Randy Johnson: 160 Pitches

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed May 27, 2009 5:07 am

In this week's Sports Illustrated, there's a nice feature story on Randy Johnson as he approaches his 300th win. The story looks at his milestone victories and gives a good background on how he transformed from just being the tallest pitcher in baseball to being the very best who won five Cy Young awards.

Interestingly, he turned his career around in 1992 after getting a pitching lesson from Tom House and Nolan Ryan, both of whom detected a flaw in his delivery. Johnson made an adjustment and he quickly became very successful. And he did it with pitch counts that today would get managers fired.

In 1992 against Ryan, Johnson struck out 18 batters in eight innings while throwing 160 pitches. ONE-HUNDRED SIXTY pitches.

He went 19-8 with 308 strikeouts in 1993 and in 1995 when he went 19-2 he pitched six times in the season's final 20 days as the Mariners reached the playoffs. He started the 1996 season by throwing 129, 122, 123 and 128 pitches and was shelved in May by back surgery caused by the heavy work load. From 1990 to 1995, Johnson threw 150 pitches or more in a game EIGHT TIMES. All other MLB pitchers combined had 23 such games during that period.

So 31 pitchers threw 150 or more pitches in a game from 1990-95, something you don't see anymore. Has anyone thrown 150+ pitches in the last decade? A manager would get fired these days if anyone threw that much, wouldn't they?

Anyway, it's a good read on Johnson and the number of pitches thrown just stood out to me. His numbers are pretty amazing and I hope he gets to 300 wins this year. He's a throwback type of pitcher, the likes we may never see again.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed May 27, 2009 5:15 am

I know this is a totally different subject, but while watching the amazing Zack Greinke last night I wondered why the Royals have to keep sending him out for the ninth inning during games in which Greinke is clearly going to get the win. It was a 6-1 lead last night with Greinke already throwing 100+ pitches when he finished the complete game, having thrown a season-high 116 pitches.

Now I know it's great to see Greinke complete his fifth game of the season and keep mowing down opposing batters with relative ease, but 100+ pitches every time out has to start taking a toll on him, doesn't it? And couldn't the Royals' pen have preserved that 6-1 lead in the ninth?

Again, I enjoyed watching Greinke effortlessly throw one strike after another and throw as hard in the ninth as he did in the first. But at some point, preserving him for the whole season seems to be the better course of action. Just my two cents as I want to see him get 33 starts this year, not just have a great first half.

Scott Boras · Post by **Scott Boras** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:30 pm

Good stuff, Greg! Can't wait to read the article. I have always felt that Randy Johnson was under-rated. Yeah, I know he was once regarded as one of the best pitchers in MLB for a while but what we really had was one of the best EVER. In the late 90's through the turn of the century, Pedro seemed to get more recognition and I never felt that was fair. Not to take anything away from Pedro and his HOF career, but his career numbers pale in comparison to the BIg Unit's by a wide margin.

Like Maddux, Johnson won 4 straight cy youngs and was robbed of a 5th in 6 years when Clemens beat him out in 04. What a joke that was as Johnson beat him in every significant category except for wins in which the gap was negligible.

In the last 20 years, the best pitchers:

1) Greg Maddux

2) Randy Johnson

3) Pedro Martinez

4) Johan Santana

5) Roger Clemens (reluctantly)

5) Tom Glavine

6) John Smoltz

7) Curt Schilling

8) Mike Mussina

9) Kevin Brown

10) David Cone

Soon to be rivaled by Hamels, Peavy, Beckett, Lincecum, and Oswalt.

Anyone else?

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:04 pm

Best and worst part of the article was reading an Umpire called an entire game for the Unit. Supposedly he(ump) told the catcher Johnson was so good, he(catcher) wasn't even needed, he could call the game.......He whispered the signals to the catcher for a complete game win.

For those who watch a bunch of games, we know it wasn't the ump who is extremely loud with his calls....anyone know his name? It's Jim something or Diaz or Sanchez, eh, I cannot remember. All you game watchers know who I am talking about.

Hopefully Johnson can get those other two wins before the end of the season.

Navel Lint · Post by **Navel Lint** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:40 pm

Originally posted by GOD Loves You:

Best and worst part of the article was reading an Umpire called an entire game for the Unit. Supposedly he(ump) told the catcher Johnson was so good, he(catcher) wasn't even needed, he could call the game.......He whispered the signals to the catcher for a complete game win.

For those who watch a bunch of games, we know it wasn't the ump who is extremely loud with his calls....anyone know his name? It's Jim something or Diaz or Sanchez, eh, I cannot remember. All you game watchers know who I am talking about.

Hopefully Johnson can get those other two wins before the end of the season. Looking up the box score of the game. Tim McClelland was the home plate ump.

Johnson had some crazy pitch counts that year.

31 starts.

23 starts with 110+ pitches

18 starts of 124+ pitches

He had a 10 game streak of 125, 127, 146, 133, 141, 145, 128, 128, 132, and 159.

His 160 pitch outing was 8 starts later.

Dub · Post by **Dub** » Thu May 28, 2009 2:38 am

Nolan Ryan threw 259 pitches in 12 innings against Kansas City in 1974 and 162 in a 1989 game at age 42!

ToddZ · Post by **ToddZ** » Thu May 28, 2009 3:50 am

To me, the whole issue with pitch counts is it is more than just the sheer number of pitches, but the TYPE of pitches. Since the high-strike has been eliminated and the zone is the size of a postage stamp, the repertoire of pitches has changed to include an array that put far more stress on the arm than letting one go at the letters. With a smaller strike zone, you need more than just a heater to get MLB hitters out and the added stress of these pitches are what lead to the injuries, etc.

I am guessing that the vast majority of Unit's and Ryan's offerings were fastballs, many between the waist and shoulders.

It has been a pet peeve of mine for almost 25 years when "strike at the letters" was stricken from baseball vernacular.

Suggest what you feel is "wrong" with the game and in the majority of instances, I'll trace it to the elimination of the high strike.

Scott Boras · Post by **Scott Boras** » Thu May 28, 2009 6:16 am

Originally posted by ToddZ:

To me, the whole issue with pitch counts is it is more than just the sheer number of pitches, but the TYPE of pitches. Since the high-strike has been eliminated and the zone is the size of a postage stamp, the repertoire of pitches has changed to include an array that put far more stress on the arm than letting one go at the letters. With a smaller strike zone, you need more than just a heater to get MLB hitters out and the added stress of these pitches are what lead to the injuries, etc.

I am guessing that the vast majority of Unit's and Ryan's offerings were fastballs, many between the waist and shoulders.

It has been a pet peeve of mine for almost 25 years when "strike at the letters" was stricken from baseball vernacular.

Suggest what you feel is "wrong" with the game and in the majority of instances, I'll trace it to the elimination of the high strike. I vote we bring back the high strike! Come on, Todd. Pull some strings!