BALLPARK THOUGHT- PITCH COUNTS

'Drei here again. Another topic you baseball fans probably hear about night in and night out, pitch counts. Do you think they are overrated ? I tend to think it can be. Steve Lyons' theory is that pitchers get injured easily because they don't throw enough. And of course you've probably heard of every manager yanking his pitcher at right about the 100 pitch count. But of course every pitcher is going to have at least one inning where they utilize over 15 pitches. And managers are quick to want to yank their pitcher around the 7th inning, leaving it up to their bullpen to finish the job. However, thats 2-3 innings where perhaps a starting pitchers good work can possibly go down the drain. Plus, shouldnt a bullpen really be used during a real emergency ? Maybe some pitchers get stronger as the game progresses or maybe they actually do need to throw more ? Those are my thoughts. Let's hear yours. And now as I tend to do at the end of the week, here's a music video this one for my sister Sarah.......

HAVE A GOOD MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND ......... 'Drei

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Comment by Dre Diaz on May 29, 2009 at 12:15am: Craig, I couldn't agree with you more. It really is a case-by-case situation and as I've stated, there are many factors that go into whether a pitchers pitch count is overrated or not, though I still feel that it could be, but not entirely. I really miss the days of complete games.......

Comment by Craig (17) on May 28, 2009 at 3:57pm: I think it all depends on the situation and how the pitcher is feeling after reaching a high pitch count. If they are in the 7th, 8th or 9th inning and are holding a big lead, I would try and get a complete game out of my starter to give the bullpen a night off. Throughout the course of a season, the pitching staff gets more and more fatigued and quality outings become very important. I have to agree with Jack on this one. Because of the length of the season, I would rather trust my bullpen for 2-3 innings to prevent throwing out an arm of my starting pitcher. On the other hand, there is truth to pitchers getting stronger as the game progresses. I think it is really a case-by-case situation on how the pitching is feeling, the score of the game, the total pitch count, etc.

Good topic Andrei!

Comment by Jack (6) on May 27, 2009 at 12:08am: My opinion is that pitch counts are important because of how long the MLB season is. A big league manager has to be concerned with keeping their guy healthy for 6 months. Middle relievers should be capable of throwing an inning or two before the closer comes in.