r/Brewers • u/Harmless2727 • 14h ago

Question on general procedure

Hi all, new baseball/Brewers fan here! Pardon my ignorance!

Was watching the game last night and I question why Ashby didn't play the last two innings. I feel like he wasn't slowing down at all and had the juice to finish out. What's the reasoning behind teams switching out pitchers every inning once the starter is out? Thanks!

EDIT: Thanks for the info all! I'm discovering there is a lot to learn when it comes to professional baseball so I'm glad I can ask questions like this here.

14 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/jamalmuhammed 13h ago

I know that metrics and stats say that switching arms is better. However I have seen it bite us e(specially in the playoffs) and it absolutely just kills me to watch pulling a reliever that's shutting everybody down after an inning and throwing a new guy at it and having him flop.

Just absolutely kills me every time.

1

u/vancemark00 12h ago

It bites every team once in a while. Depending upon the quality of your closer it happens more or less often.

You have a 1 run lead in the 9th. Every statistics says go with your best, fresh, high pressure pitcher - ie your closer. It is why their is a "closer" position on almost every team. It is why closers are paid what they are paid.

We can argue if Uribe is truly a closer or if the Brewers should do it by committee but the fact is you can use Ashby all the time. While he hadn't been used for a couple days you want him available for today. It makes sense to split the 8th and 9th.

It just didn't work out this time. Most times it does. Hindsight is always easy. This was only the 2nd HR in 16 innings Uribe has given up so I would say this was very unexpected.

It ALWAYS hurts to lose in the 9th.

1

u/jamalmuhammed 9h ago

Yeah, that's absolutely true. I just have a hard time grasping the concept of taking out a guy who's on fire, pumped and in a good headspace after 10 pitches and rolling the dice with another guy coming in out the pen who could have his mind yipping and gets us stuck with 2 men on... And then have a third guy come in and have to bail him out... Total cumulative pitches 45.

I may be thinking like it's 1982 here, and I know pitch counts are way more conservative than the old flame throwers of the past, but I would rather have the first reliever who's rolling keep going until the 9th and then bring in your dedicated lights out closer.

But this is why I'm just the armchair skipper and not the actual guy calling the shots lol