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LSU's new pitching philosophy
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  1. There was an interesting article in today's Advocate concerning the pitching philosopy of the Tiger's pitching coach, Terry Rooney. He stated he does not want his pitchers to pitch with the idea of striking out batters, but allowing them to hit. Rooney stated "We never talk about strikeouts." He calls it "offensive pitching" or "throwing to contact." It idea is to limit walks and home runs by forcing the opponent, through good defense, to hit singles. Rooney stated hitters get themselves out far more often than not. Rooney focuses on three stats: walks, first-pitch strike percenage and throwing two of the first three pitches for strikes. According to Rooney that forces the action. If LSU can throw a strike the first pitch 70% of the time and walk no more than two batters a game, they should win. The Tigers will allow their opponents to but the ball in play, trusting their defense and the percentages.

    Sounds interesting, but I am a little concerned with the idea of allowing the opponents to put the ball into play. I have always maintained that the team with the most hits generally ends up winning. I have my doubts about this anti-strikeout philosophy. I am interested in any comments anyone may have. Maybe I am just from the old school.
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  2. This is not directed to you but I've always had a hard time why people think the # of stikeouts in a game tells a story. If a pitcher has 9 strikeouts, scattered through 12 hits- does that mean he threw a good game?

    In fact, when someone tells me so-in-so had so many strike-outs the first question I ask was how many walks and hits to go with that.

    As far as the pitching philosophy- He's definitely correct about walks- You can't beat walks and to often they do come back to haunt you.

    I'm anxious to hear the viewpoints on this philosophy- I kind of lean toward SO. As a HS pitcher, I always looked at the person in the box as challenging me and made it personal- which is what motivated me when my legs were tired. There are 8 other players in the field but pitching has dominated the game (Even in softball).
  3. Sounds like a good approach to me. He's not saying don't strike guys out. He is saying that's not the focus. Getting ahead in the count will keep a pitcher from having to groove a fastball down the middle.

  4. Bill James has been screaming that philosophy for years. It goes against traditional baseball wisdom, but sabermetrics backs it up. The idea is not really to cut down strike outs, but to take the emphasis off of them. The main point is to reduce walks and home runs. Walks and home runs correlate to runs more strongly than singles (a home run will always have an r value of 1). Also balls put in play result in outs in a much larger percentage than they do hits. So what this approach is doing is limiting the two items with the strongest correlation to runs (walks and home runs) and increases putting the ball in play in order to create outs.
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  5. I've got a feeling this is a dumb question, but who is Bill James?
  7. I don't think its a dumb question at all. He is a statistician who studies baseball statistics and writes an annual almanac. His non-traditional view has heavily influenced Theo Epstein and Billy Beane. He is currently a member of the Red Sox front office. Alot of his theories stand in stark contrast to conventional baseball wisdom.
  8. i really believe this guy was as big of a hire as was CPM. I was very worried he was going stay behind and be the next head coach at ND and and am still shocked he isnt. he is a great baseball mind from everything ive read and a great handler of pitchers. LSU had loads of pitching talent even during skips last couple of years yet it never developed and/or injured. this is exactly the strength of the current staff.

    they wont overextend the arms and they will teach. as mentioned above, strikeouts arent a bad thing, just not the main focus. its a sound strategy if the pitchers buy into it. its the greg maddux approach. keep in mind, hitters at the college level are undisciplined and want to put up big numbers to get noticed. walks dont get you drafted and the staff knows this. thats why will they adopt the opposite approach at the plate. discipline.

    i found this when we were unsure if rooney would follow CPM:
  9. pitching to contact is a good idea, but doesnt work for all pitchers. some guys get people out with the high heat, others (glavine) make a career out of ground ball outs. if lsu has a bunch of control artists they well do great pitching to contact. if they have guys who can't keep the ball down, pitching to contact will be disastrous.

    it certainly saves wear on pitcher's arms to pitch to contact, because srikeout pitchers throw way more pitches and go deeper into counts.

    (all baseball fans should know who bill james is)

  10. I am and I didn't.
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