Wednesday, June 09, 2004
And Such Small Portions, Too
The article in the Republic this morning on last night's 8-1 D-Backs victory mentioned something I was going to dwell on today -- pitching efficiency.
Now there's no question that the D-Backs have done poorly in keeping their overall pitch counts down. See this listing of teams, ranked by number of pitchers per inning:
CIN 15.65
PHI 15.77
STL 15.80
CHC 15.82
FLA 15.84
SDP 15.93
MON 15.97
ATL 16.04
MIL 16.15
NYM 16.27
LA 16.28
HOU 16.35
SFG 16.60
PIT 16.63
AZ 16.79
COL 17.03
That means Arizona's staff throws about 30 more pitches per game than Cincinnati, or maybe 1 starter and 1 reliever extra per year. Why is that? Is it because they're poor at getting people out, or because they go to longer counts? The table adds pitches per plate appearance (with rank) and plate appearances per inning (with rank).
CIN 15.65 3.60 (1) 4.35 (11)
PHI 15.77 3.65 (2) 4.32 (9)
STL 15.80 3.75 (9) 4.21 (1)
CHC 15.82 3.71 (4) 4.26 (6)
FLA 15.84 3.74 (8) 4.24 (3)
SDP 15.93 3.73 (6) 4.27 (8)
MON 15.97 3.74 (7) 4.27 (7)
ATL 16.04 3.67 (3) 4.37 (12)
MIL 16.15 3.82 (14) 4.23 (2)
NYM 16.27 3.76 (10) 4.33 (10)
LA 16.28 3.83 (15) 4.25 (5)
HOU 16.35 3.85 (16) 4.25 (4)
SFG 16.60 3.78 (12) 4.39 (13)
PIT 16.63 3.77 (11) 4.41 (14)
AZ 16.79 3.78 (13) 4.44 (15)
COL 17.03 3.72 (5) 4.58 (16)
As you can see, Arizona's pitching staff has done a poor job in not running the count, and then can't get them out. (It's sorta like that old joke about two people complaining about a restaurant's meal, one saying that the food tastes bad, and the other saying "yes, and such small portions, too.") In any case, there doesn't appear to be much of a relationship between keeping pitch counts low and getting batters out.
Now as for the D-Backs staff, here's their stats (small sample size warning for some of these!):
Villafuerte 13.20 4.00 3.30
Johnson 15.05 3.90 3.86
Good 15.17 3.69 4.11
Gonzalez 15.50 2.82 5.50
Sparks 15.61 3.44 4.54
Daigle 16.55 3.53 4.69
Koplove 16.65 3.75 4.44
Villarreal 16.72 3.58 4.67
Webb 16.95 3.83 4.43
Fossum 17.06 3.46 4.93
Valverde 17.75 3.96 4.48
Dessens 17.92 3.91 4.58
Randolph 18.33 4.18 4.39
Service 18.60 4.43 4.20
Choate 19.75 3.97 4.97
Mantei 20.16 3.91 5.16
Bruney 20.90 4.59 4.55
Nance 37.00 4.11 9.00
Folks, that's awful. Take Johnson out of the D-Backs averages, and their line reads 17.15 / 3.76 / 4.56. Last time I checked, the D-Backs have only played at Coors Field 3 times this year.
Now, I haven't thought yet about how to see if the poor pitching is the cause of or result of "overuse." But clearly D-Backs' pitchers would help themselves by getting people out sooner.
[EDIT: I realized that one factor I didn't take into account for the team rankings was park effects, even though I even made a "Coors Field" comment. Let me ponder how to adjust for that without going into great detail.]
"I've realized strikeouts are going to come and you're going to have games where maybe you're going to throw 120 pitches," Johnson said, "but today's game, it was hot out there and being pitch-efficient is more of the game you want to have today than to labor and throw 125 pitches."Johnson threw just 89 pitches in 7 innings of work, or 12.71 pitches per inning. Johnson himself realizes that although strikeouts are cool to watch, they tend to be inefficient in keeping pitch counts down.
Now there's no question that the D-Backs have done poorly in keeping their overall pitch counts down. See this listing of teams, ranked by number of pitchers per inning:
CIN 15.65
PHI 15.77
STL 15.80
CHC 15.82
FLA 15.84
SDP 15.93
MON 15.97
ATL 16.04
MIL 16.15
NYM 16.27
LA 16.28
HOU 16.35
SFG 16.60
PIT 16.63
AZ 16.79
COL 17.03
That means Arizona's staff throws about 30 more pitches per game than Cincinnati, or maybe 1 starter and 1 reliever extra per year. Why is that? Is it because they're poor at getting people out, or because they go to longer counts? The table adds pitches per plate appearance (with rank) and plate appearances per inning (with rank).
CIN 15.65 3.60 (1) 4.35 (11)
PHI 15.77 3.65 (2) 4.32 (9)
STL 15.80 3.75 (9) 4.21 (1)
CHC 15.82 3.71 (4) 4.26 (6)
FLA 15.84 3.74 (8) 4.24 (3)
SDP 15.93 3.73 (6) 4.27 (8)
MON 15.97 3.74 (7) 4.27 (7)
ATL 16.04 3.67 (3) 4.37 (12)
MIL 16.15 3.82 (14) 4.23 (2)
NYM 16.27 3.76 (10) 4.33 (10)
LA 16.28 3.83 (15) 4.25 (5)
HOU 16.35 3.85 (16) 4.25 (4)
SFG 16.60 3.78 (12) 4.39 (13)
PIT 16.63 3.77 (11) 4.41 (14)
AZ 16.79 3.78 (13) 4.44 (15)
COL 17.03 3.72 (5) 4.58 (16)
As you can see, Arizona's pitching staff has done a poor job in not running the count, and then can't get them out. (It's sorta like that old joke about two people complaining about a restaurant's meal, one saying that the food tastes bad, and the other saying "yes, and such small portions, too.") In any case, there doesn't appear to be much of a relationship between keeping pitch counts low and getting batters out.
Now as for the D-Backs staff, here's their stats (small sample size warning for some of these!):
Villafuerte 13.20 4.00 3.30
Johnson 15.05 3.90 3.86
Good 15.17 3.69 4.11
Gonzalez 15.50 2.82 5.50
Sparks 15.61 3.44 4.54
Daigle 16.55 3.53 4.69
Koplove 16.65 3.75 4.44
Villarreal 16.72 3.58 4.67
Webb 16.95 3.83 4.43
Fossum 17.06 3.46 4.93
Valverde 17.75 3.96 4.48
Dessens 17.92 3.91 4.58
Randolph 18.33 4.18 4.39
Service 18.60 4.43 4.20
Choate 19.75 3.97 4.97
Mantei 20.16 3.91 5.16
Bruney 20.90 4.59 4.55
Nance 37.00 4.11 9.00
Folks, that's awful. Take Johnson out of the D-Backs averages, and their line reads 17.15 / 3.76 / 4.56. Last time I checked, the D-Backs have only played at Coors Field 3 times this year.
Now, I haven't thought yet about how to see if the poor pitching is the cause of or result of "overuse." But clearly D-Backs' pitchers would help themselves by getting people out sooner.
[EDIT: I realized that one factor I didn't take into account for the team rankings was park effects, even though I even made a "Coors Field" comment. Let me ponder how to adjust for that without going into great detail.]
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