Was it wrong to let a college pitcher, one who is likely to be selected in the first five rounds of the MLB Draft this June, throw more pitches in a game than any big leaguer has thrown since Tim Wakefield in 1997?
A day after Stanford University senior Quinn Mathews threw 156 pitches in a complete game win over the University of Texas in the second of a three-game NCAA Super Regional series, the debate was on.
Was it wrong to let a college pitcher, one who is likely to be selected in the first five rounds of the MLB Draft this June, throw more pitches in a game than any big leaguer has thrown since knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in 1997?
“Before people pass judgment, they don’t know what we know,” Stanford University coach David Esquer said Monday, hours before his team faced the Longhorns at Sunken Diamond for a berth in the College World Series.
Mathews has “been trained to throw 125 pitches on a weekly basis. He did go above that, but we took into account that he wasn’t cranking off a majority of sliders and fastballs,” Esquer continued. “He was probably throwing a majority of changeups, and we thought that lowered the stress of the pitch count.”
Mathews has been a workhorse for No. 6 ranked Stanford all season. The left-hander has thrown at least 100 pitches in 15 of his 17 starts. Just last week, he threw 180 pitches over two games in a four-day span.
Faced with a must-win in Game 2 against Texas on Sunday, Esquer felt like the best option was to keep Mathews in the game until the final out.
“We’d never want to put him in any danger, and we’ve never done that all year,” the coach said.
Mathews told ESPN broadcasters that he told his coaches he didn’t need to come out of the game, saying, “I told’em I was good to go, and they weren’t going to get the rock out of my hand.”
He even said he could get three outs if it was needed in Game 3 on Monday.
While the outing was alarming to some in the baseball world — and to Stanford baseball followers it was reminiscent to the 2002 regional in which Jeremy Guthrie threw 147 pitches in a 13-inning complete game — it was appreciated by Johns Hopkins fifth-year senior Gabe Romano, who threw 164 pitches in a complete game against Lynchburg in the Division III College World Series last Thursday.
Speaking by phone Monday, Romano said he loved to see Mathews’ effort, but noted that they’re in two different situations.
Romano was pitching in the final game of his baseball career and will start a new job at a bank next week. Mathews is considered the 107th-best prospect in this year’s draft, according to Baseball America. He was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 19th round last year, but decided to return to college for one more season.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a huge advocate that you should throw 160 pitches or it’s fine for you,” Romano said. “But I can tell you right now, it’s been four days and I feel like I could throw nine innings right now. I’m not going to condone it, to say people should do it, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”
There’s been a lot of research on the correlation of pitch counts and arm injuries. Limited pitch counts in youth sports have been shown to decrease the prevalence of elbow injuries in Japan. And a 2020 study published in The Journal of Athletic Training found that in adolescents, regularly pitching through fatigue increased the risk of injury requiring surgery by 36 times.
But there have been mixed findings on results in adults, and a 2012 study in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning found “little evidence to show that the number of pitches thrown and the days of rest affect future performance and injury.”
“Your arm can do a lot of things if you just condition it,” Romano said. “I’ve come to learn that. In years past I haven’t gone over 100 pitches. Maybe once in college. But this year with my arm ramped up, my arm feels better than ever. It doesn’t hurt as much. I recover faster. Could it be because of the conditioning and it’s accustomed to throwing more?”
ESPN broadcaster Kyle Peterson, a former big league pitcher who led Stanford to back-to-back College World Series appearances in 1995 and ‘96, was on the call for Sunday’s game and was impressed by Mathews’ performance. He said he was never concerned about the pitcher’s health.
“There are more pitch count regulations and a lower amount of throwing in pro ball than there ever has been in the history of the game, and there have never been more arm injuries,” Peterson said. “Longevity, if you’re doing it time and time again, it probably beats you up more than if you do it once. I know what it feels like when you do it once, and when you do it significant amount of times.”
Peterson pitched in parts of two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers until shoulder injuries ended his career before his 26th birthday.
“When I was a freshman in college, in regionals one year I threw 120 pitches on a Friday and 140 on a Monday, then came back and threw a complete game in Omaha, Nebraska, six days later,” he said. “Ultimately, shoulder injuries knocked me out of the game. But I have no idea why.”
Peterson, whose 398 1/3 career innings rank third in Stanford history, said that even if he knew overuse in college played a role in his shoulder problems, it was worth it to him.
“Not everybody should be doing it,” he said. “It’s an individual thing… But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It was one of the best moments of my life.”
