- What was your favorite Mets moment?
- Is their an optimal number of innings pitched or a minimum body of work that a young pitcher should have before being promoted to the Major Leagues?
- Why are pitch counts so important?
- I assume you’re familiar with the Verducci Effect, what are your thoughts on it?
In this clip, Rick discusses his friendship with Willie Randolph, and how special it was to get within one out of the World Series with a rotation comprised of Tom Glavine, Steve Trachsel, John Maine, and Oliver Perez, who was called up from AAA and ultimately found himself pitching in game seven of the NLCS.
Rick explains how economics figures into the equation, but ultimately if a prospect is obviously better than someone already on the Major League roster, why hold him back?
Rick explains why it is essential to monitor a pitcher’s pitch counts, and that besides a decline in performance it’s also a matter of preventing injuries.
Rick totally shocked me when I learned that it was he who told Tom Verducci about the effects of increasing a pitchers workload too fast in his formative years.
I will post the rest of my interview with former Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson later this week.
We congratulate Rick and wish him the best of luck with his new team the Milwaukee Brewers. He inherits a staff with a great young starter in Yovani Gallardo, but also a staff with many challenges as well.
We are pleased to announce that Rick has agreed to periodically share his unique perspectives on pitching and baseball, as a contributing writer for Mets Merized Online. We are honored to have him share his insights with our readers.
Finally, for all of you aspiring pitchers out there, check out 3PSports.com to learn more about the importance of performance based behaviors and how they can help you improve your performance and minimize injuries.
