That's because people assume that pitch counts are the be all end all.  BP did more harm than good IMO with their highly arbitrary "Pitcher Abuse Point" system.

The very best thing you can do is find managers who learn to have a feel for when their pitchers are laboring.  There are way too many variables to isolate to carte blanche say that "no pitcher should ever exceed 125 pitches" or whatever the magic number in fashion is at that time.  Some pitchers should never exceed 75.  Others can throw freely and easily to 150 or more.

The best example that I can remember of a guy who seemed to have a feel for that and routinely operated that way, IIRC, was Earl Weaver.  His pitchers threw a ton of innings.  His mantra was that pitchers reached their threshold when they exceeded a certain number of "stress" pitches.  It's the "laboring" that seems to cause the injuries. 

Of course there are many other variables, such as technique, previous wear, most of all:  genetics.

I want to see a return to this, one pitcher throwing every inning of the season.  The "one-man tandem": http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/devliji01.shtml

Pitch counts are pretty useless.  The whole idea of not going over 100 or having red alarms go off when  pitchers pitch counts get high is fairly detrimental to the game, although it is an easy enough indicator if you don't want to really pay attention to what a particular pitcher is going through. 

I also have a suspicion that throwing more may have a beneficial impact on pitchers more so than throwing less.  They may have it backwards.  Pitchers would routinely throw over 300 innings 40 years ago, now panic sets in at the 220 mark, with future predictions of break down.  Obviously there are tons of variables, pitchers today face much better hitters than those did 40 years ago, so the stress on the arm (even with similar pitch counts) is much different. 

I am 40, and played pro baseball, and was a pitcher.  Pitch counts were a big deal when I was playing in the 90s, but I remember times in my teens in summer league ball where I would throw both ends of DH's to the tune of 350 pitches in a day.  I remember throwing single games of 130 pitches and feeling very little fatigue or soreness the next day (the mechanics on that particular day were near perfect, the game was always in hand, very little high stress innings on me) and I also remember throwing single games of 70 pitches and could barely lift my arm the next day (couldn't hit my spots, lots of runners on, high stress situations).

The pitch count only matters regarding the stress level they are thrown in.  If you are in a jam, each pitch takes much more out of you than if you are not. I don't know if teams today pay much attention to this, or if they simply count pitches and wait for panic to set in.

There are limits to what the human body can do.   Unlimited throwing isn't an option.    I didn't get my first sore arm until 16-17 years old so I'm not sure teenage stories are applicable as I never even thought about how many throws I'd make in a day.

Little case of hammerhand there Mike?

Posted by bigal888 on 5/3/2012 3:35:00 PM (view original):


I want to see a return to this, one pitcher throwing every inning of the season.  The "one-man tandem": http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/devliji01.shtml

The best part of this is that Devlin started 68 games in 1876.
The team went 30-36.



They do show results for 69 games though.  3 ties.

Don''t care what anyone says, 20 wins 60 games into the season is awesome. I appreciate someone who alters the norm

You shouldn't mess with the sanctity of an online fantasy baseball simulation.

Posted by MikeT23 on 5/3/2012 8:21:00 AM (view original):
He could throw every other day.   But there's no way that happens with a Verlander.

Don't be so sure..

Manny update:  now is 27-0, whip and era still sub 1. I am holding my breath for that first L.

They should put him on the Hall now.