14 consecutive division titles. 

9 twenty game winners.

6 Cy Young Awards

4 ERA titles.

3 Cy Young Award winners. 

ONE organization. 

All are accomplishments by Leo Mazzone when he served as the pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves.

With credentials like these, how could anyone even mutter that an individual such as Mazzone could possibly be overrated?  Critics exist everywhere, and it is likely that someone has stated the unthinkable phrase...

Leo Mazzone is overrated. 

Do I personally feel that way, or am I just trying to "stir the pot"?  I will explain in due time.  

Born in 1948, Leo Mazzone was a pitcher in the minor leagues from 1967 to 1975.  Mazzone later retired, and decided to take up coaching before he even turned 30 years old.  After coaching for a few different independent and minor league teams, Leo Mazzone was hired by the Atlanta organization in the year 1979.  Mazzone eventually took over as the Braves' pitching coach midway through the 1990 season, and started his first full season in the year 1991.  During his tenure as the Atlanta pitching coach, Mazzone quickly developed a reputation as one of the best in the majors.  Mazzone was the pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves from 1991-2005.  During this timeframe, the Braves amassed some pretty incredible numbers, including the following info below which includes Atlanta's team record, overall team ERA, and ERA rank in the National League (NL Rk).  Also included below are the Braves' team leader in wins and ERA (among starting pitchers) for each of Mazzone's 15 seasons as pitching coach.

As you can see, the Braves ranked 1st in the National League in ERA over ten of Mazzone's fifteen seasons.  Also during that timeframe, the Braves had three of their four Cy Young Award winners, that being Tom Glavine (winner in both 1991 and 1998), Greg Maddux (1993-1995), and John Smoltz (1996).  Warren Spahn, the 1957 Cy Young Award winner, is the only other Atlanta pitcher to win the award.  Furthermore, during Mazzone's tenure, Atlanta pitching never produced an ERA above 4.10.  Overall, the Atlanta Braves had built a pitching rich baseball powerhouse.

However, after 15 years of working for the Atlanta organization and manager Bobby Cox, it was finally time for Leo Mazzone to move on. 

Enter a second organization, the Baltimore Orioles.

Mired in a slump of eight consecutive losing seasons and chained to a powerful division led by the money hungry New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, the Baltimore Orioles were desperately seeking quality solutions to give their baseball franchise a return to glory.  In order to accomplish this, the Orioles made a number of personnel and player moves during the offseason, including the assignment of Mike Flanagan as sole general manager, the addition of pitching coach Leo Mazzone, the free agent acquisitions of catcher Ramon Hernandez, 1B/OF Kevin Millar, 1B/OF Jeff Conine, as well as trading for OF Corey Patterson and SP Kris Benson. Furthermore, Baltimore was able to retain and calm down Miguel Tejada, their superstar shortstop who had grown weary of the team's losing ways.

Enter Leo Mazzone into the mix, who had desired to one day coach alongside his best friend Sam Perlozzo, who was the newly named manager of the Baltimore Orioles franchise for the 2006 season.  With his buddy running the show and a load of talented pitchers including Daniel Cabrera and Erik Bedard, Mazzone had the perfect situation presented to him. 

Before the season began, I was a firm believer that the best move the Orioles made was not Ramon Hernandez, not Corey Patterson, not Kevin Millar, and not even keeping Miguel Tejada...but bringing in Leo Mazzone.  With a group of young and talented pitchers in the majors and throughout a much improved farm system, the Orioles needed a worthy pitching guru to replace Ray Miller, who was having health problems.  Who better than Mazzone, who was known throughout baseball for saving careers, creating careers, and winning lots of ballgames in the process.  Among the careers Mazzone rejuvenated include Paul Byrd, Jorge Sosa, Jaret Wright, Russ Ortiz, Denny Neagle, John Burkett, and Mike Hampton.  Furthermore, Mazzone was responsible for helping develop pitchers such as John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Kevin Millwood.

Mazzone, now almost two months into his first season with the Baltimore Orioles, is hardly off to a great start, though you will never hear any complaints from the pitchers and catchers on the Orioles' roster.  The Baltimore players and coaches are raving about Mazzone, yet some fans of the Orioles may not be sharing the same sentiment.

The Orioles are currently ranked 29th in the major leagues with a 5.53 ERA, with only the Kansas City Royals behind them in the rankings.  In contrast, Atlanta's pitching staff is 10th in the league with a 4.38 ERA.  Furthermore, Baltimore leads the majors with 193 total walks.  In fact, that total is 13 more walks than the Florida Marlins pitching staff, which features the youngest roster and lowest payroll in all of baseball.  If the team is not careful, a few more poor pitching performances could land Mazzone and the Orioles into the pitching statistical basement.  If that does happen, will the critics finally start to come to the forefront? 

To further show the struggles of the Baltimore pitching staff, here is the current standing of the Orioles' starting pitchers, also compared with their 2005 final ERA. 

Of the entire group, only Kris Benson's ERA currently stands lower when compared to the final ERA for each player during the 2005 season.  The bullpen has struggled even more, walking batters in clutch situations, and frequently blowing leads late in the game.  Therefore, once again, the question is...

Is Leo Mazzone overrated?

Is the success of Leo Mazzone directly tied in to the proper handling of Atlanta's pitching-rich baseball organization, or is Mazzone truly one of the most talented pitching coaches in all of baseball?

One could argue in Mazzone's defense for four different reasons, those being the World Baseball Classic, a new pitching regimen, team injuries, and time for development.  First, Mazzone had few opportunities to work with his starting pitching staff during spring training, as 80% of the group played in the Inaugural World Baseball Classic.  Only Kris Benson did not participate in the Classic, and as you can see, he has the best ERA in the group of Baltimore starters.  While Benson was working with Mazzone, Lopez was playing for Mexico, Bedard for Canada, Cabrera for the Dominican Republic, and Chen for team Panama.  Not only did each player not have time to work with Mazzone during the preseason, but also the WBC itself could have hampered each player's overall performance and preparation for the 2006 regular season.  Next, there is the topic of new pitching regimens.  Leo Mazzone prepares his pitching staff much differently than that of other coaches.  Included in Mazzone's teachings and trainings are throwing two side sessions in between starts (instead of one), using the outside corner often and always, and establishing a consistent fastball in order to set up for the breaking pitches.  Third, the Baltimore Orioles have been suffering from a number of injuries.  Not only has starter Daniel Cabrera recently been placed on the disabled list, but also Baltimore veteran relievers Todd Williams, Tim Byrdak, Aaron Rakers, and John Parrish all have suffered setbacks during the year.  As a result, the Orioles have had to call up inexperienced players from the minor leagues, therefore leading to quite a learning curve for a young bullpen.  Finally, and most importantly, there is the subject of time for development.  Leo Mazzone simply needs more time to develop his pitching staff, teach his ways, and silence his critics.  Mazzone has only been coaching the Orioles for a few months, and he likely can right the ship with some additional time.  

Overall, I feel that Leo Mazzone deserves more time to place his mark onto the Baltimore franchise.  Certainly, I brought up the topic of Mazzone potentially being overrated, and while statistically, one could argue that the point is worthy of mention, the issue was only brought up due to current poor pitching performance.  In time, I think that the Baltimore pitching staff can and will snap out of their funk, but Mazzone's streak of consecutive division titles is likely over.