Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 29, 2008
Misusing Matsuzaka

During my radio show Wednesday night, I discussed the Red Sox pattern of use of Daisuke Matsuzaka. Looking at his log with pitch counts, the Red Sox seem to be more interested in limiting his innings than his pitches. In two of his best starts, he lasted seven innings. In one of those he threw 111 pitches, so I can see him coming out, but in the other, he threw just 96. Why not let him go 115 pitches when he's throwing well?

In his two high pitch outings, on 4/13 and 5/22, he pitched poorly, walking six in each game. Now, there are many theories on what pitch counts mean. One that makes sense to me is that pitching fatigued leads to injuries, since it's more difficult to keep your mechanics right.

Daisuke Matsuzaka

13 April 2008: Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka as the Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees 8-5 Sunday night at Fenway Park in Boston. MA. Dice-K threw 116 pitches in the game and walked six.
Photo: Icon SMI

Now, I'd like to suggest that walking lots of batters is a sign that a pitcher's mechanics is off. Now, maybe the umpire had a narrow strike zone, or maybe the opposing team was particularly selective. Walking a lot of batters, however, should throw up a red flag that the pitcher may not have everything together that day. So in the two games where walks indicated that Matsuzaka's mechanics were off, he threw the most pitches.

The start before he left with an injury was one of those, 118 pitches in a game where he struggled with control. I understand that Dice-K has a history of being able to throw a lot of pitches, it just seems to make more sense to allow him high pitch counts when he's throwing well rather than when he might be struggling with his mechanics.


Posted by David Pinto at 03:53 PM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Good points, David, but Matsuzaka has never been efficient with his pitches. He's always been "wild around the zone" and has so much movement on his variety of pitches that it's difficult for him to hit spots just as it's difficult for the batter to hit the pitch. I'd be curious what PFX shows -- is his release point consistent in those high-BB games? What else changed?

Posted by: WC at May 29, 2008 08:24 PM

I think it was because a butterfly flapped its wings in Japan creating a cool breeze and Dk has not been able to keep his shoulder warm...

Posted by: MC at May 30, 2008 09:59 AM

In the games where he's had a lot of walks they've been trying to get him thru 6 so they can go to the winning half of the bullpen - since he's 8-0 they've been ahead in those games. When he's inconsistent with his breaking stuff he walks a lot of guys. Some guys will stick with one pitch but I guess he and Varitek figure he's tough to hit so they still want to mix it up. I don't believe his control is affected so much by mechanics as it is inconsistent feel and touch and over reliance on breaking stuff.

Posted by: Bandit at May 30, 2008 10:26 AM

You can bet Dice-K will be on ice for at least two weeks, maybe a month. He's maddening to watch, giving up more walks than hits and taking forever to do it. If the Sox had even a decent middle relief team, Dice could be a five-inning pitcher, unfortunately demonstrating the future use of starters. Then again, since Boston's management is like the Kremlin when it comes to injuries, Dice could make his next start or be out until July 4.

Posted by: Russ Smith at May 30, 2008 01:20 PM

Is it really a bad idea to lift Matsuzaka after 96 pitches through 7 innings for Okajima when two lefties in Mauer and Morneau are leading off the eighth inning?

seems rather nitpicky to me.

Posted by: michael at May 30, 2008 08:41 PM
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