Verlander throws 121

Justin Verlander was throwing heat last night, but 121 is the number of pitches he threw – not his top speed. I’m a disappointed, but not surprised that Jim Leyland would leave him out there.

I’m not going to blame the loss on Leyland’s handling of Verlander. Yes Verlander allowed the home run to Nick Swisher leading off the 7th, but then he quietly retired the side afterwards. I don’t think that Verlander’s pitch count had anything to do with the home run, and by all accounts it sounded like Verlander wasn’t fatigued. On the last pitch of the 6th inning he hit 101mph.

My issue is that it was completely unnecessary for Verlander to throw that 7th inning. This is a prized young arm making his 5th big league start. He wasn’t working on a complete game and it wasn’t part of a pennant race. This was a tie game in the 7th inning in mid April.

Pitchers are all different, and there is nothing magical about the 100 pitch mark. It’s very possible that Verlander is and will be fine, and this outing won’t have any negative impact on his arm. I just don’t see why he even took the chance.

Related: Ken Arneson of Catfish Stew was in attendance and likes what he saw from Verlander.

9 thoughts on “Verlander throws 121”

  1. So much for hoping Leyland would take it easy on the young arms. 121 pitches? 100 isn’t any sort of magical number, but 120 is a long night, even for a veteran. 100 pitches through 6 innings? He didn’t even have his best stuff! I really don’t want to see the kids throwing much over 100 unless it’s because they’re dominating so much that they have a reasonable shot at a complete game. I can’t imagine what his reason was for sending Verlander out for another inning after already throwing 99.

    Ok, I’m done ranting. Billfer, can you move this to appropriate thread when you open it?

  2. I understand that we don’t want our prized arm to break down, but you build stamina by accumulating innings. As you mentioned, he wasn’t struggling as the pitch-count crept up. If something were to happen to Verlander (God forbid), no doubt this game and its pitch-count would be brought up, which to me is somewhat ludicrous. Hell, it seems TJ surgery is a right of passage for pitchers these days anyway. Great stuff ya got here, go Tigers!

  3. Jeff –

    I moved your comment over here. I didn’t see it until after I’d made my post. I think we’re on the same page. (honestly I didn’t mean to copy the 100 is a magical number thing).

    Paul –
    I think this game would only be brought up if it was part of a pattern of high pitch counts. I don’t think that this one outing is going to make or break the arm. It’s more what it may suggest the overall usage pattern will be. Plus, Leyland has a history of this stuff in Florida. And as far as TJ surgery being a foregone conclusion, it hasn’t been for a lot of teams – like the A’s.

  4. Suuuuuuure, Billfer. I think we all know where most of this site’s content really originates 🙂 Just kidding. I’m just happy to know my rant wasn’t off-base.

  5. i remember at least a little bit of discussion about this going on when leyland was chosen as manager last year. He did the same thing to several promising young arms when he was in florida and a few of them were complete flameouts. the pitcher abuse point data at baseball prospectus shows this pretty clearly.

  6. pitcher abuse point data…shows this pretty clearly

    I think we all saw this coming, but I guess I hoped he wouldn’t live up to the reputation. Now I guess I just have to hope he manages to get away with it.

  7. I was at the game last night, and Verlander was really impressing the locals. His strikeout of Chavez in the first really shocked the crowd: 2-0, few fouls on fastballs hitting 99, then a huge swing and miss on a sweet breaking pitch in the mid 70’s. V’s rhythm was quite fast as we’ve seen, and he was rushing in the 2nd, his offspeed stuff was wild to the point where Pudge strolled out, rubbed his shoulder in encouraging fashion, and then promply called a high fastball that Swisher dumped in the bleachers bring the crowd back into the game. I was suprised to see him start the seventh as well, but not shocked as he got out of the 6th with I believe a walk, double play ground ball, and strikeout on a 99mph pitch. And I did see the gun pop 101 on a pitch Bradley barely got his bat to. For what it’s worth, Loaiza didn’t beat 85 in the first 2 frames and hit 88 later in the game, so both were progressing well. Great game with a disappointing finish. Huston Street was truly sick inducing seemingly endless swings and misses with the crowd standing on their toes as Shelton made an out in the 9th. He also got some grudging claps from the locals during his first few ab’s.

    Again, the 120+ outing precedent in the context of Leyland’s season long habits that concerns me, not this particular outting.

  8. I too was disappointed in the handle of Verlander for the 7th innning. Especially, when you have a setup man in Zumaya who can handle doing 2 innings the whole season and not burn out since he was a starter last year. Trammell would have be ripped a new one for this move. I would be more concerned about the arm of Verlander than whether or not he was still throwing 100mph at the end of the 6th. (Also, I have heard that the gun at CoPa is on the high end compared with other parks). I was inpressed with how Gomez and Shelton worked Street for 9 pitches each in the 9th. We need more of that.

  9. I agree, and pitch counts are overblown these days. But, you are talking about our promising young guy that we have locked up for a few years.
    No need to push him while its his first year and might be reaching back for something extra (which could injure him for the long-run). Look at Dusty Baker, and where his young studs are now.
    If he was dealing a 6-0 game, with a 2 hitter then sure let him go.
    The Gomez (Thames) pinch-hit I didn’t get either in a one run game. Oh well, he knows more baseball then I ever will so I guess I gotta trust him there.

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