THE TRUTH ABOUT PITCH COUNTS And Why They’re Not the Whole Story
In the past 10 years, pitch counts have become all the rage. “Overuse” is the most commonly diagnosed pitching injury, so many coaches and training programs take pains to prevent it. Often, a player will be limited to 100 pitches in a single game. Brent Strom, a former MLB pitcher and currently the Major League Pitching Coach of the Arizona Diamondbacks, is always concerned about workload. He scours reports and considers myriad variables for each player before assigning them pitch counts. Because he considers so many factors, he’s a model for using pitch counts effectively.
Rather than the commonly used pitches per game metric, it’s far more effective to use pitches per inning to predict fatigue. If a pitcher stays at fewer than 18 pitches per inning, his total pitch count won’t matter as much because he has the rest of the inning to recover. Going back to our Nolan Ryan example, he only averaged 16.2 pitches per inning on his record night. Consider a different, hypothetical scenario. Pitcher A throws 108 pitches in seven innings, while Pitcher B throws 59 pitches in two innings. Common reasoning would say that Player A had the more difficult night, but it was actually Pitcher B. Because he averaged almost twice as many pitches per inning, he probably stressed his soft tissue much more, even though he threw 49 fewer pitches. In many ways, pitch count has become a wedge issue. Parents understandably want their children to stay safe, and they get pitted against coaches, who want both safety and the best training possible. It doesn’t have to be this way. While pitch count has merit, we must view it through the prism of each individual player and game, rather than an arbitrary and universal number.
Every player is unique, and each player will vary in his capacity from the time the season starts to when it ends. In 1971, Nolan Ryan threw 244 pitches in a 15-inning game against the Boston Red Sox. You might reason that Ryan was abnormal, but the opposing pitcher threw 187 pitches in the same game. You might also think that this high pitch count destroyed his game for the end of the year. That wasn’t the case, and he pitched for another 17 years.
A LOOK AT BASEBALL HISTORY The Yankees Get Numbered
UPCOMING RANCH EVENTS
ELITE PITCHERS BOOT CAMPS:
SUMMER INTENSIVE PROGRAM (STAY 3-11 WEEKS):
You’d be forgiven for thinking that numbers on jerseys have existed for as long as team sports, but all ideas have to come from somewhere. The New York Yankees announced on January 22, 1929, that they would add large, bold numbers to each player’s jersey, and it changed how we watch the game.
•
MAY 28–30
•
BEGINS MAY 31 AND RUNS THROUGH AUGUST 11
•
JUNE 10–12
•
JUNE 24–26
•
JULY 8–10
•
JULY 22–24
•
AUGUST 5–7
The numbers represented the players’ batting order. More importantly, they helped fans
•
SEPTEMBER 3–5
identify the players on the field and more closely follow their favorites. The idea was almost an immediate hit, with all American League teams adopting the practice by 1931 and the National League following closely in 1933. Interestingly, the Yankees have never included the player’s last name across the back of the jersey, despite virtually every other professional sports team adopting the practice. When it comes to trends, the Yankees are leaders, not followers.
A SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR OATES SPECIALTIES ! EQUIPMENT PROVIDER,
www.OatesSpecialties. com/Durathro
3 Where You Can DREAM as BIG as Your Work Ethic Will Allow! PHONE (936) 588-6762
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.NewsletterPro.com
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator