College Baseball Coaches

[Joe Mayo]

So many coaches are absolutely pathetic how they do their pitchers at the end of the year in the post season. Of course the pitchers will tell you they want the ball. They're competitors but you're the coach and know better.

Southern's Ace threw 167 pitches in the regional and the CLOSER threw 140 pitches.

Arkansas starts a pitcher last night that threw 75 pitches the night before. They brought in Blaine Knight in relief that threw over 100 pitches Saturday. What a joke!

Cannizzaro clearly doesn't agree with it and I respect the hell out of it. Think about this for a second. We're down 4-1 in a do or die game in the first inning and Cann went with Jolly whose ERA is in the 7's and walks pretty much a batter every inning. He didn't go to Self and try to ride him 5-6 innings after he threw 40 pitches the day before. He actually.. you know cares about his kids and their futures.

I can believe Wes Johnson would want to do that but I was surprised that Van Horn allowed it.

 

[patdog]

The NCAA is the ones forcing them into the tough decisions that lead to this. The regional format is beyond brutal for a sport with only 11.7 scholarships that plays 3 games per weekend the whole season. It's easy to say the coaches are pathetic for bringing their ace back on 2 days rest, but this it their 17ing livelihood. It's way past time to go to a 3 round best 2-of-3 series to get to Omaha. This year, we would have hosted South Alabama in the first round, then traveled to USM in the second before going to LSU in the third.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

Bob Gibson laughs at your wringing of hands.

 

[Hoover Dawg]

Nothing wrong with regionals. They play 3-5 games per week all year. Plus, they reward who wins, you can possibly get out in 3 games, when the loser's bracket has to play a max of 5, which is a good advantage for the winner's bracket team.

Coaches should have weekly pitch counts, bottom line, and be forced to used middle or lower tier pitchers. Would help the offensive showing too. It's not the freaking NCAA's fault, that's beyond silly.

I agree about the scholarship situation though.

 

[patdog]

Few teams play 5 games in a week, and only a time or 2 per season at that. Even then at least 2 and usually all 5 are pretty meaningless games. And there's a big difference between playing 5 games in a week and playing 5 games in 75 hours anyway. My proposed format would double the hosting sites int the 1st round from 16 to 32 and eliminate games played in front of 100s of fans when the host school isn't playing. It would provide for better baseball too. It's a freaking no-brainer.

 

[Joe Mayo]

Regardless of how you feel about the format it's insane to bring a guy back on 2 days rest that just threw 100 pitches and it's not even an argument.

It's not like the coaches are out of arms. It's that they are out of arms they trust. Either don't lose and win in 3 games or use midweek guys as game 4 & 5 starters. I get it's their livelihood to win but it doesn't make it right.

You think Cann looked at Henderson last night and said hell yea lets go get Jolly in the game? He knew he didn't have much choice and wasn't going to crazily pitch a guy that just threw a bunch of pitches the day before.

 

[11thEagleFan]

Scott Berry is a good man. Let me tell you a story about him. I had met him a couple of times because he's friends with my uncle and he knows I'm a big USM baseball fan. Several years ago, my best friend died unexpectedly at a young age. At the funeral, I see Coach Berry walk in. He walked up to me, put his arm around me, told me he was sorry, and shook my hand. I saw him pay his respects, talk to a few other people, and then quietly leave. I asked my uncle later if Berry knew my buddy. "No, he came because he knew you lost someone" was the response. That meant a lot to me.

Also, I have a couple friends that played for him and they absolutely love him. From the stories they tell, he's the epitome of a players' coach. As far as McCarty, he pitched on 3 days' rest. That's extremely common in the postseason. Also, let's be honest, McCarty is a really good college pitcher, but where's he gonna be drafted? 10th round maybe? He's not gonna be on an MLB roster. Sandlin is more of a head scratcher, as there was absolutely no reason for him to throw a single pitch against USA. I want to give Berry the benefit of the doubt and chalk that one up to negligence, not gross selfishness. Agree that the 11.7 is ridiculously low. Bump it to 15.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

As far as McCarty, he pitched on 3 days' rest.

The only person who gets to count three days in that way emerged from a tomb.

 

[engie]

I don't think you can stop it or legislate it. You go 3 game series and you'll end up seeing aces throw game 1 and game 3. We were gonna see Dalbec in game 3 last year had we forced it IMO.

The main problem with it is that the only guys being over-extended are basically always the guys with the brightest baseball futures. It's generally not the seniors that will be selling insurance the next week.

IMO that kind of crap will self-police in the long term. Word is already out in scouting circles on Wes Johnson and you can bet it's being used against him in recruiting now. Let's see how he does on that front -- assuming he stays put for long enough to see it through.

 

[patdog]

I definitely agree Cannizaro handled the pressures of overusing a pitcher better than Berry did. And what Berry did is just wrong. But the pressure to do it is intense and you can bet both their starter and reliever were begging to be put in that game. The NCAA should never put coaches and players in the position to have to make those decisions.

 

[patdog]

How many times do you see a pitcher starting game 1 and game 3 of a super regional? That's the exact format I'm calling for in the first 2 rounds.

 

[patdog]

That's TWO days rest for McCarty after throwing over 100 pitches. He pitched Friday, was off Saturday and Sunday, and pitched again on Monday.

 

[11thEagleFan]

You're right. That was a brain fart. I don't suppose I could convince you that I meant 72+ hours rest?***

In any case, Berry doesn't have a history of doing that. I don't think it's fair to lump him in with other serial pitcher abusers, i.e., Wayne Graham. Admittedly, I'm biased. Also, let's not forget who State's starter was before he got yanked.

 

[engie]

How many times do you see a pitcher starting game 1 and game 3 of a super regional? That's the exact format I'm calling for in the first 2 rounds.

Seems I have noted it quite a bit more often than you have noted it...

 

[Joe Mayo]

Gordon threw 58 pitches on Friday not 90 something like McCarty.

 

[dawgdoug1962]

The only person who gets to count three days in that way emerged from a tomb.

^^^^^^this is the truth!!!

 

[coach66]

Berry is a great dude by all accounts.

Nm

 

[dawgdoug1962]

Bob Gibson laughs at your wringing of hands.

Old Daffy Dean is the one who once pitched a double-header (I think)...now MLB pitchers who go about 7 innings or 100 pitches are considered to have a quality start..

 

[Hoover Dawg]

I don't recall ever seeing that. It may have happened, but I don't remember it. I'm sure you've got the data so I'm not going to say it didn't, but it'd be interesting to see how many times over all the supers that have been played.

 

[thekimmer]

I don't think the biggest issue is overuse during a tournament....

So many coaches are absolutely pathetic how they do their pitchers at the end of the year in the post season. Of course the pitchers will tell you they want the ball. They're competitors but you're the coach and know better.

Southern's Ace threw 167 pitches in the regional and the CLOSER threw 140 pitches.

Arkansas starts a pitcher last night that threw 75 pitches the night before. They brought in Blaine Knight in relief that threw over 100 pitches Saturday. What a joke!

Cannizzaro clearly doesn't agree with it and I respect the hell out of it. Think about this for a second. We're down 4-1 in a do or die game in the first inning and Cann went with Jolly whose ERA is in the 7's and walks pretty much a batter every inning. He didn't go to Self and try to ride him 5-6 innings after he threw 40 pitches the day before. He actually.. you know cares about his kids and their futures.

I can believe Wes Johnson would want to do that but I was surprised that Van Horn allowed it.

I think the biggest issue with pitchers is the overuse during their developmental years with year round travel ball etc.

 

[hogfan14]

Knight only threw 15 pitches, less than he would have thrown in a bullpen session. They said he is 95% gone so he wanted to pitch at Baum one last time.

I was really surprised that Murphy threw so many but he doesn't throw real hard (topped out at like 89) so it probably is easier for him to do it than a guy throwing 97

 

[Hoover Dawg]

Knight only threw 15 pitches, less than he would have thrown in a bullpen session. They said he is 95% gone so he wanted to pitch at Baum one last time.

I was really surprised that Murphy threw so many but he doesn't throw real hard (topped out at like 89) so it probably is easier for him to do it than a guy throwing 97

Pretty pathetic that you did that and still lost. In your home stadium.

I hear you had a couple guys had TJ surgery before the season. Weird.