Last season, it was a shortened season and only 4 pitchers made 13 starts. In 2021, the baseball season is a marathon and each team has to play 162 games. By far, a few pitchers already made 16 starts. A team has to be carefully monitoring each pitcher’s workload and helping their pitching staff stay healthy is indeed important. Recently, I watched a baseball game and a starting pitcher threw more than 110 pitches. And, I’m wondering who’s working more this season?
Trevor Bauer already tossed more than 100 innings. The 2020 NL Cy Young winner doesn’t have an under 2 ERA as he did last year. But, he’s still an elite pitcher in the majors and he currently has a 2.57 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. Opponents are only batting .173 against Bauer.
Sandy Alcantara has been quite consistent in the Marlins rotation so far. He made 16 starts and there’s only one game in which he failed to pitch 5 innings. He has a 2.93 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP.
Chris Bassitt also made 16 starts and he currently has a 3.25 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. He tossed his first career shutout this season and it was a 2-hit shutout against the Angels on May 27.
Zack Wheeler threw 99.1 innings so far this season and he’s been dominant since he joined the Phillies. Wheeler posts a 2.36 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP in 15 starts. Nonetheless, he only went 3 innings in his last start.
By far, 10 pitchers already threw at least 95 innings.
By far this season, Trevor Bauer already threw more than 1600 pitches, leading the majors. He’s the only pitcher to throw more than 1500 pitches. Additionally, the 2020 AL Cy Young Winner Shane Bieber threw 1475 pitches. However, he was placed on the IL on June 14 and Bieber has a 3.28 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP so far this season. Moreover, Chris Bassitt used 1496 pitches in 16 games and Zack Wheeler threw 1492 pitches so far in 15 games.
It seems that teams highly trust the Cy Young winners and let them throw more each game. Shane Bieber made 14 starts and there are 12 games, which Bieber threw at least 100 pitches. In addition, he threw more than 110 pitches 3 times this season. In Bauer’s 16 starts this season, he threw at least 100 pitches in 11 games, in particular, there are 7 games, which he threw at least 110 pitches. Thus far, Shane Bieber and Trevor Bauer are the only two pitchers to throw at least 100 pitches more than 10 times. Moreover, there are 2 pitchers who throw at least 100 pitches 8 times. And, there is something interesting. Jacob deGrom has been outstanding so far and there’s little doubt that he’s the most dominant pitcher in the MLB now. He made 12 starts so far and there’s only one game that deGrom threw at least 100 pitches.
Trevor Bauer and Shane Bieber are definitely two great pitchers in the majors and they can pitch deep without doubt. However, it’s also important to monitor their workloads. Bieber is currently on the injured list and we don’t know if it’s related to his workload. Trevor Bauer used a career-high 3687 pitches to toss 213 innings in 2019. It will be truly interesting to see how many innings he will pitch in 2021. Furthermore, Jacob deGrom normally doesn’t throw more than 100 pitches in a game this season. It seems that he pitches effectively and I’m thinking of a question, does the Mets really need a plan on deGrom’s pitch count?
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