ORUJason Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Earlier this year there were some discussions about pitch counts for ORU starters who often stayed in the game way passed 100 pitches. I'm sure a lot of that had to do with a lack of depth or confidence in some of our relievers. I came across an in-depth article looking at pitch count trends in the major leagues that details several reasons why pitch counts have dropped over the last few decades. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=4359938 There are so many more games that have to be pitched in the major leagues vs. in an NCAA college baseball season, and I think that increases the concern over pitch counts in the minor/major leagues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Hey let's face it....the reason major league pitchers are on a pitch count is because of the millions of $$$ invested in them....it's why you will rarely see big leaguers go past 120 anymore....in the past, guys like Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale, etc. all went 9 innings most every game....Robin Roberts always had 30+ complete games most every season....in Steve Carlton's Cy Young 1972 27-10 season he had over 30 complete games...Harvey Haddix threw a 12 innings of perfect ball in a 1959 game only to lose in the 13th inning....today, an entire staff will not have 5 or 6 complete games in a season....it's all about specialization.....too much money involved......closers can't pitch more than 2 or maybe 3 days in a row and that's only 15-20 pitches per day....absurd?....the old timers must laugh at this.....but too much invested in those arms by the major league clubs....not so in college where coaches have to throw their best pitchers as much as possible to win because if they don' win...they get fired......still hard to believe that our one ORU guy threw 170 pitches in a game late in the season..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryL Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 One must believe that scouts evaluate schools where a coach consistently lets his pitchers get high pitch counts. If a pitcher has been worked too hard, I wonder if his longevity may be in question? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Definitely, LL.....big clubs are always wary of a college hurler who has thrown a lot of pitches.....that's why most big league clubs would take a good HS arm over a college arm most of the time....also depends on the patience factor since a HS kid is going to take at least 5 yrs to make it to the majors....but the perfect example was Wichita State All American Tyler Green who was drafted in the first round by the Phillies back in the early 90s.....Gene Stephenson rode that big horse for two seasons and then in the CWS he let Green toss 150 pitches in game one and came back with him again in the finals on just 3 days rest....Green got pounded that day lasting less than 4 innings and WSU lost...after a good start to his pro career, he eventually struggled with arm problems and was out of baseball before the age of 30....Green actually made the all star team his rookie year but it was all downhill from there....you have to question how he was used at WSU.....maybe some old Shocker fans could weigh in on the subject........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryL Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Coaches really should think of the player's future and not just the W's he can get out of him during his college days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 I know I am not a baseball person, but it appears that 'pitch counts' are a fairly recent phenomenon and seemingly arbitrarily set. I could make the argument that it is symptomatic of the 'weanification' of our society. Who made 100 pitches the limit for a pitcher? I can find no scientific study that supports that number. Instead it appears that someone just made it up and everyone follows it. I have seen interviews with pitchers from 20 years ago and older - who routinely pitched over 120+ pitches per game - who say that they thought pitch counts were silly. That's not to say that a coach or player should ignore a 'tired' arm, I think this subject needs to be given a little historic perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 When you consider the number of college baseball games that are played in a given regular season (60-65? or so) not to mention the many rainouts we had last season, I believe Rob Walton made excellent use of the pitchers that he had. I want to clarify that I didn't bring this topic up to in any way criticize Rob's usage of pitchers. I think that a college starter may pitch 15-17 times during a regular season, not counting injuries, rainouts, or playoffs etc. That is a lot less than the 35-40 times that a starting pitcher may pitch during spring training and the regular season of a minor league or major league season. Due to all the rainouts last year I remember Rob sounding frustrated at times that he wasn't able to get more opportunities for his pitchers to actually pitch. In many ways some of the pitchers may have been under utilized last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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