Innings for young pitchers in the minors

markprior22 · 04-28-2010, 11:23 AM

Does pitch count/IP have a negative affect on young (like just drafted) players pitching in the minors? You always hear that teams tend to go fairly easy on pitchers immediately following the draft. They probably recently finished their HS or college season and their arms aren't up to the stress of a full major or minor league season at this point.

I just drafted a pitcher with my first pick and sent him to my class A team. In his first start, he threw 114 pitches and went 8 innings. If it doesn't matter in OOTP that's fine...I will let it go. Just curious if this could tie into future injury problems/concerns.

jagreen · 04-28-2010, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markprior22

Does pitch count/IP have a negative affect on young (like just drafted) players pitching in the minors? You always hear that teams tend to go fairly easy on pitchers immediately following the draft. They probably recently finished their HS or college season and their arms aren't up to the stress of a full major or minor league season at this point.

I just drafted a pitcher with my first pick and sent him to my class A team. In his first start, he threw 114 pitches and went 8 innings. If it doesn't matter in OOTP that's fine...I will let it go. Just curious if this could tie into future injury problems/concerns.

If you don't like it you could adjust the Pitcher Stamina for that league (or all minor leagues) to a lower setting under the Game Setup/General Strategic Tendencies.

MimesisBTG · 04-28-2010, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markprior22

Does pitch count/IP have a negative affect on young (like just drafted) players pitching in the minors? You always hear that teams tend to go fairly easy on pitchers immediately following the draft. They probably recently finished their HS or college season and their arms aren't up to the stress of a full major or minor league season at this point.

I just drafted a pitcher with my first pick and sent him to my class A team. In his first start, he threw 114 pitches and went 8 innings. If it doesn't matter in OOTP that's fine...I will let it go. Just curious if this could tie into future injury problems/concerns.

You could also put your top pitching prospects on a pitch count in their player strategy page. I use this approach sometimes. If nothing else, it reduces the chance of injury.

markprior22 · 04-28-2010, 12:28 PM

I realize there are ways to limit the pitchers usage. I'm just wondering if it actually has an effect in OOTP. If there is no added injury risk (other than the fact that he is on the field more), then I'm not going to worry about it. If it does increase chance for injury, then I'll make the proper adjustments.

conception · 04-28-2010, 12:48 PM

I've never really known of any kind of cumulative effects of pitchers throwing a lot of innings and having the risk add up the more they pitch. For example, I don't think a young pitcher throwing his 150th inning would have more chance of getting injured in OOTP because its his 150th inning. If OOTP does operate this way, I've never heard of it.

The only thing that I know definitively is that, logically, a player who is pitching 200 innings instead of 100 has more chance of getting injured because there are twice as many opportunities to be injured during play. If you're afraid of young players getting injured, you could moderate their playing time. As for me, I'm usually pretty strenuous on my minor leaguers. The injury prone ones are probably going to get injured at some point, and in older versions of the game it actually helped to be able to identify the injury prone ones and trade them while their value was high.

MimesisBTG · 04-28-2010, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markprior22

I realize there are ways to limit the pitchers usage. I'm just wondering if it actually has an effect in OOTP. If there is no added injury risk (other than the fact that he is on the field more), then I'm not going to worry about it. If it does increase chance for injury, then I'll make the proper adjustments.

I was only referring to the fact that the pitcher would be on the field more, although I also recall reading somewhere that the more fatigued a pitcher becomes the more likely he is to be hurt. Perhaps someone who knows more can chime in on this one, because I am interested as well.

Craig Scarborough · 04-28-2010, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markprior22

I realize there are ways to limit the pitchers usage. I'm just wondering if it actually has an effect in OOTP. If there is no added injury risk (other than the fact that he is on the field more), then I'm not going to worry about it. If it does increase chance for injury, then I'll make the proper adjustments.

Great question. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the answer is. Things like this are what the help file SHOULD be for

Jabs · 04-28-2010, 07:09 PM

Looking at this from another angle....if you do limit a young pitcher in the minors to throw a lower number of innings / pitches, will this stunt his growth and development?

injury log · 04-28-2010, 09:11 PM

The more a player plays, the more opportunities he has to get injured, so there's that. I also recall, several versions ago, someone explaining that the game uses something along the lines of Pitcher Abuse Points to determine injury, which would mean high pitch counts are more likely to cause injury. Now, I don't know if that's actually true, or just something someone was claiming was true. I don't think the game models anything like the 'Verducci effect' (and I don't think I've seen any compelling evidence to think that effect even exists, but I haven't looked very hard to find any). Allegedly playing time helps development, though I couldn't say for sure if that's true (I've seen players get ratings boosts even if they're languishing on a minor league bench), so there are potentially a few factors to balance when developing a young pitcher. Personally, I try to use six man rotations in the minors to lessen injury exposure for my SP prospects.

Martos · 05-20-2010, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig Scarborough

Great question. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the answer is. Things like this are what the help file SHOULD be for

I'd welcome the location in the help file where this specific question is covered...

Afino · 05-20-2010, 08:59 AM

I started using pitch counts to manage ALL of my pitching prospects.

As said above, it's a balancing act with needing to be out there for development. Whether you use a 6-man rotation (which is something I've done too) or pitch counts, your goal is to make sure each time through the rotation your pitcher is 100% rested to try your best to prevent injury. Even getting 96-97% rested isn't quite enough, IMO.

04-28-2010, 11:23 AM	#1
markprior22 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: springfield, illinois Posts: 1,225 Blog Entries: 2	Innings for young pitchers in the minors Does pitch count/IP have a negative affect on young (like just drafted) players pitching in the minors? You always hear that teams tend to go fairly easy on pitchers immediately following the draft. They probably recently finished their HS or college season and their arms aren't up to the stress of a full major or minor league season at this point. I just drafted a pitcher with my first pick and sent him to my class A team. In his first start, he threw 114 pitches and went 8 innings. If it doesn't matter in OOTP that's fine...I will let it go. Just curious if this could tie into future injury problems/concerns.

05-20-2010, 08:59 AM	#11
Afino Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Buffalo, NY Posts: 3,828 Blog Entries: 2	I started using pitch counts to manage ALL of my pitching prospects. As said above, it's a balancing act with needing to be out there for development. Whether you use a 6-man rotation (which is something I've done too) or pitch counts, your goal is to make sure each time through the rotation your pitcher is 100% rested to try your best to prevent injury. Even getting 96-97% rested isn't quite enough, IMO. __________________ GUBA: Moscow Enforcers

04-28-2010, 12:28 PM	#4
markprior22 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: springfield, illinois Posts: 1,225 Blog Entries: 2	I realize there are ways to limit the pitchers usage. I'm just wondering if it actually has an effect in OOTP. If there is no added injury risk (other than the fact that he is on the field more), then I'm not going to worry about it. If it does increase chance for injury, then I'll make the proper adjustments.

04-28-2010, 12:48 PM	#5
conception All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,149	I've never really known of any kind of cumulative effects of pitchers throwing a lot of innings and having the risk add up the more they pitch. For example, I don't think a young pitcher throwing his 150th inning would have more chance of getting injured in OOTP because its his 150th inning. If OOTP does operate this way, I've never heard of it. The only thing that I know definitively is that, logically, a player who is pitching 200 innings instead of 100 has more chance of getting injured because there are twice as many opportunities to be injured during play. If you're afraid of young players getting injured, you could moderate their playing time. As for me, I'm usually pretty strenuous on my minor leaguers. The injury prone ones are probably going to get injured at some point, and in older versions of the game it actually helped to be able to identify the injury prone ones and trade them while their value was high.

04-28-2010, 07:09 PM	#8
Jabs Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Pella, IA Posts: 114	Looking at this from another angle....if you do limit a young pitcher in the minors to throw a lower number of innings / pitches, will this stunt his growth and development?

04-28-2010, 09:11 PM	#9
injury log Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 9,162	The more a player plays, the more opportunities he has to get injured, so there's that. I also recall, several versions ago, someone explaining that the game uses something along the lines of Pitcher Abuse Points to determine injury, which would mean high pitch counts are more likely to cause injury. Now, I don't know if that's actually true, or just something someone was claiming was true. I don't think the game models anything like the 'Verducci effect' (and I don't think I've seen any compelling evidence to think that effect even exists, but I haven't looked very hard to find any). Allegedly playing time helps development, though I couldn't say for sure if that's true (I've seen players get ratings boosts even if they're languishing on a minor league bench), so there are potentially a few factors to balance when developing a young pitcher. Personally, I try to use six man rotations in the minors to lessen injury exposure for my SP prospects.