Matsuzaka throws 142

by Grant H on Oct 9, 2005 5:13 PM PDT

I just read that Daisuke threw 142 pitches in a loss to Chiba in the first round of the playoffs, it was in only seven innings. Matsuzaka has been abused since high school when he threw a 17 inning complete game or something like that. He led the NPB in complete games this year as well. I was actually in Japan this summer, and saw Seibu play twice, but missed Matsuzaka (they don't really list probables anywhere). Anyhow as much as I would like to see this guy in Seattle, their are a lot of corcerns. Assuming he actually gets posted and the Mariners actually win the bidding war, I feel there is a chance his career will be ruined by injuries. I feel like he has a track record similar to Kerry Wood whom I heard was over used greatly in high school and look at him now. Despite all the risk, I think the reward is potentially so great that we should go for it. Plus how cool would it be to have MLB's only gyro-baller backing up Felix and Burnett!

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Abuse

When Daisuke Matsusaka was 18 years old, he threw 643 pitches over 45 innings...IN A WEEK!!!
That's borderline child abuse.
-Conor

"The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided." -Casey Stengel

by ConorGlassey on Oct 9, 2005 10:23 PM PDT reply actions

That's a fricking

Addie Joss 1885 workload. Yikes. Unless the gyroball puts zero stress on the arm, but even then, yikes.

I wonder what the longevity of Japanese pitchers who spend their entire careers in Japan is. I wonder what their attrition rate is.

Either they have the holy grail to pitcher endurance or Japanese pitching is a giant meat grinder.

by Gomez on Oct 9, 2005 11:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Borderline???

That is horrible.

by The Dude on Oct 9, 2005 10:28 PM PDT reply actions

Do

gyroball mechanics have different medical stresses on the arm? I never got a clear answer on that from Will Carroll. Maybe it's the equivalent of throwing a knuckleball.

by Matthew on Oct 9, 2005 10:57 PM PDT reply actions

GO MARINES!!!!

Eh, who cares about Matsuzaka, let's see Lotte take it all. Woo!

by Deanna on Oct 10, 2005 12:23 AM PDT reply actions

a knuckleballer

can throw that many pitches easy. It's a hair more stressful than playing catch.

A lot also depends on the Japanese warmup routine. The average ML SP throws long toss before a start than warms up for about 20-30 minutes in the bullpen where he probably throws 30 pitches. If they didn't do that, the pitch count benchmark would likely be closer to 130 than 100.

I'm not saying it's defensible or anything short of a bad idea. Just that it might not be the level abuse it initially looks like.

by Matthew on Oct 10, 2005 7:59 AM PDT reply actions