I made a Data Table. I intend to share.
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 OverThere are some items of interest, I think.
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
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.
