Oscar Villarreal usage

[DWKB]

I learned a couple of days ago that 21 year old Oscar Villarreal set the DBax record for appearances in the month of April with 16. He made his 17th yesterday on May 1st.

So far, the 21 year old has thrown 22.1 IP in his 17 appearances throwing a total of 385 pitches (this averages out to 17.5 pitches/IP).

This is Oscar's Game Log.

A pitcher burns his arm every time he warms up or enters a game. To throw in a lot of games consecutively or to throw so many pitches in games close together can wear on a pitchers arm a lot.

To compare, this is the Game Log of our 30 year old $6M closer who just came off sugery.

 

[schillingfan]

I noticed this myself. I was surprised that he went in to last night's game instead of Mike Koplove, when it was tied. Koplove should be getting more innings than Villareal, he is older and his sidearm pitching is less stressful.

I suspect it is more a function of how crummy the D-Backs have been that Koplove and Mantei who are the 8th and 9th in save situations are getting less work than the 6th & 7th inning inning eater. I would worry that he is being used to eat innings, though.

Hopefully with Curt coming back and the rotation apparently settling down for a bit there will be less need to use him, particularly after Randy comes back.

 

[AZZenny]

I wondered about that, too - they are treating him like he's an experienced bullpen guy with a rubber arm, when he's always been a starter. They warmed him up again tonight, as well.

 

[moviegeekjn]

Overuse is a huge worry in Oscar's case.... BB needs to pay more attention to this...

Recently read Herzog's most recent book.... and he discusses how poorly Tommy Lasorda would use his pen--the main fault he found was how the Dodgers would get their guys warmed up night after night without getting them into the game, and then be surprised when they were burnt out--bullpen warmups need to be considered as game outings... ideally you only warm up when about to go into the game.

Seems that Oscar has warmed up every night--even when not getting into the games.

 

[unc84steve]

From Weaver On Strategy by Earl Weaver

WEAVER'S EIGHTH LAW
The best place for a rookie pitcher is long relief

"I believe rookie young pitchers have to serve an apprenticeship, both for their own good and for the good of the team."

For those who might not remember, "long relievers" are called "inning-eaters" today. They appear in blowouts to save the rest of the staff.

Besides the number of appearances, innings & pitches, what worries me is the variety of roles. Oscar has gotten spot starts, a couple innings, a couple batters, etc. As baseball experience grows, I think we'll learn that these different warm-up/use patterns are better handled by the older/more developed arms. But we'll only learn through experience. It's possible the opposite is true. The same role could burn an arm out.

I like Earl Weaver's plan. His pitchers generally stayed healthier.

 

[AZZenny]

I would hope that having a good pen coach like Mark Davis, and former pen coach Sherlock as bench, plus Kniffin, they would be tuned in to these issues and reign in BB if that's needed. I suspect we'll see Oscar again tonight - they won't push Curt too far into the game if his comfort or strength become any kind of issue.

 

[schillingfan]

I noticed last night that Oscar Villareal throws a sort of side-arm pitch, almost a 3/4, but definitely not a true overhand. If that's true, I feel better about the usage. This may be an old untrue adage, but it's always been said that sidearmers are much less prone to arm injury. Certainly Kent Tekulve pitched oodles of innings in his career without injury. He truly had a rubber arm.

 

[DWKB]

Well the Oscar watch has reached 23.2 IP in 18 games out of 31 total.


That extrapolates to 94 Gm and 123.2 IP for the kid.

To give you an idea of how uncommen this is:

Year a pitcher has accomplished this feat:

Pitcher	        Year	Team	 IP	Gm
Wayne Granger	1969	CIN	144.7	90
Mike Marshall	1973	MON	179	92
Mike Marshall	1974	LAD	208.3	106
Kent Tekulve	1978	PIT	135	91
Mike Marshall	1979	MIN	142.7	90
Kent Tekulve    1979	PIT	134.3	94

The kid is due for a long rest.

 

[FORKTUNG]

Yeah but Oscar comes to Brenly before each game and tells him he's ready to go tonight!

 

[Cland]

Originally posted by FORKTUNG
Yeah but Oscar comes to Brenly before each game and tells him he's ready to go tonight!

Of course he's going to say he's ready. Name a pitcher who would go up to his manager and say he's not ready to go? Opps, sorry BK!

Didn't Brenly do the same thing with Orepesa last year? Obviously he didn't learn his lesson. It's embarrassing the amount of times this kid has gotten up already this year.