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Didn't realize it until I was looking at the box score. Saturday's Tacoma vs. Iowa game was Ryan Rowland-Smith vs. Austin Bibens-Dierks
RRS -- 5.2 IP, 11 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
ABD -- 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Ryan Rowland-Smith as Swing Man, 1
For a coupla years now, SSI has been whining that Ryan Rowland-Smith does not have 200-IP stamina.
We're not especially talking about velo dropoffs late in games; we're talking about his stuff getting mushier as he spends a few months as a starting pitcher.
He's big, he's an Aussie, you look at him and you think, "workhorse." But you watch the trends and the flight of the ball, and it's a little diff-ernt...
..........
Y'know, there's something that just hit us, in the mind's eye: I don't ever remember RRS getting anybody out after batter #27. Well, you know. ... we remember lots of debates about how he needed to show he could go 7 and 8 innings, and a lot of blown quality starts in those 7ths and 8ths.
But it also hit us: do I remember him ever mowing a lineup down the third time through?
So went and checked his career splits:
- Pitch 26-50 = 81 OPS+
- Pitch 51-75 = 68 OPS+ (!)
- Pitch 76-100 = 125 OPS+ (!)
- Pitches 100+ = 177 OPS+ (!!)
Here's a guy who, he gets into a groove, he throws very well ... but that groove runs out of steam quite early.
That's how it goes past 37 years of age, so I can relate. I need 15 minutes of racquetball to get my shot where I want it, get my sweat where I want it, and then I'm hot.... for about 15 minutes, and then there go the legs. LOL. You get older and older, and your window gets shorter and shorter. Seriously, mine's about 30 minutes long now.
Couldn't it be that RRS is just a pitcher for whom his "groove window" is shorter than others?
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