Riding the Hot Hand

Guess reality is just a tad too close to some to warrant discussion... continue on with heads buried in the sand.

Nobody has their head in the sand. What's your point?

Need a little more information - how many days, how many pitches / innings did the guy go?

 

Overall, a reliever can be used much more than a starter can in consecutive days but there still a cumulative pitch count to consider.  That's going to vary by pitcher but this could be very bad or it could be nothing.

Not enough info to comment.  Is this guy a max effort guy (high velo thrower), or off speed?  How many pitches?  After he threw back to back, did he get rest?  Nobody here, that I know of is a proponent of abusing arms, however to comment on you OP, there just is not enough info, other than he came in relief in both games of a double header.  Without number of pitches, innings, was he used again the next day,  etc., it is hard to formulate an educated opinion.

Do you get the feeling this is going to be another pointless coach bashing thread?

Yep! And it's not a good idea. You never know who's looking and you may not be as anonymous as you think. Be physically and mentally prepared. Deliver when you get the shot. Like I posted a few days ago, most college players were high school studs. For the first time a kid may not own the field and dad can't thump his chest. The options are be frustrated or deal with it and prepare.

4 straight days of work, minimum of 20 pitches per outing, twice pitched in both games of a DH in that time frame.  15 man staff.  I am under the assumption one of the worst things for an arm is throwing twice in one day.  No desire to bash anyone, just looking for the realities of the game.  And if all you got is cyber-stalking a message board, creep on brother.

Not much info from OP to say, but if all you know was a pitcher pitched both ends of a double header two days in a row, wouldn't you want to know what the coach was thinking?

I agree that there's not much behind the OP to truly form an opinion.  The second post from couple hours ago help but still some questions.

 

1.  Was any of the outings a struggle - as in long innings, hard to get guys out or did he cruise through them?  When you throw a minimum of 20 pitchers per outing that is a significantly high number if it's one inning but realistic for two innings and super for three innings.  

 

2.  Was there proper warm up time before entering the game each time or was there any rush because previous pitcher was in a jam? How much rest did he get after the series of games?

 

3.  If you're going with 4 straight days with two DH then you're playing 6 games total.  I've never seen a college schedule like this and most schools - even in the north - have been playing for couple of weeks.  Are these rescheduled make up games due to weather?  

 

4.  How long has this coach been at that school?  How long has he been a head coach?  How successful has he been in the past?  What's his track record with using pitchers?  If these are early season games most teams won't be playing conference games and will use a lot of guys to see how they do.  Most coaches will not narrow down the roster until conference time.

 

I will never support or defend a coach who does abuse arms and this does seem like a lot of pitching in small increments.  This stuff still does add up over time and you still need proper rest / recovery.

 

Go44dad his second post is what makes me think it will be a coach bashing thread (and it may well need to be if this guy is abusing arms).  Sometimes a thread can get lost on here where people don't see it right away.  I didn't see it until after the second post was made.

To the original post.  I don't know, overall, how common it is.  I know this, last year on my son's team, things narrowed down to this.  Starter, 7th and 8th inning guy, closer.  The 7th and 8th inning guy and the closer were the same almost every conference game.  Some mid week as well, but less so.  Those guys are the ones he trusted.  3 starters, 2 relievers on the weekends.  

 

Not a lot different in MLB.  They'll use more middle relief guys, but most teams pretty much have their 8th inning guy and their closer.  They will use them every night if the situations are right for it.

 

I don't know where the "head in the sand" comment is coming from.  Your OP looks like a simple question.  If you are commenting that people have their heads in the sand, is there an underlying agenda behind what you are asking?  Is your son a pitcher not getting mound time because the coach is playing the same guy for multiple outings?  Somethings going on you're not saying.

I have no interest in dragging anyone thru the mud, really was curious if this was a common practice. As to the scheduling, Northern school on a spring trip.  Scheduling like this is common for those spending the time & money to head south.  Wasn't my kid involved.  Guess this is just something else to watch for when selecting a program.

You know Yankee, I think that what happens on the field will depend a lot on the mix of the players on the team and how they are performing.  If a coach has 6 kids that are all performing extremely well, then more guys will be in the mix for mound (or field) time.  If a coach has two guys who are getting the job done, those are the guys he's going to use.  He may continue to use other guys in situations where the game isn't on the line.  Like the team is up or down by a ton of runs, he'll put some guys in to see how they do.  If they start to perform, he may use them more.  But until then, he's going to use the players that he believes will get the job done and give him the win.  If the team is in a 3-2 game and the starter needs to come out, he's not going to put in a pitcher that walks a bunch of guys or has given up a bunch of runs.  

 

I think that will be the case where ever you go.

Not good to pitch in the circumstance but that is the dilemma of scheduling DH.
JMO having a reliever.  Relieving two days in a row is ok if pitch count amounts to nothing.

 The question was regarding the wisdom of using the same guy multiple times in a DH in a short period of time and is it regularly done @  the college level.  Here is the math, 15 arms, take away 4 for starters, you are left with 11 arms, lets say half of them are struggling (you can include my son if this makes you feel better)  Are W's really that all consuming to continue to run out the hot hand?  Not talking end of year/career scenarios, just early season non-conference tilts. 

The bottom line at the college level is Ws.  If the team is struggling out of the gate, you will see questionable decisions, even if a SP is not stretched out properly, some HCs will let them go too long.  Throwing RPs back to back in DHs will also happen if the HC is desperate for a W.  The pitchers need to protect their health regardless of the HCs' game management skills.