Pitch Efficiency Quotes

My pitch count as a general rule was 135. And I knew how many pitches I had when I went to the mound for the last three innings.

John Wetteland had a very good curveball. He threw it for a strike, too, in any count, any situation. But, he really didn't use it much. He didn't want to throw it. He wanted to throw fastball-slider.

Too many pitchers, that's all, there are just too many pitchers Ten or twelve on a team. Don't see how any of them get enough work. Four starting pitchers and one relief man ought to be enough. Pitch 'em every three days and you'd find they'd get control and good, strong arms.

You can be a two-pitch guy and be successful, but your room for error is very small.

I'm not trying to throw six or seven pitches just to be able to strike you out. I'm trying to do it in three or four. It's the homework and the process between starts that I really focus on to help me do that.

I'm not executing my pitches. I'm not commanding my fastball, and I get behind in the count. When I try to throw strikes, I'm getting hurt. That's not the way I pitch.

Ken Holtzman could pitch a game in ninety minutes. Wouldn't throw a breaking ball. And he had a great breaking ball.

It's hard to be a two-pitch guy. People tell you that, but you don't really believe it.

I've got to keep my pitch count down. If you want to go deep into ballgames, you have to stay under that 100 mark.

I don't try for strikeouts, but batters just swing and miss. I'd exchange strikeouts for more innings. As a starter, my job is to go deep into the game. When you get strikeouts, you throw a lot of pitches and sometimes you come out early.

All I really try to do is whatever hitter gets in there, I just try to get him out in as few pitches as possible.

Walk rate is probably the area in which a pitcher has the most room to improve, but a rate that high is tough to overcome.

If you are used to going five innings and then go six or seven, you won't have your good stuff. They need to start that from the minor leagues and give pitchers strong arms.

The only time I really try for a strikeout is when I'm in a jam. If the bases are loaded with none out, for example, then I'll go for a strikeout. But most of the time I try to throw to spots. I try to get them to pop up or ground out. On a strikeout I might have to throw five or six pitches, sometimes more if there are foul-offs. That tires me. So I just try to get outs. That's what counts - outs. You win with outs, not strikeouts.

By the second sentence of a pitch, the entirety of the story should be explained.

There's more to pitching than just striking guys out, but also it is a big reason why you can have success.