Counting Pitches Yet Again

Well, they wrapped up the Abu Dhabi  Grand Prix this morning so I was just messing around on BB-ref and I noticed that Alek Manoah threw 2,949 pitches this past season. Is that a lot, I wondered? Who threw the most pitches in the majors this year anyway? Who led the majors in years past, and how many pitches did it take Back In The Day?

Hey, the Grand Prix season is over. A fellow needs to keep busy.

SO here's my Data Table. We have the league leader, of course. We also have how many MLB pitchers threw more than 3,000 (or 4,000!) pitches that season. And I tossed in the Blue Jays leader. Just because.

        Team    Over  Over
Year     Avg    3000  4000   Leader                      Pitches        TOR        Leader       Pitches    Also over 3,000   
                                   
1988    21,891   53     4    Dave Stewart                 4,260     -   22,996    Mike Flanagan    3,317    Stieb
1989    21,617   44     2    Roger Clemens                4,226     -   21,767    Jimmy Key        3,080    
1990    20,551   26     0    Erik Hanson                  3,745     -   21,030    Dave Stieb       3,036    
1991    22,274   52     1    Roger Clemens                4,068     -   23,000    Todd Stottlemyre 3,339    Key
1992    22,582   58     2    David Cone                   4,114     -   22,836    Jack Morris      3,563    Key
                                        
1993    22,057   49     4    Randy Johnson                4,220     -   22,437    Juan Guzman      3,701    Hentgen
1994    15,755    0     0    Randy Johnson                2,882     -   16,772    Pat Hentgen      2,694    
1995    19,372   11     0    Randy Johnson                3,594     -   19,582    Al Leiter        2,922    
1996    21,104   35     1    Roger Clemens                4,134     -   21,086    Pat Hentgen      3,688    Hanson
1997    21,693   34     0    Darryl Kile                  3,701     -   20,175    Pat Hentgen      3,547    Clemens
                                        
1998    23,271   65     2    Curt Schilling               4,209     -   24,392    Roger Clemens    3,804    Williams
1999    23,670   65     1    Randy Johnson                4,202     -   23,700    David Wells      3,494    Hentgen
2000    23,849   63     1    Randy Johnson                4,019     -   23,575    David Wells      3,268    
2001    23,220   58     1    Randy Johnson                4,076     -   23,179    Chris Carpenter  3,291    Loaiza
2002    23,274   57     0    Randy Johnson                3,988     -   23,515    Roy Halladay     3,511    
                                        
2003    23,390   62     0    Barry Zito                   3,748     -   22,766    Roy Halladay     3,627    
2004    23,669   62     0    Livan Hernandez              3,918     -   23,435    Ted Lilly        3,306    Batista
2005    23,205   60     1    Livan Hernandez              4,007     -   22,676    Gustavo Chacin   3,245    
2006    23,582   63     0    Bronson Arroyo               3,848     -   23,303    Ted Lilly        3,186    Halladay
2007    23,732   57     0    Carlos Zambrano              3,668     -   23,023    Roy Halladay     3,330    
                                        
2008    23,801   60     0    C.C. Sabathia                3,813     -   22,950    A.J. Burnett     3,650    Halladay
2009    23,900   55     0    Justin Verlander             3,937     -   23,753    Roy Halladay     3,392    
2010    23,679   65     0    Dan Haren                    3,749     -   23,688    Ricky Romero     3,241    Marcum
2011    23,584   63     0    Justin Verlander             3,941     -   24,038    Ricky Romero     3,374    Morrow
2012    23,510   55     0    Justin Verlander             3,768     -   23,728    Ricky Romero     3,084    
                                          
2013    23,664   49     0    Justin Verlander             3,692     -   23,788    R.A. Dickey      3,505    Buehrle
2014    23,500   54     0    David Price                  3,730     -   23,726    R.A. Dickey      3,513    Buehrle, Hutchison
2015    23,411   41     0    Dallas Keuchel               3,492     -   22,643    R.A. Dickey      3,264    
2016    23,862   39     0    Justin Verlander             3,668     -   23,573    Marcus Stroman   3,103    Happ
2017    24,043   13     0    Justin Verlander             3,531     -   24,441    Marco Estrada    3,246    Stroman
                                          
2018    24,040   30     0    Max Scherzer                 3,493     -   24,500    Marco Estrada    2,498    
2019    24,417   29     0    Trevor Bauer                 3,687     -   24,931    Trent Thornton   2,761    
2020     8,757    0     0    Lance Lynn                   1,408     -    9,485    Hyun-Jin Ryu     1,132    
2021    23,661   10     0    Zack Wheeler                 3,203     -   23,547    Robbie Ray       3,141    
2022    23,618   13     0    Corbin Burnes, Gerrit Cole   3,274     -   23,075    Alek Manoah      2,949     

There are some items of interest, I think.

As you can see, the big jump in the number of pitches teams need to get out of their pitching staffs happens at the end of the 1990s, and the number of starters asked to throw a lot of pitches increases at the exact same time. By the new millennium, every team has two starters throwing at least 3,000 pitches. And all these things remain stable for the next decade and a half - and then the workload of a team's best starters begins to be cut back around 2015.

And someone else has to throw those pitches instead. Someone who isn't your best pitcher.