Pitching Staffs

Being a newcomer to the "system" of HS baseball, I'd be interested in input on the philosophies of HS coaches and their pitching staffs during the season. On many posts, I seem to see only a couple of pitchers names listed for area schools, but it would seem that teams have to have more pitchers. (College teams appear to have about 1/3 of their staff in pitching). So how do the HS's handle their pitching staff? How deep should a HS pitching staff be? Can 2 or 3 pitchers take a team to the top? Assuming there are other pitchers on a staff, how do these kids get to develop their abilities? Is it based on the number of games played? Is it the same in college - the top 4-5 pitching all the time? Obviously, it's dependent upon the individual coach, but I'm curious about the overall philosophies. Lots of ?'s, but you guys seem to be in the know ......

 

College and HS are totally different situations. Average HS plays 2 games per week of about 7 innings ... occasionally has a 3rd game.

The colleges play 4-5 games/week and they are 9 innings.

College hitters put the ball in play a lot better than HS guys. Can work the pitch count and put some stress on a pitcher. Much harder to have a complete game in college. Average game, a college will use 3 pitchers, and that's if they are doing well.

In HS, you see a lot of 3-4 man staffs that do about 90% of the pitching. You have a lot of easier outs in HS, so they can go deep into a game without having their pitch count mount up.

If you are using more than 3-4 guys, you may not be getting enough innings for your primary pitchers to stay sharp in HS.

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But, each coach has his own philosphy .... it's all just generalities on here.

 

I agree with NCBBallFan.

The Varsity high school baseball season is short enough for your best 3 - 4 pitchers to handle the load. Since the high school season is short there's a high premium on winning each game that is played - so you go with the best you have each week. However, if a team is not winning then they will be more willing to experiment with the # 5 - 6 pitchers.

As far as developing high school pitchers is concerned, I think the JV teams are usually willing to use more pitchers for that purpose.

On an individual basis, most pitchers put a large emphasis on developing in the off seasons during summer and fall baseball seasons, and winter workouts too.

 

Most high school programs go with 2-3 starters and a couple more pitchers to fill in when needed. With only two games a week (sometimes three) and a relatively short season compared to college, 4-5 pitchers should get the job done. If a team has two dominant pitchers, they'll usually get the bulk of the work. Most starting pitchers need to throw once a week to stay sharp.

 

Spectator2 and NCBBallFan....I agree with both of you guys, but, with 2 game a week schedules most coaches have tendency to stick with a 2 man rotation and use their 3rd guy as a closer....if the game is a blow out one way or the other you will see them go to the #4 and #5 guys if they have them.

I know a lot of the teams I saw last year were lucky if they had 2 "quality" starters, very few had 3 or 4....the teams that are lucky enough this year to have 3 or 4 strong guys will probably be the teams that you see deep in the playoffs.