitchers taken to task by legend Jenkins

Fergie as in fogie.

During his keynote speech at Monday’s Meet the RailCats luncheon at the Radisson Hotel, Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins lamented the lack of assertiveness on the part of modern pitchers.

“In my era, we knocked people on their butt,” said Jenkins, who played for the Phillies, Cubs, Rangers and Red Sox over the course of a 19-year major-league career. “We enjoyed the game, we played hard, we played fair. Now it’s hard to pitch inside.”

...The topic of the Cubs’ pitching woes came up, specifically the troubles of their highest-paid hurler now turned middle reliever.

“The guy I thought was going to be a winner was Carlos Zambrano,” Jenkins said. “But he just can’t get it together.”

The reason, Jenkins speculated, was Zambrano’s offseason weight loss.

“Zambrano was always a guy who was pretty big. (Now) his fastball is like my changeup. He doesn’t have the same movement. I think he took away a big part of his ability by (dropping 30 pounds).”