Phil Hughes demanding to pitch the ninth, Johan Santana throwing 120 pitches back to back, and Livan Hernandez complete game are examples this week of how we may see the starting pitchers revert back to throwing innings. We kept hearing while the Yankees were in Texas how Nolan Ryan has eliminated pitch counts in order to change the mentality of his hurlers throughout the organization. This quote may sum up best why I believe this is a smart move:

“The ceiling is off,” said [Mike] Maddux. “This is a mental thing we have to overcome. We have to change the attitude of the starters to want to go deep and believe they can . . . we want guys who want the ball deep in the game,” said Maddux. He believes that the results of this experiment will be seen as early as June. (source)

The key point is the “attitude of the starters”. The 100 pitch count has become the bewitching hour for pitchers over the last decade. We know that the number of complete games have decreased rapidly since 1987. Pitching depth is one of the reasons, but the babying of starters has been central issue. How can you expect pitchers to go deep if they never have been asked before in their life? It’s like a sprinter trying to run a marathon for the first time. Chances are, without practicing long distance, he will fail miserably.

A young pitcher like Phil Hughes demanding the ball should be refreshing to the Yankees. For all the talk about their innings limitations we have yet to see success from their babying philosophy. Obviously it didn’t stop Joba Chamberlain from getting hurt last season. They should have rewarded Hughes for demanding the ball instead of saying “maybe next time”. There may be a time this year that they need length from someone other than CC Sabathia. Knowing that Hughes can do that can be huge advantage.

We saw Jerry Manuel push Mike Pelfrey last season when the Mets bullpen was a disaster. Pelfrey continues to develop nicely and it very well could have an impact later this year when the Mets need him to go deeper into games. Ron Gardenhire has had Nick Blackburn throw 111 pitches his last two starts and Kevin Slowey threw 114 in back to back starts in April. Both are now anchoring a young Minnesota rotation.

We keep hearing how we won’t see a “horse” like Roy Halladay in the future. It starts with demanding more from your starters. Ron Darling is always talking during SNY telecasts that you have to have the mentality to prepare yourself to go nine innings instead of six. Obviously there is also the line between pushing pitchers and being irresponsible with their health. Ironically, and this has been mentioned on this site before, mechanics often have as much, if not more, to do with pitchers getting hurt than innings.

Bullpen specialization is still important and not going anywhere. Even the most mentally tough starters are going to need to be relieved. However, with the scarcity of quality bullpen arms, and the cost of premium set up men rising, developing pitchers who can give you 200+ innings is the next wave of success. It will be interesting to see how this philosophy spreads throughout baseball over the next couple of years.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

Mike Silva

View all posts by Mike Silva
Mikes website

Tags: CC Sabathia, Jerry Manuel, Kevin Slowey, Livan Hernandez, Mike Pelfrey, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Nick Blackburn, Nolan Ryan, Phil Hughes, Ron Darling, Ron Gardenhire, Roy Halliday, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays