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Apr 13, 2011 - Ron Gardenhire on Francisco Liriano (via Phil Mackey): "We understand that he can strike people out, but if he really wants to become a pitcher, pitch to contact ..."
A quote which led to (among others) this diatribe from IIATMS's Brien:
I will never, ever, understand people who buy this "pitch to contact" stuff. It just makes no sense at all from a mechanical standpoint. You're basically taking the approach of hoping that, rather than miss a pitch entirely, a hitter will make contact with the ball but avoid squaring it up and hitting it hard. Of course, how does this even work mechanically? Do you throw down the middle of the plate? Do you work around the edges? How exactly do you go about pitching so that the batter will neither square the ball up nor miss the pitch entirely?
I'm a big fan of the strikeout, and I'm not a big fan of instructing pitchers to pitch to contact. Particularly pitchers like Francisco Liriano, who has demonstrated real strikeout ability.
All that said, I'm reluctant to criticize the Twins' pitching philosophy, because it seems to have served them so well.
Since Johan Santana left after the 2007 season, the Twins have finished 10th in the American League in strikeouts in three straight seasons ... and in those same three seasons, they've ranked first in walks. That is, they've allowed fewer walks than anybody else in every season. I'm not sure if they're actually pitching to contact, or perhaps pitching to avoid walks.
In those same three seasons, the Twins have ranked seventh, 11th, and fifth in the league in ERA. This is not particularly impressive, except most of those pitchers were relatively cheap.
Would the Twins pitch better if the coaching staff encouraged more strikeouts? I don't know. I do believe that if you've got pitchers who can't get strikeouts without a lot of walks and high pitch counts, maybe they should be doing something else. I also believe if you've got a pitcher like Francisco Liriano who's capable of striking out 200 hitters while walking only 60, you stay the hell out of the way and watch him win.
6 comments
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Comments
This is different from the Red Sox
who encourage their pitchers to pitch to contract, and then once they’ve signed a big-money extension, they can just do whatever.
/looking at you, John Lackey
/don’t think I can’t see you either, Beckett
I'm white and I don't dance but that doesn't mean I have all the answers.
by smk73 on Apr 13, 2011 2:22 PM EDT reply actions
I think the primary advantage of ‘pitching to contact’ (which I agree is not the right term) from an organizational standpoint is that it should lead to lower pitch counts. So by assembling a pitching staff that ‘pitches to contact’ the Twins reduce the importance of having dominant stuff (cheaper), reduce the importance of having a deep bullpen (which is so unpredictable), and also utilizes playing in a pitchers park. Sounds like a good plan to me.
That being said, telling Liriano to pitch to contact is fitting a square peg into a round hole – when you have a player like that you just have to let him do his thing.
by tsmith11 on Apr 13, 2011 3:32 PM EDT reply actions
Though you could argue that after saving money on the staff and bullpen, that now you need to spend some/most/all of that money on elite fielders. And often elite fielders aren’t good hitters, so now you have to really break the bank on a couple of those rare elite fielding, good/great hitting players to put together a competent offense with your budget staff…
by erosen on Apr 13, 2011 5:06 PM EDT reply actions
And for our next trick
Ozzie Guillen will get Adam Dunn to start bunting at least once a week. Y’know, “if he really wants to become a hitter.”
by GBSimons on Apr 13, 2011 5:25 PM EDT reply actions
In this context “pitch to contact” really means “pound the strike zone”. Liriano has been nibbling, which has driven his pitch counts up quickly, and as a result he can’t pitch past the 5th inning. Does anybody really think Gardenhire and Anderson (pitching coach) don’t want their pitchers to get strike outs? They aren’t asking Liriano to alter his mechanics or overhaul his approach. They just want him to trust his stuff and throw the damn ball over the plate.
by morts on Apr 14, 2011 3:51 PM EDT reply actions
Trust me
This “Pitch to Contact” thing works well. I mean it is all hit the middle of the strike zone and hope that the batter hits the ball. What could go wrong? Look at Ron Gardenhire’s record. In 2002 The Twins made it all the way to the ALCS. In 2003 the same team did win it… Ok, we did win the division title and a playoff game, but in 2004 we won another division title and a playoff game. But then there is 2006 and yet another division title. Ok, I guess we did do something good in 2009 right. Oh it’s another division title. But a new ballpark opening in 2010 should equal a championship right. Yes but it is only another division title. Yes, pitching to contact works wonders when the goal is to fall way short in the playoffs and lose games you are expected to win.
by Jessy S on Apr 14, 2011 10:38 PM EDT reply actions
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