The most important job for a manager is… I guess one answer could be pitcher management. How a manager handles his pitching staff is pretty important IMO. I think that’s why so many catchers become managers; they’re already used to dealing with pitchers. David Ross is an ex-catcher; you’d think he’d be pretty good at this. Not sure how you feel about the job he’s done there. Of course, the guys he’s bringing in have something to do with it too. They can make a manager look like a genius, or on the flip side, a fricking bozo. Putting your guys in a position to be successful, knowing each of them, goes a long way; the answer could change at different times of the year. Guy is throwing lights out, guy has been struggling lately. Pressing those right buttons could make a big difference in a ballgame.
Enter this weekend: our team has 4 games in 3 days. Thanks for the rainouts, this weekend is almost impossible to managing the pitchers and the respective pitch count limits put in place. The nice thing is, that out of the 13 kids on our team, 8 of them have already pitched; one more of them wants to pitch, and he will this weekend. So 9 arms to run out there; that’s a great luxury to have. However, one of those arms is still on the shelf, another is in Europe for this weekend of games, and another is pegged to pitch on his travel team, so… adding the new kid in with the kids who have already pitched, and we have 7 kids able to pitch during this tight 4 game stretch. Good luck to us!
The last time I tried to “manage the pitching staff”, it didn’t go too well. I was trying to save our 2 best arms for the next round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, put our team in a very bad position in the first round; we lost a close game. If one of our better kids had started, I think we would have won; lesson learned. Although this weekend will be the biggest test of this skill, the playoffs which will be coming by the end of the month, will present another opportunity. Safe to say, I won’t be saving our best arms for the next round… there is no NEXT round if we don’t win the first round, although I think it’s double elimination…
Anyways, 35 pitches on Saturday allows the kid to pitch on Monday; 20 pitches on Saturday or Sunday, allows them to pitch the next day. 85 pitches is the maximum any kid can throw on one day. You can’t play catcher after you have pitched. All rules I will need to keep in mind as we take the field for our first game Saturday afternoon. I have a plan… but, we know how things can change. I guess if I max out each kid at 20 per game, then I’ll have the full complement every day, except of course that double-header on Sunday… Can a kid who pitches 20 in the first game, pitch again in the 2nd game on the same day? Yes, yes I think you can. OK. Let’s do this!
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