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pitch counts vs innings pitched

this is a little bit of a theroy, but i think that it is pretty well founded on experience and observation.

there was a discussion in the thread that high pitch counts injure pitchers not high innings pitched totals.  i don't neccesarily agreed with this.  although there has been plenty of work on pitcher abuse from high pitch counts, there has been less on innings pitched totals.  but there has been work to determine the year to year percentage of work increase that is acceptable for a pitcher--current theory has it at 30% inning increase year to year.  

i don't agree with either idea really.  my thought is that the number of maximum effort pitches is what is important for arm health.  lets take livan hernadez for example, high pitch counts but very durable.  he is not throwing every pitch at maximum effort.  he is saving some in his tank for high leverage situations and innings.  to go to a four man rotation and increase the number of innings a pitcher throw will increase the number of high leverage innings he pitches and inturn increase the number of max effort pitches thrown during a year.  i think this increases the chance of injury more than a pure pitch count vs innings pitched argument.

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good points
Also, it's worth noting that the same pitch count will affect a pitcher's body differently in different circumstances.

He might be more susceptible to injury on a cold day in late spring, and pitching on a brutally hot and humid day in August might take more out of him, and require more recovery.

by Lou Schuler on Dec 20, 2006 10:34 AM EST   0 recs

i think TLR agrees too
i was watching a game over the summer where Reyes pitched and TLR pulled him after i think the 5th inning with a relativly low pitch count.  After the game, TLR said he pulled Reyes b/c of the number of pressure situations he was in and the number of pressure pitches he threw.  So that also is definitly in TLR mind

by Dave0585 on Dec 20, 2006 3:31 PM EST   0 recs

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