Are Analytics Playing A Vital Role In The Pitching Shortage Across The MLB?

Since the start of the season, there's been a shortage in regards to pitching not only in Houston but across the league entirely. Set to rely on the bullpens with many starters absent, Sean poses are analytics hindering or helping pitchers from achieving their full potential on the field?     

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We're gonna have to turn this matterover to Sean. Oh no more,
Shawn Salisbury on Sports Talk seven ninety. All right, Sean, what are
you hearing out there now? TheSalisbury stakeouts, Salisbury's takeouts on the Sean

(00:21):
Salisbury Show. It's time for thestakeout here on the Sean Salisbury Show.
Sean bron and Tripley here with youthis morning on Sports Talk seven, and
you can also listen to us onthe free iHeartRadio app. Astros Guardians tonight
at Minute May Park, seven toten. The first pitch hunder Brown on

(00:42):
the Mountain. Six o'clock is whenthe on Deck show starts right here on
seven on your home for Astros Baseball, NBA Playoffs, rowing along, Celtics
sixtend their lead to three games toone, Pelicans eliminated, and so are
the Lakers. Let's talk Major LeagueBaseball and pitching. Sean. What irks
you the most about the current stateof pitching in Major League Baseball? The

(01:06):
dumbest things keep me up. Littlethings. The big things don't bother me.
I go come to big that.It's the little things, you know,
whether it's disrespect or whether it's thingsthat you should be able to control,
but you can't, or sometimes thelittle things that are out of your
control that you want to grasp ontothat you can't. So this isn't a
finger pointed at the old or middlefinger at the new, or vice versa.

(01:26):
This is just trying to be figuredout with our great listeners and callers
and you and me bantering over this, and so why it hit me?
Guess watching baseball and I'm thinking youbrought up the Yankees on a regular basis.
I think, okay, the conversationhas been had eight million times over
Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale and SandyKofax and Greg Maddox and those guys tough

(01:48):
Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan and thenooh five innings. But I'm trying to
where's the solution? And I guesswe're never going back. And I know
that seems so simplistic that I couldsit here and rant and rave and scream
and yell. But let me giveyou both sides of this, and this
is an old head versus new asyou know both of us. I think
change in baseball and credit to thecurrent athlete is phenomenal. But I also

(02:12):
think that we probably need to givemore credit to somebody like who paved the
road for these guys to get paidand do all those things. It all
kind of to me it's simpatico.But the separation comes from this, whether
it's coaching young trainers, and it'sin all sports, but I'm focusing on
pitching since excuse me, it's sucha lightning rod topic and it's on my
mind, so I'm gonna let itrip is. And regardless of you're a

(02:38):
feeler analytics person, but play thisgame with me. If I came to
you and said, athletes today havemore access to great training, they specialize
more, they should be healthier becausethey got easy, quicker ways to heal
like those. What is it thatyou can sit in a tank nowadays and
get the oxygen hyper bear chamber.You've got trainers, private trainers, nutritionists.

(03:02):
Listen, guys I played with theirnutritionists, was burger king okay?
So and they still were able togo out and perform. So my question
is number one, why are weover so protective of our pitchers these days?

(03:23):
We always talk about that we are, but the questions why two is
and I don't the words soft,I don't think Christian hobby or this year
is at anybody's example, some pitcheris soft because he goes now if he's
complaining about a hangnail and pitches onceevery three days because he's afraid of the
competition. To be a different story, I'm just talking about straight out pitching.

(03:45):
Is it the environment now that we'vecreated society wise and baseball? Is
it? When did we get tobe a hero for five innings? And
if you are a hero after fivewe and then you walk a guy,
well you're at eighty pitches. Wegot to get him out. Whatever up.
And it's kind of like now,we don't let our kids go through
adversity. We think we got toprotect them from everything, and that's the
worst thing we can do. Wealways want to protect our kids, but

(04:06):
why in the world can't we letthem get their ass kicked once in a
while and let them learn the hardway like some people did and some people
still do. And it's not oldversus new. It's just the games change
and evolved and in some cases forthe better. Concussions and sports and football
for the better. So we alwayslike to overuse the word soft or man,

(04:26):
that guy he's a wuss or whathave you? I just a I'm
sitting here thinking that when did weget to the point that we're that five
innings is just great pitching? Nowyou may be throwing one hit ball for
five innings, then why aren't youpitching the sixth well? As specialization?
Does it have to be? Youkeep that? That's the answer I get.
Why? So, why is itthat we have more injuries now,
less innings pitched, more opportunities fromcomputers and study and dynamics and body mechanics

(04:54):
and getting in hyper barrack chambers andmore trainers, and more opportunities to heal
quiquicker with more training techniques and allthese things. Why is it that we
have all this stuff? We pitchless, we make more, we expect
less, and we're mad at theguys who used to go, oh,
Bob Gibson wouldn't be successful. NowBob Gibson would kick their ass now twy

(05:16):
and twice on Sunday. Matter offact, he'd be better now. Why
because he and we throw less strikes, we expect more walks, and we're
hurt more. Yet, when theydidn't train as much and they didn't have
all these that had a trainer andthey had the team doctor. Why are
we injured more and less? Whydid a guy David Wells, why could

(05:38):
you smoke a grit and drink ofbeer and be better? Are you mentally
tougher? You got a Higer thresholdof pain? But it's the expectations too.
Are we now plugged into a timewhen literally, Brian, if you
go six innings and you pitch fourhip ball and he threw eighty five pitches
and you're going good, we pullyou out because, well, we got
to get to the seventh inning.Guy, Why do we have to get
to the seventh inning? Guy?Analytics? Well, I almost said f

(06:00):
analytics, thank you for that forsaving me the FCC. But analytics are
good. I think we over analyzeit, just like a good a guy
who takes I think at times forBregman, all using guy. I love
his eye, maybe as good aseyes airs in baseball, right, we
said that before, But I thinkat times close pitches that he'd normally hammer.
I think at times he gets toocute because he's he's waiting for the
perfect pitch, and I think earlyon the struggles and he knows the strike

(06:23):
zone as well as an umpire,but instead of being aggressive, it makes
you. I do I believe thatat times? Do you agree with me
that some guys are a little passive, Not that he's not aggressive, but
you know the strike zone so well, it takes away some of your aggresiveness
because they don't thought it right whereyou want it. They can't be a
strike. So back to the pitching. So why is it? Why is
it we're hurt more, we last, we expect less, We last far,

(06:46):
far longer, even I'm talk abouteven going back fifteen to Clemens and
Pedro Martinez. So if you're tellingme that pitchers are more talented now,
I don't believe that. But theyare more talented now with all this access
to great stuff, too much stuff? Is it? Do we have such
a plethora of opportunities that we don'tknow how to focus on the ones or
twos that matter? How is PedroMartinez, who's one hundred and seventy pounds

(07:10):
dripping wet, able to get IfPedro Martinez gave you six innings, that
wasn't never enough for him? OrGreg Maddox or Tom Glavin or John Smoltz
or Roger Clements. What's the difference. Why is there such a discrepancy in
complete games? Well, the specializationis better. So you're gonna tell me
that Josh Haters better than Trevor Hoffman. Dude, look me in the face

(07:31):
and tell me why you believe that. You don't. Right, there's Ryan
Presley better in his prime, andI'm saying they're good, don't missent.
I'm just comparing because we're here inHouston. I don't care. Give me
a closer a class A. Idon't care who you pick. Eraldis Chapman
who can ramp it up? There? Is he better than Mariano Rivera?
Bet? And he's Mario Veda's recent. Mariano Rivera's recent for the most part,

(07:56):
right, So it's not old BruceYoung. I'm just to understanding where
where did this evolution get to thepoint we usually evolved to better and more?
Why have we evolved to less andnot as good? Why is it
that we're okay with five innings?Well, explain to me this, and
then we turn around and bitch thatthe back end of the bullpen's tired.

(08:16):
I don't understand it. Are peoplenot afraid of losing their job? If
you run the picture out there orthe criticism. Has Twitter and social media
changed it? And where people arequestioning that we got some swinging Richard sitting
in the stands. We may lovebaseball and know it, but is allowing
is changing your decisions because you don'twant to get booter have to read on
Twitter that the media or some fansdon't like you because they thought you should

(08:39):
have pulled kept the picture in orpulled the picture out when you didn't do
it, so you didn't addhere towhat us fans think. I'd like to
think that Joe a spot and knowsmore than me and you what's going on
in the dugout right, using himas an example to stay local. So
I guess my craw is it's notoldver So all you old heads one,
oh, it's just like basketball orfootball. I don't know. Am I

(09:01):
supposed to expect my quarterback now tocomplete sixty percent once in a while and
that he's supposed to be great now? Or can you imagine pulling your quarterback
out after he played three quarters becauseyou were saving him not to get hurt
and it was it was a itwas a one score game. Yeah,
because the analytics showed that in thefourth quarter, he should we pull him

(09:22):
out. So so my point isit's not to be a smartest. I
don't know the answer. We havemore more opportunities to be great. Is
it do we have too much now? Is it like a kid with a
video game than when they had togo outside and play they didn't have the
video game? Is it that ourminds? I don't get it. I'm
trying to listen to me. It'sone of the great questions. It's not
answered, and I don't think there'sone answer for either side. And save

(09:45):
it to tell me that use somebodyrecent could Smoltz pitching today's game? Oh
yeah, how good at his best, probably dominate cy young. I want
you to think about this too.We've created Do you realize if you get
twenty wins nowadays, you're a unicorn? Oh yeah, don't see that very
often? So so why is itthat? And is it because oh he
got five and a third? Listen, I'm sorry to tell you, whether

(10:07):
it's this broadcast team, me andyou anybody else. You walk one,
go five and a third. You'rehealthy. You threw eight ninety pitches and
the scores three to one. Whenyou go out of the game. You
haven't pitched a great game. Youpitched the solid game. But now if
you say seven and two thirds andthat's your numbers, now we're talking.
Now we're talking. You had tocut out one hundred and seven pitches.

(10:30):
Well, we're worried about their arm. Why are we worried about their arm
if they haven't been hurt. They'reyounger, they're stronger, they got more
ability to get back on the fieldquicker with all this training and all this
money tied into it. Why didDavid Wells pitch longer and better without going
I'm using him as an example.I don't think David Wells, who I
love Wells, We need to gethim on. Maybe he can answer it

(10:50):
for us, and he'd be greatabout it. Why is it that he
What would he tell us? Butwhy tell me why we don't need to
put these young athletes are old?To say? Well, older, they
didn't have they weren't as fast andstrong. You're gonna tell me Mickey Mantle
couldn't hit five hundred homers in thisday and age the hell out of here.
Just stop it. He hit ninetymiles an hour fastball into okay,

(11:13):
so you know, save it Somy point is why, Brian, but
what what what do we I mean? I know, if we knew the
answer, we bottled up it.So is it that we have mentally created
this is how you're supposed to thinkwhere we've become robotic with this. I
always thought that the more knowledge youhad and the more access to great to
health and healing and remedies, thatwe were supposed to get more out of

(11:39):
it. So why is that?I don't know. Okay, could Hunter
Brown pitch when Bob when Maddox andthen pitched talent wise? Yes, yeah,
talent wise four innings? He wouldbe in the minor leagues. He
wouldn't make his stuff, says yes, But I'm talking about the expectations.
Now, turn around and tell meMaddox could he pitch now? Yeah?

(12:01):
Right, because he But maybe Maddoxwouldn't be the same if the expectations were
placed different on. I don't knowhow it's raised, Why we do it?
Are we afraid of social media's opinion? I just it frustrates me.
I'm not giving anybody here a worshipafter a five inning game where they're they're
up three to one and they've goteighty pitches, and I'm not carrying them
off on my shoulders. I'm justnot. Now. If he overcame three

(12:22):
injuries, his wife had a baby, he was asleep, he came,
he's two days off, he's backon after missing a year and a half,
and he goes out there and givesme five and two thirds and of
two hit ball. Damn right,carry him on your shoulders. You get
the perspective I'm talking about. Otherwise, with all this, I thought we
were supposed to be better and expectmore. We expect less, go shorter

(12:43):
and praise him more. Why?Yeah, I don't know. Why.
What would Bob? What would GregMaddox be worth? Right now? What
I mean? I talked to EricDickerson a couple days ago at the Warren's
Tournament and Ed and I were talkingand just laughing because he's great. What
would you be worth now? Iasked him, he's a running back because

(13:05):
we devalued the ego Sean, probablynot very much because they devalued. And
I said, yeah, you're right, but in our eyes, you know
me, Eric, we're teammates andas a quarterback we know devalue. What
would it be worth if he wasgetting treated with his game, what would
he be worth now? I justuse any example because I talked to him
about it and he smirked his smile. Well, he had one guy who
used to coach him and stuff said, you're twenty million dollars running back.

(13:28):
So it's not even just the money, it's the expectations. Why why are
we supposed to crawl ten miles overbroken glass to cheer on? I mean,
cheer them on, but even ifwe excel. Oh, he had
a good performance, he went fiveand a third, did he But he's
healthy and he's twenty four. Explainthat to me. I can't. That's
my man. Now you know whyit keeps me up? Yeah? I

(13:48):
want to look at the innings thresholdper year for some of these starting pitchers.
I pulled up Garrett Cole, ClaytonKershaw, Charlie Morton, Justin verlind
Or, David Wells, and GregMaddox, and I'm comparing to to today's
game. And do you know why? I always give you a wealth of
baseball knowledge, right, useless baseballknowledge, But when it comes to this,
it's not useless. It's not oldverse young, it's why then and

(14:09):
why now? Let's keep on discussingthis next on Sports Talk seven eighty