We charted individual pitches by hand, so I had that data from game to game, but from year to year, I didn't really have that data, because a lot of times it was discarded.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There's nothing wrong with pitch counts. But not when it's spit out by a computer, and the computer does not look at an individual's mechanics. And you can't look at his genes. It should come from the individual and the pitching coach and the manager.
My pitch count as a general rule was 135. And I knew how many pitches I had when I went to the mound for the last three innings.
In the minor leagues, previous to 2008, I took a lot of pitches. I prided myself on on-base percentage. I made sure that I made the pitcher work.
We've got to use every piece of data and piece of information, and hopefully that will help us be accurate with our player evaluation. For us, that's our life blood.
I wanted to make a lot of good pitches.
It's tougher when you're established. Before, I'd see 13, 14, 15 pitches that I could drive in a game. Now, I see one, two or three, so I have to be better.
I never keep a scorecard or the batting averages. I hate statistics. What I got to know, I keep in my head.
Pitches are like pages of a book; they're so important. The chess game; how I set you up early, and how I'll do it differently later.
We just kind of relied on written scouting reports through the eighties and even the early nineties. I've really been amazed by some of the data that's out there, especially with regards to tendencies of hitters, and certainly tendencies of pitchers as well. I would have loved to have gotten that data when I played.
In baseball you have terrific data and you can be a lot more creative with it.