[ThePretender]

Originally Posted by slugger922cubs

I extremely doubt MLB managers are making decisions to pull pitchers because suddenly they're at batter 19+.

Several managers have been interviewed and are aware of the penalty and are doing this, actually.

It's one consideration out of many. Often fatigue, at least in my opinion, is the deciding factor still.Third time through the order the pitcher's velocity is typically dropping and his stuff is slightly less effective for many reasons.

This isn't always the case though. Pitchers can hold their velocity, but once a hitter has seen a pitcher's pitches, and their pitch sequence, they're much easier to hit.

Batter 19 is not some magical point where the wheels fall off if graphed by batter number I guarantee its a slow trend and not a cliff. Pulling your starter for a reliever gains you the stuff bonus because the game knows batters are not likely to see him multiple times and he can get away with a shorter arsenal of pitches. Still, though many times the starter could still be more effective than a MR.

Actually, it's not true, and it's been proven statistically that a fresh reliever is more likely to have a lower OPS/wRC+ against than a SP will the third time through the order. There will be exceptions, but for 90-95% of starters, a fresh reliever is more likely to avoid being hit hard than a SP will the third time through the order.

Many factors go into that decision theres no silver bullet. In fact its extremely hard to quantify the 3rd time through the order effect as much more than thats when guys get fatigued and are less effective. No way to quantify ts because the batter has had to PAs vs him.

This is your opinion, but the facts actually support the fact that a batter who has more evidence against a specific pitcher will likely be more successful.