04/24/24
August 13, 2006
Are the dog days of August taking their toll?: Several rookie pitching standouts are wilting a bit, and some teams are attempting to circumvent overworking their young arms. This years crop of rookies is the best in a long while, I believe. Where does Florida find 'em?
posted by mjkredliner to baseball at 10:16 AM - 5 comments
I don't think it's hitters adapting to battters as much as these young pitchers learning to actually pitch and not just throw. If you look at the cases from the past/present Prior and Woods, from the Cubs, these guys were over worked, yes, but they also didn't help their cause by going all out on every single pitch of every single hitter of the game. Their case seems very similar to me as that of Francisco Liriano.... Great stuff, but need to learn to administer it. I remember hearing Maddux say, he would manage his pitches according to the hitter and the situation... He would focus on pitching his best against the 3,4,5 guys in the lineup, and the rest he would focus on spotting the plate in an area where the hitter would actually make contact..get the ball in play in order to make a quick out. He didn't bother on trying to strike out every battter for he knew that would work against him in the course of a whole season... so those hittters that he knew weren't necesserally "power" hitters, he would attack with pitches over the plate in order to force them to hit into outs, as opposed to overworking everyone which would hurt his arm in the long run.
posted by zippinglou at 02:04 PM on August 13, 2006
i think its mainly because teams are starting to see these guys on the mound for their 3rd,4th,and 5th times and hitters can now have some sort of gameplan when they go up to the plate.
posted by bronxbomber at 08:58 AM on August 14, 2006
I agree with Kendall. The drop in production is probably not only because of pitchers getting tired, but also because hitters make adjustments. Veterens are much more able to adjust to the style of pitcher and hit them rather than the rookie pitcher adjusting to the batter. Baseball is as much mental as it is physical, and it seems to me the mental part is played better by those who have been in the game longer.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 07:50 PM on August 14, 2006
If that was the case YYM, then why was Liriano only really hittable when he was having arm problems and not telling the team docs about it? I think it more of what zippinglou was saying about learning which batters you have to go "all out on" and which one's you can work the plate more and maybe get them to chase, or just fool them. That way their arm is not being used at 100% on every pitch of the game. Cool article though, thanks.
posted by jojomfd1 at 02:02 AM on August 15, 2006
Interesting post mjk- I dont think that its all overworking of pitchers, but alot of it has to do with hitters adapting to the pitchers styles. Another factor could be that these guys are so young, and thus arent physically ready for an entire major league season. Either way, these young batch of pitchers are exciting to watch, and should be for years to come. *I cant wait untill these guys hit 35+ and the Yankees sign them all to maxed out 7 year contracts!*