How To Handle a Pitching Staff

One of my pet-peeves in watching any level of baseball is over-use of the bullpen.  Mis-management of the bullpen sometimes makes games unbearable to watch, especially in the college game.

Here are a couple of rules I wish more coaches would take into account when making decisions about the pitchers.  I reiterate, as I have in past posts, that I don’t have experience managing a pitching staff, just merely someone who has figured out what he likes over-time.

#1 – You don’t replace on pitcher, with a pitcher who throws with the same arm.

This is a tell-tale sign of over-management.  There is never a reason to replace one pitcher, with another pitcher who throws on the same side.  For example, in the middle of an inning, it makes zero sense to waste one right-handed reliever, by bringing in a second right-handed reliever.

This is a sign of wasting pitchers, and it somewhat plays right into rule number two,

#2 – Look further down the lineup than just the next hitter.

Managers and pitching coaches fall in love with the righty-righty, lefty-lefty matchups.  St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is a prime example of this.  He can use four pitchers in an inning just to get the matchups he wants.

Look farther down the lineup than just the next hitter.  Sometimes you will have a situation where if you just let the pitcher stay in the game a little longer, you can work around the righty-lefty situation, and not waste pitchers for just one batter.

I know the percentages say to make those moves, but I don’t want to be going into extra innings, and have to rely on my closer for multiple innings.

Which leads to number three…

#3 – Closers are meant for one inning, to ‘close’ the game.

In covering the South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team for the last year, I believe their bullpen is completely mismanaged.  Gamecocks Head Coach Ray Tanner and Pitching Coach Jerry Meyers should never be bringing in Closer Matt Price, in the seventh inning.

This is a problem that plagues college baseball more than Major League Baseball.  However, it makes no sense to me as to why you bring your closer in the seventh inning?  At the point when you need him to get outs, he is tired.

But there are exceptions to every rule…

#4 – Everyone can pitch in championship deciding/elimination games.

There are exceptions, and in ‘Game 7,’ elimination games, or championship deciding games, any of these rules are disregarded.

The most important thing is to win, and anything necessary to secure that win must be done.  Everyone on the pitching staff must be ready to pitch, even the previous day’s starter.

My philosophy is that when you have to win, I’ll worry about what to do next when it comes.  In championship scenarios, there is no next game, so why are you conserving pitchers?

Of course there are situations that come up all the time that would make me a hypocrite over these rules.  But in my 15 years of watching baseball, it is how I think a pitching staff should be handled.