Misiorowski Innings Limit

[thebruce44]

My knowledge of baseball is stuck in 2019 when I had my first kid, but back then it was common place not to have a SP increase their innings more than 25 IP from the previous year. I feel like this started after Dusty Baker destroyed Mark Prior and Kerry Wood and I remember first reading about this practice when Dontrelle Willis was shut down his rookie year in the playoffs.

We obviously have better analytics now that we did 10 years ago, so is there a new metric in place or best practice for building innings for young pitchers?

Miz threw 97 innings in 2024. By old standards, that would mean he should have been shut down at 130 IP if we are pushing it.

It looks like he is currently at about 123, but I continue to see internet posters talking about his post-season role. Shouldn't he only be getting 1 or 2 more starts? Have the Brewers addressed this?

[markedman5]

They basically said is they have managed his workload in a way with the post season in mind.

I don’t know what their plans are for him but my understanding is they aren’t going to shut him down because of innings limit.

Murphy certainly suggested that they had a handle on it……..now obviously he needs to pitch well enough for them to trust him.

[BrewerFan]

I haven't heard it addressed... but him going 7 innings 2 starts ago was a bit surprising.

I think if he were throwing like Skenes, they'd push it and he'd be starting through the post-season. 

I also was still under the probably antiquated idea that you didn't want to increase by more than 25-30 innings a year but the base could be 120. So you wouldn't want Mis to throw more than 120. Even 10 years ago I think you'd push that with a World Series at play, but today I'm just guessing, they're still worried about IP but more focused on pitches, high stress pitches. They can probably measure fatigue better. 

I don't know, I'm guessing at the last part. We seem like we've been pretty good about limiting injuries to pitchers, but we've kinda been hit all at once the last few weeks. 

[nate82]

It is 50% more innings than the previous year which would be about 146 innings this year.  So one more start and then a bullpen game for Misio before the playoffs.  The 50% more is mostly a guideline and when teams start to watch the pitcher for any signs of wearing down.  

[brewcrewdue80]

I've generally thought since inning limits became a thing, it was 35 give or take 5.  I assume playoffs he's a multi inning starter-piggy back guy. Maybe they feel better that with the bye from Wildcard rd, it'll be a long enough break to be comfortable extending his innings limit.

[jay87shot]

I wouldnt really put a specific number on it. I think it is one where you kind of look at innings per game and pitches per game probably add in safeguards for longer or more stressful outings.

Since we gave him a bunch of shorter starts and the 10 day dl stint, I am not really worried about how many innings he throws the rest of the way. I would probably just keep him to like a 75 pitch limit. If that ends up being 130 or like 145 if we have a long playoff run and we get the good Misi, I am fine either way if he isn't putting in 100+ pitches.

[kestrel79]

I'd like to see him in the role Hader had in 2018, along with some of our other younger guys. Go 2-3 innings middle of the game throwing gas after the starters exit early.  Just pray he throws strikes. He hasn't been dominant in the second half of this season, except maybe 1 start. Hopefully limiting him to a couple innings will keep him fresh and help.

[Team Canada]

Another potential interesting use case I've been thinking about would be a critical situation where you absolutely need a K. Say the game is close and you have runners and 2-3 and 0 or 1 outs. Obviously the walks are a potential concern, but any reliever is going to be a gamble and he's much more likely to just blow people away and get out of it, especially when he knows it's just a couple batters. Could be a huge weapon, especially in the NLDS where we don't need a 4th starter.