Best two varsity pitchers strictly starters?

There may be other factors to consider.  How many pitchers on the roster?  Are they pitchers only (don't hit well)?  Are there league pitch limits (innings or pitch counts)?

 

My son's senior year there was only 3 pitchers on a roster of 15.  The ace was a 5 tool player and was almost always in the lineup (OF or DH) when he wasn't pitching. Depending on the opponent and the schedule that week the coach may or may not use him in relief.  The 2nd pitcher, if not on the mound, was sometimes in the lineup (OF) or he was on the bench.  Sometimes the coach brought him as a reliever - again it depended on the game situation and whether he had pitched the previous game - coach was sometimes limited due to pitch limits.  The 3rd pitcher as a pitcher only (rarely played another position) and was used a reliever, and was the 3rd pitcher in the rotation.

 

There was 1-2 on the roster as the 4th and 5th pitchers in case of "emergency", but they were rarely used.

I've thought about this situation because we are in that situation this year.  I wouldn't call our team a bad team but certainly not able to make a run for a state title. 

 

Why not throw your best two pitchers in the weaker of the two games you will play in a week.  If things go well both pitchers should be under a 50 P.C. and with 3 days rest could possibly be use to close out the next game if needed. 

During high school, son's team had league games on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a non conference game on Friday.  The top two pitchers got the league games, the third best got the Friday game.  Sounds strange, but our closer was the catcher who would usually only throw one inning if he had to.

 

Sometime, if the conference team was weak, one of the top guys would throw the Friday game.  I never liked that since my son got the conference games.  He always liked being in a routine of getting the ball with pretty much the same amount of rest each time.

 

Kinda my point is; give your two top pitchers the most innings and the best chance at winning games.

Mizzou brings up a great point with same rest time.  It's not going to be perfect in HS but it helps quite a bit if you can plan accordingly.  We have most league games Tuesday-Friday.  We'll look out at the schedule and set a consistent rotation with two starters once league starts.  Over spring break, we'll look at the remaining schedule and flop if necessary.  We'll have the third starter throw a long pen or scrimmage if he doesn't get a game in on a given week.  Gotta have ready options if someone goes down.

 

I think there are too few games in a HS season to use your #1 or #2 as a closer.  As Mizzou said, give them the most innings.

 

I have seen this quite a bit in playoffs though - schedule your #1 guy to go four or five innings first game, #2 clean up the last two innings and then flip for game two.  Repeat the pattern the following week.  I think this depends on how those particular P's and their arms respond to a change in routine.

 

Regarding pitching best against weaker opponents when you are not as competitive - that can be a slippery slope.  It may help provide needed wins but you have to be careful you are not sending the message to your team that you can only compete against the weak.

 

This brings up a thought. When does HS baseball start down south and out west as compared to the midwest and north east. 

I know that my sons old school needs at least 3 solid starters to get through a week of games. Our season may more compressed. We do not usually have our first games until March.

If you are the Dad of one of these pitchers, never allow this to happen.  5 innings, then 2 more the next day??? 

Not the next day.  The next game... Playoff format is also usually games on Tuesdays and Fridays in our section.  So, in this instance, a P would throw five innings (assuming it's pretty clean) then come back on two or three days rest and throw two innings, give or take.  Or the reverse of that.

Cabbage, that wouldn't work here in GA. Our format is double-header on day 1 followed by "if needed" the next day. The next round starts with 3-4 gay rest. Makes it very difficult if you have only relied on 2-3 guys all year.

In Virginia practices/tryouts cannot begin until Feb. 23rd.  First game cannot start until March 16th.

 

Almost the same here. There is usually only a day between conference tournament games and there are strict pitch rules - if a pitcher pitches for 4 innings or more, there is mandated rest of 3 days and then on the 4th day the innings he can pitch is limited.  You'll need a minimum of 3 pitchers to get through an average week, let alone a tournament.  Basically, the more pitchers the team has, the better.

I'm guessing that makes for some pretty ugly small school playoff games.  I guess we have the opposite problem. A deep playoff run can extend the season 3+ weeks.  I think sometimes some of the less-than-motivated kids would rather start thinking about their summer break.

We are 6A which is the largest classification in GA. In order to win state, you have to win 5 or 6 rounds. That takes almost 4 weeks to complete. What it means is that you better have or develop 5-6 quality pitchers unless your team can absolutely MASH.

I went back to double check my accuracy. The series are scheduled 5 days apart. We got screwed up last year because of rain. It pushed the opening series back 2 days and the 2nd round started as scheduled, so the 3 days rest. So normally you would have 5 days rest and there are 5 rounds total, so 10-15 extra games where we play around 25 for regular season. The playoffs just put a lot of pressure on pitching staff as guys are used to 6 days rest. But, it's the same for everyone. What you typically see is the team with the best (deepest) pitching usually wins.

thanks for clearing that up, cabbagedad

My suggestion is to ask these questions in the forum "coaching tips". it

Thanks.

Intriguing.  Tell me more.  

I like the idea of having your two starters be on a similar schedule.  I guess having 1 or 2 dependable relievers is a must in this case.

Wow, 2 or 3 pitchers would never work here. All double headers with 3 or 4 play dates per week. Varsity has 8 pitchers which 6 are PO's and two are 2 way. That's just the Jr's & Sr's. Three Sophomores practice with Varsity and at least two will probably log some innings.

So that means you play 6-8 games per week... amazing.  What state are you in?  Our California Southern Section has a limit of 20 games, which turns into 25-30 games for most schools after you massage tournament and double-header exceptions.  Some leagues have a 2-game per week league schedule and some 3.  So,with non-league sprinkled in, 2-3 games per week is the norm with 4 the exception.  If you check Maxpreps for schools who log pitching in our state, there is a distinct pattern across most divisions.  Top two P's get lion's share of innings.  Next two get moderate innings.  Everything else is very sparse - maybe a few tournament, mop/up or late season "get a look" innings.

I can't imagine needing eight starters. 

We're in Alabama. With max number of play dates, tournaments, and state tournament will end up playing 50-60 Varsity games. Don't have 8 starters, 8 pitchers total. They'll have more when Sophomores are included. Figure one of the Sophomores will be FT Varsity and a couple others including my son will split time between JV & Varsity.

Wouldn't four double-headers in one week require eight starters?  I hope you don't have guys rolling out for two starts per week.

I am in Florida.  Our first game is today.

The games can be any time between Monday-Saturday. Some guys do occasionally start two games in a week. State rule requires three days rest after each "seven inning stretch". The seven innings can be in one day or combined back to back days. Pitchers are also barred from pitching on three consecutive days.

How about this scenario??  My son's team was very good last year...won their first outright league championship in the history of the school (50 years).  They lost a senior pitcher to a D1 school...another very solid pitcher had several D3 offers...and the third was a capable #4 or 5 guy last year.   This year, my son is our #1...but also our starting SS and likely 3-hole hitter.  Our #2 is also our starting catcher....and #4 hitter. The problems you have when you're a small school and football and basketball are the two most popular sports....

 

It depends on the schedule and I see no reason why one couldn't come in for relief.  I would be concerned if we only had two good pitchers and would definitely be working others to find that third starter or relief pitcher. We have three games a week and when you mix in some tournaments and the playoffs at the end of the season that's a lot of innings.

50-60 games?  That seems like quite a bit for a HS.  Colleges are limited to 56 games in the regular season.  In Virginia, it's 20 games max for the regular season and if you make it to the state final, that's an additional 6 games so maybe 26 max.  If the regular season is 3 months long, you'd have to average 4 games a week to get even close to 50.  When's the state tournament?  August?  Sorry - I'm not buying it.

Fox Dad, Don't appreciate the tone of your response. If you'd like to send me a dialog & I'll send you the name of our High School and you can look it up for yourself. By the way, Max Preps doesn't report all scores so I need be I can direct you to specific seasons. Articles are in local newspapers quote the season record. Don't mind you asking a question but do have a problem with your "don't buy it response".

Billy19 - PM sent.