This weekend I coached in the double header vs. Maine at SNHU. Both of our starting pitchers would eventually tell me that they were done after an inning was over. Both said something like "I'm done after this inning" or "I've got one more inning then I'm done"
This was ok with me as we had a strong bullpen and didn't want to risk anything in this exhibition, but it did seem strange to me. This summer I was a volunteer assistant with a 14 year old team and some of the pitchers would lie to us to stay in the game when it was clear they were sore or had nothing left.
Could there be a mental impact from things going on in the big leagues with pitch counts, "joba rules", and specialized pitching? Or are these guys mature enough to know when is enough for them? Are the pitchers getting smarter with respect to taking care of their arm or are they becoming softer and less competitive? Any thoughts?
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