Interesting observation

[Grindelwald]

This afternoon I watched Arizona play St. Johns in the CWS. The Arizona pitcher went 9 1/3 innings, gave up 17 hits, 6 runs, and threw 130-135 pitches. No manager in the majors would have left his starter in that long. I notice that college coaches seem to let their starters go longer than MLB and pitch counts seem to get thrown out the window. It's amazing how much babying goes on in MLB with pitchers.

[hector]

This afternoon I watched Arizona play St. Johns in the CWS. The Arizona pitcher went 9 1/3 innings, gave up 17 hits, 6 runs, and threw 130-135 pitches. No manager in the majors would have left his starter in that long. I notice that college coaches seem to let their starters go longer than MLB and pitch counts seem to get thrown out the window. It's amazing how much babying goes on in MLB with pitchers.

Amazing indeed. It's even more amazing when you consider that the injury rate among pitchers is no lower with coddling than it was before coddling.

The funniest part of all is the hilarious logic behing coddling. The theory is that I won't use a pitcher as much as I could because that will avoid injuries and, if injuries occurred, I couldn't use the pitcher. Either way you're not using him - right?

[Jabez]

That is an interesting observation, G-Wald. Having been part of that culture, such a move by the AZ manager would likely suggest that all of his pre-planning for a weekend of such importance [ starters, bullpen use, defensive deployments, offensive concentrations, etc., etc., ] are all predicated on the simple belief which is - U go with your BEST for as long as possible. It's not a time for second-guessing.

[Far from home]

This afternoon I watched Arizona play St. Johns in the CWS. The Arizona pitcher went 9 1/3 innings, gave up 17 hits, 6 runs, and threw 130-135 pitches. No manager in the majors would have left his starter in that long. I notice that college coaches seem to let their starters go longer than MLB and pitch counts seem to get thrown out the window. It's amazing how much babying goes on in MLB with pitchers.

The players are younger, they play fewer games, don't make any money (legally), and don't have the same pitching schedule.
The coaches don't have to worry about them in 3 years, either.

While I agree with Hector to a degree about coddling - I think it's the kind of coddling that's the issue, not the fact it's happening. In the past, not coddling for a player meant giving him drugs to help him along - such as amphetamines or other pain killers or energy supplements that are now illegal.

If you want a guy to have a stronger arm with more stamina, you need to focus on how to get him stronger - not on how to preserve through less work. You also need to do what's necessarily to reduce stress on repetitive use body parts through proper motion and pitching strategy.

Nolan pitched so long because not only did he work out a ton, he also used his lower body extensively in his motion, which reduced stress on his arm.