Foreign Manager's influence on Pitch Counts.

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I saw the box scores of the games on May 16 and noticed only 2 starting pitchers threw substantially more than 100 pitches. It seemed that even pitchers who were throwing well were taken out right at the century mark. I began to wonder if there was any statistical evidence to show if pitch counts in Japan have decreased in recent years, and whether that could be attributed directly to the influx of foreign managers.

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Re: Foreign Manager's Influence on Pitch Counts

[ Author: Deanna | Posted: May 18, 2008 11:24 AM | NIP Fan ]

I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but not always. (Kobayashi got left in for 150 pitches by an American manager, just this past week.)

I still get kind of angry about a game in September 2006 where Nomura left Kanehisa Arime in the game to pitch 12 innings of a 1-1 tie game. 188 pitches, 17 strikeouts, and he pretty much couldn't pitch another effective game at all that year. It was sad.

I'm guessing pitch counts have gone down overall in recent years, but I'm not sure that's due to foreign managers. Someone who actually has the stats on this will chime in, I hope.

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Re: Foreign Manager's Influence on Pitch Counts

[ Author: number9 | Posted: May 18, 2008 4:06 PM ]

That Arime case is extreme and shouldn't have happened.

But going somewhat over 120 pitches or so shouldn't be much of a concern in Japan where the the weekly 6 man rotation is institutionalized. So, over the course of the season, throwing 100 pitches every 5 days and 120 pitches every 7 days adds up to be about the same. (Nevermind that pitchers gradually lose effectiveness as they go through the order more often and throw more pitches, so unless you've got an ace out there, bringing in a fresh effective (that's an "if" I guess) arm from the bullpen around the 100 pitch/6 inning mark makes sense strategically.)

Then again, here we're only talking about in game situations. Japanese pitchers throw a lot more in spring training and between starts. Consequently, only rubber arms (like Matsuzaka) survive Japanese baseball. Then again, many modern American starters are accused of being too fragile. And there are no scientific proofs that 100 pitches is where pitchers break down, it's just a nice round arbitrary figure that seems to work in many cases. But some rubber armed pitchers in the majors regularly go over 100 pitches as well, and I'm sure 100 pitches is too many for some other pitchers, so there has to be some individual adjustments to be made.

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Re: Foreign Manager's Influence on Pitch Counts

[ Author: Christopher | Posted: May 18, 2008 5:26 PM | HAN Fan ]

Well I don't have stats, but I have noticed a reduction in pitch counts for the most part. Nomura still seems to favour high pitch counts, but other coaches retire around 100 or less. Okada can leave Andoh in too long, but with other pitchers he is more careful. Interestingly the coach who seems to over-pitch most strikes me as Ochiai who still seems to run up some very high counts for his pitchers.

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