A question about Starting Pitching...

[preachermatt83]

Serious question, not stirring the pot.... but how is that a sun belt team can have several arms that can give them 6-7 quality innings and we, a top tier program, doesn't. I just don't get it. Why do we have so many guys who are good for 2-3 but so few that can give us 6-7..

[msstate7]

Most our guys know they'll get such a quick hook that they press early IMO. Our guys come out and try to be perfect and overthrow while normal starters pace themselves to be able to sustain later in games.

Imagine if you're a starter for us in the 3rd inning after you just gave up a leadoff single. You can't shrug it off bc the guy at the plate is potentially your last chance. At this point you try to be perfect on the corners or put something extra on it and start missing. Once you press, you're done.


Most starters at other schools don't have the added pressure that ours do IMO

[Todd4State]

Run support. When your team is up and scoring a lot of runs, you don't have to go to your bullpen as quickly. More margin for error. Not to mention pitching with a lead is advantageous to the pitcher. It's like a pitcher in MLB that is on a good team and has 15 wins, but an ERA of 4.

We weren't a great team as far as scoring runs, and we hit them OK both times we played them and put some runs up on the board. The problem was they scored 14 and then 5.

[Todd4State]

Most our guys know they'll get such a quick hook that they press early IMO. Our guys come out and try to be perfect and overthrow while normal starters pace themselves to be able to sustain later in games.

Imagine if you're a starter for us in the 3rd inning after you just gave up a leadoff single. You can't shrug it off bc the guy at the plate is potentially your last chance. At this point you try to be perfect on the corners or put something extra on it and start missing. Once you press, you're done.


Most starters at other schools don't have the added pressure that ours do IMO

I don't think you can look at our pitching results and come to the conclusion that we were "pressing." Fitts ERA in SEC games was under 2. Same with Ross and Laster.

It's just a different way to do things. IMO, it's easier to pitch going 3-5 innings because the pitcher won't have to worry about saving something or holding back for the third time through the order. It also allows you to throw with more max effort- which is maybe why you interpret that as overthrowing. But it's not because they feel pressure of being pulled- it's because going into the game, they know that they are only going to go through the order twice and so there is no need to hold back.

We also had a guy that has first round type talent in Lindgren who couldn't start and we had to find a way to maximize his talent- which I think we certainly did.

There are pros and cons to using a pitching staff the way that we do. I think the way that we use our pitchers helps keep them fresh and from being overexposed. The con is you don't know if the relief guy you're bringing in is going to have an off day and to me the odds of that happening are higher when you are using 2-3 guys as opposed to 1.

[smootness]

I don't think you can look at our pitching results and come to the conclusion that we were "pressing." Fitts ERA in SEC games was under 2. Same with Ross and Laster.

It's just a different way to do things. IMO, it's easier to pitch going 3-5 innings because the pitcher won't have to worry about saving something or holding back for the third time through the order. It also allows you to throw with more max effort- which is maybe why you interpret that as overthrowing. But it's not because they feel pressure of being pulled- it's because going into the game, they know that they are only going to go through the order twice and so there is no need to hold back.

We also had a guy that has first round type talent in Lindgren who couldn't start and we had to find a way to maximize his talent- which I think we certainly did.

There are pros and cons to using a pitching staff the way that we do. I think the way that we use our pitchers helps keep them fresh and from being overexposed. The con is you don't know if the relief guy you're bringing in is going to have an off day and to me the odds of that happening are higher when you are using 2-3 guys as opposed to 1.

Yep. We're not going to put a guy in and have him go 7-8 unless he's a bona fide ace like Stratton. Not because we can't, but because we think we're more effective when we let a few pitchers go for shorter spurts. And it's proven to be pretty darn effective.

To some degree, we all want more 'ace'-type pitchers who can throw 9 when they're on. But to some degree, we're also whining about something that isn't broken, myself included. Best-case scenario, we'll have a couple of guys who emerge as dependable SPs who we feel confident can get us mostly through an entire game. Worst-case scenario, we'll keep doing what we've done. Either way, you can bet we'll be one of the better pitching teams in the country.

When you have as many quality pitchers as we have, especially when combined with a struggling offense at times, as Todd said, there's no point in letting a guy who isn't dominating go 7 innings when you can call up the next guy to give you a different look and shut them down for 2-3.

[msstate7]

Yep. We're not going to put a guy in and have him go 7-8 unless he's a bona fide ace like Stratton. Not because we can't, but because we think we're more effective when we let a few pitchers go for shorter spurts. And it's proven to be pretty darn effective.

To some degree, we all want more 'ace'-type pitchers who can throw 9 when they're on. But to some degree, we're also whining about something that isn't broken, myself included. Best-case scenario, we'll have a couple of guys who emerge as dependable SPs who we feel confident can get us mostly through an entire game. Worst-case scenario, we'll keep doing what we've done. Either way, you can bet we'll be one of the better pitching teams in the country.

When you have as many quality pitchers as we have, especially when combined with a struggling offense at times, as Todd said, there's no point in letting a guy who isn't dominating go 7 innings when you can call up the next guy to give you a different look and shut them down for 2-3.

Yeah I agree to a point. Just think though if we had guys who could go 6 innings on weekends, then lindgren and holder wouldn't have been limited to essentially 1 game per weekend.

[smootness]

Yeah I agree to a point. Just think though if we had guys who could go 6 innings on weekends, then lindgren and holder wouldn't have been limited to essentially 1 game per weekend.

But they would be limited to 1-2 innings per appearance, which still drops their value.

[msstate7]

But they would be limited to 1-2 innings per appearance, which still drops their value.

I don't think so. Every game has key spots and having our best bullpen guys available fri, sat, sun is bigger advantage

[smootness]

I don't think so. Every game has key spots and having our best bullpen guys available fri, sat, sun is bigger advantage

Ideally, yes, but I'm just saying that it's more valuable to have a starter go 4 innings or so and give up 1 run, then have Lindgren go 4-5 and shut someone down, even if it means he won't be used the rest of the weekend, than to try to let your starters go 7 or so and have them give up 4 runs. If you have aces, let them pitch. If you don't, I like the way we've gone about it.