By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

There are a lot of reasons the Chicago Cubs and Florida Marlins are playing for the National League championship.

The Cubs have Sammy Sosa. The Marlins have the best team speed in baseball. The Cubs made moves during the season to fill their holes. The Marlins got a huge boost by hiring Jack McKeon as manager.

But the biggest reason both teams are where they are is the development of good starting pitching.

The Cubs' one-two punch of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood has been the talk of the NLCS.

Prior beat the Marlins 12-3 Wednesday night to even the series. Wood pitches tonight when the series resumes in Florida.

"But we've got some guys who pitch, too," McKeon says.

Young guys who can pitch got both teams here.

The average age of the four starters the Cubs will use in the National League Championship Series is 25. The average age of the Marlins' big four is 24.5.

Wood, Prior, Matt Clement and Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs combined to go 57-40 this season. Josh Beckett, Brad Penny, Mark Redman and Dontrelle Willis combined to go 51-30. The Marlins' best young pitcher, 26-year-old A.J. Burnett, missed most of the year after Tommy John surgery.

Wood, Prior and Zambrano are homegrown. So is Beckett. The Marlins acquired Penny, Willis and Burnett as minor leaguers and developed them into major leaguers. Willis coincidently was drafted by the Cubs.

Only Clement and Redman were established big leaguers when their club obtained them.

The Cubs and Marlins have figured out how to do what the Reds want and need so badly to do: Draft and develop pitching.

"You need good scouts and you have to get lucky," McKeon said. "The Cubs have had good luck with Wood and Prior. Some other clubs haven't had such good luck."

Wood was the Cubs' first pick and the fourth pick overall in the 1995 draft. Prior was Cubs' first pick and the second pick overall in 2001.

Beckett was the second pick overall in the 1999 draft. Redman was the 13th pick overall (by Minnesota) in 1995.

Burnett and Willis are the only sleepers in the bunch, both eighth-round picks.

Zambrano was an undrafted free agent signed out of Venezuela in 1997.

It takes talent to make it to the big leagues, but the developmental process is equally important. The Reds used their top pick for a pitcher in five of the last 10 drafts.

Three reached the majors. Brett Tomko and C.J. Nitkowski have had marginal success in the big leagues - very marginal in Nitkowski's case. The jury is still out on this year's pick, Ryan Wagner, but he appears to be a keeper.

The Reds failed to sign the 2001 pick, Jeremy Sowers.

You have to be willing to pay your picks. The Cubs got Prior with the second pick in 2001 because the Twins, who picked first, were scared off by his asking price.

Another important part of the equation: staying healthy.

The Reds' 1999 pick, Ty Howington, and the 2002 pick, Chris Gruler, have struggled with injuries. "As you bring them along in the system, you have to let them pitch to develop but you also have to protect them from injury," said Chicago pitching coach Larry Rothschild, a former Reds coach.

Injuries have been a huge problem for the Reds' top prospects.

Howington, Gruler, Josh Hall, Ricardo Aramboles, Chris Booker and Luke Hudson have had surgery.

The Reds instituted a "hands-off" policy for their first-year players in the minors, meaning the Reds don't try to change their delivery.

Florida pitching coach Wayne Rosenthal, who spent four years as the Marlins' minor league pitching coordinator, thinks that's wise.

"For me, it was always building on their strengths," Rosenthal said. "If they're good at locating the fastball, work on that.

"Don't worry so much about mechanics. Dontrelle doesn't have what you would call perfect mechanics, but they work for him."

The development of young pitchers has to continue once they get to the big leagues. The minors are full of guys with great stuff. McKeon emphasizes the mental part of the game with his young staff.

His other piece of advice to young pitchers: Watch and learn.

"Watch how some of the good pitchers pitch, Madduxes and Glavines, and learn a little bit every day," he said.

E-mail jfay@enquirer.com