Pitcher Abuse Points

Some further thoughts on Rootin' Tootin' Rich Harden's gun-slingin' showdown with The Cincinnati Kid ...

The other day we noted that Rich Harden may have been overexntending himself when he dialled it up to hit triple-digits pitching to Ken Griffey, Jr. near the end of a 5.1 inning, 106-pitch effort.

To clarify our original point, it's our understanding from a cursory reading of Woolner/Jayazerli/Carroll et al. that the significant risk factor with pitchers is not raw pitch counts per se; but that, given any spectrum of physiological and experiential parameters, higher risk obtains when a pitcher expends maximal or near-maximal effort at or beyond a point of physical exhaustion. ("Exhaustion," of course, in the technical sense of hvaing excessively stressed out certain muscle groups, not the common-sense usage of being so overall physically tired as to collapse.)

Harden is a high-strikeout/high-walk pitcher, and was true to form against the Reds. While he does have excellent mechanics, he has admittedly been tinkering with his delivery (working with Curt Young to stop altering his eyeline mid-delivery, e.g.) and is young both experientially and physically.

Tossing over 100 pitches in under 6 innings is not an efficient pitch count; and we think it's safe to assume that an inefficient pitch count, more so than a high raw pitch count, implies excessive strain. Harden then turned it up a notch to throw cheese past Griffey -- meaning that he was operating at maximal or near-maximal effort.

So: exhausting inefficient workload, followed by maximal effort, all by a young pitcher with a relatively unconditioned arm. That's what worries us.

Now, nearly every beat writer has been pushing Macha's quote regarding the two off days (yesterday and this coming Monday) for the rotation, implying that no one's turn will be skipped.

An extra day or two of rest will certainly benefit Harden, to recover from this last start and to ensure that his strength and endurance are maximized.

But given what we outlined above, we would not be at all surprised to see Harden's spot skipped on the next go-through.