This is a pretty interesting article that the Chronicle did regarding sending McCullers down to AAA ball and it centers around how the Cards handled our very own Michael Wacha and even termed it "The Wacha Rules".
OAKLAND, Calif. — The shuffling of Lance McCullers — and some of the subsequent roster movement that’s followed of late — is all tied to a simple blueprint, the Wacha Rules.
“We’re really focused on conditioning and rest and recovery,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of McCullers, who’s in the minor leagues. “And as it starts to trend towards a time when we’re going to consider bringing him back, we’ll obviously increase that pitching activity.”
Sounds familiar.
Cardinals righthander Michael Wacha was demoted to the minors for roughly two months, from mid-June to mid-August, after first coming to the majors as a 21-year-old at the end of May 2013. He made just six starts at Class AAA in that stretch, turning 22.
Wacha had 13 days of rest between his first and second outing during that minor league stretch. He had seven days between the second and third, and 13 again before the next. Then he resumed a more normal schedule, with five days down before his second-to-last minors start, and finally, a regular four days leading to his final outing in the minors, on Aug. 4, 2013.
“I would make a start about every 10 days,” Wacha said recently. “I did that for about a month, made about three starts, and three or four starts in a month, and then that just limited my innings throughout that month, and they were able to call me back up in September or late August and be able to pitch in September, and also in October. (That was) instead of being shut down and using my innings in July I guess.”
Wacha’s minor league innings that season were kept to 85. It was his first full year in pro ball, as a first rounder drafted out of Texas A&M in 2012. He threw 64 2/3 innings in the big league regular season, and 30 2/3 innings more in the playoffs.
That made for a total of 180 1/3 innings, the last of them in the Game 6 of the World Series. In the National League Championship Series, Wacha was named the MVP with 13 2/3 shutout innings.
That’s what the Astros want from McCullers — although with 105 2/3 combined innings at this point, the Astros hope McCullers can finish with a lower total than Wacha did that year. McCullers threw 97 innings in the minors a year ago.
Vince Velasquez, meanwhile, is “most likely” to stay in the bullpen this season barring a need in the rotation, Hinch said Thursday. The rookie righty threw three scoreless innings for Class AA Corpus Christi on Wednesday.
The desire to keep Velasquez in the ‘pen isn’t simply because of innings limits. Velasquez brings a high-90s velocity to the relief corps that the Astros don’t have outside of Josh Fields.
There’s so much for teams to think about in these situations. The Mets, with young arms Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard are going through similar concerns.
The player’s health is paramount. Velasquez has had injury problems in the past, but he’s fared very well since the start of the year.
“My whole career a lot of people saw me as like the injury guy, ‘cause I’ve always been hurt, from (Tommy John surgery) to lat problems. Oblique, leg, whatever,” Velasquez said before his demotion. “And I feel 100 percent. I feel really good. I’m in good hands with a good training staff here.”
Important too is keeping the pitcher on routine.
“It was pretty crazy, you know, going 10-12 days. It’s hard to stay in a routine like that,” Wacha said. “I was also learning my curveball then, and so I was able to pitch in a game and then I’d have 10 days off, but I’d also throw like two sides, two to three sides or so, be able to work on different pitches and be able to refine my location and my command. And you know, use that to my advantage.”
Then there’s the opportunity to win. The Nationals famously held Stephen Strasburg out of the 2012 postseason, a scenario teams don’t want to repeat.
Strasburg’s agent, Scott Boras, is also the agent to McCullers and Velasquez.
“From the standpoint of pitchability, when you’re conducting irregular pitching patterns, it’s more difficult, but from the standpoint of long term viability of the players, and their best interest (absolutely it’s good for McCullers and Velasquez),” Boras said recently. “(Strasburg is) … available to the franchise for probably, you could argue, a better team, a better chance to win now than then (in 2012). But I think everyone’s going to question that. And wonder whether it was the best thing to do. For us, for his health, what the doctors told us to do, we went by doctors’ counsel as to what the decisions were. 160 innings and that’s it.”
At the same time, you can’t win unless you get to the postseason.
Would the Astros be better off with Velasquez and McCullers than a revolving door of others as they try to ward off the Angels? The bullpen has been strained of late, and the Astros are carrying a 12-man pitching staff after a 13-man staff worked so well most of the season.
“Some of this movement we’ve needed on a need base, where we’ve got to reset our bullpen, but we’re always cautious with the last part of development players, particularly young pitching,” Hinch said. “And they come fast. You have to be ready to handle the delicate time, they’re finishing their development.”
Link to original article
OAKLAND, Calif. — The shuffling of Lance McCullers — and some of the subsequent roster movement that’s followed of late — is all tied to a simple blueprint, the Wacha Rules.
“We’re really focused on conditioning and rest and recovery,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of McCullers, who’s in the minor leagues. “And as it starts to trend towards a time when we’re going to consider bringing him back, we’ll obviously increase that pitching activity.”
Sounds familiar.
Cardinals righthander Michael Wacha was demoted to the minors for roughly two months, from mid-June to mid-August, after first coming to the majors as a 21-year-old at the end of May 2013. He made just six starts at Class AAA in that stretch, turning 22.
Wacha had 13 days of rest between his first and second outing during that minor league stretch. He had seven days between the second and third, and 13 again before the next. Then he resumed a more normal schedule, with five days down before his second-to-last minors start, and finally, a regular four days leading to his final outing in the minors, on Aug. 4, 2013.
“I would make a start about every 10 days,” Wacha said recently. “I did that for about a month, made about three starts, and three or four starts in a month, and then that just limited my innings throughout that month, and they were able to call me back up in September or late August and be able to pitch in September, and also in October. (That was) instead of being shut down and using my innings in July I guess.”
Wacha’s minor league innings that season were kept to 85. It was his first full year in pro ball, as a first rounder drafted out of Texas A&M in 2012. He threw 64 2/3 innings in the big league regular season, and 30 2/3 innings more in the playoffs.
That made for a total of 180 1/3 innings, the last of them in the Game 6 of the World Series. In the National League Championship Series, Wacha was named the MVP with 13 2/3 shutout innings.
That’s what the Astros want from McCullers — although with 105 2/3 combined innings at this point, the Astros hope McCullers can finish with a lower total than Wacha did that year. McCullers threw 97 innings in the minors a year ago.
Vince Velasquez, meanwhile, is “most likely” to stay in the bullpen this season barring a need in the rotation, Hinch said Thursday. The rookie righty threw three scoreless innings for Class AA Corpus Christi on Wednesday.
The desire to keep Velasquez in the ‘pen isn’t simply because of innings limits. Velasquez brings a high-90s velocity to the relief corps that the Astros don’t have outside of Josh Fields.
There’s so much for teams to think about in these situations. The Mets, with young arms Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard are going through similar concerns.
The player’s health is paramount. Velasquez has had injury problems in the past, but he’s fared very well since the start of the year.
“My whole career a lot of people saw me as like the injury guy, ‘cause I’ve always been hurt, from (Tommy John surgery) to lat problems. Oblique, leg, whatever,” Velasquez said before his demotion. “And I feel 100 percent. I feel really good. I’m in good hands with a good training staff here.”
Important too is keeping the pitcher on routine.
“It was pretty crazy, you know, going 10-12 days. It’s hard to stay in a routine like that,” Wacha said. “I was also learning my curveball then, and so I was able to pitch in a game and then I’d have 10 days off, but I’d also throw like two sides, two to three sides or so, be able to work on different pitches and be able to refine my location and my command. And you know, use that to my advantage.”
Then there’s the opportunity to win. The Nationals famously held Stephen Strasburg out of the 2012 postseason, a scenario teams don’t want to repeat.
Strasburg’s agent, Scott Boras, is also the agent to McCullers and Velasquez.
“From the standpoint of pitchability, when you’re conducting irregular pitching patterns, it’s more difficult, but from the standpoint of long term viability of the players, and their best interest (absolutely it’s good for McCullers and Velasquez),” Boras said recently. “(Strasburg is) … available to the franchise for probably, you could argue, a better team, a better chance to win now than then (in 2012). But I think everyone’s going to question that. And wonder whether it was the best thing to do. For us, for his health, what the doctors told us to do, we went by doctors’ counsel as to what the decisions were. 160 innings and that’s it.”
At the same time, you can’t win unless you get to the postseason.
Would the Astros be better off with Velasquez and McCullers than a revolving door of others as they try to ward off the Angels? The bullpen has been strained of late, and the Astros are carrying a 12-man pitching staff after a 13-man staff worked so well most of the season.
“Some of this movement we’ve needed on a need base, where we’ve got to reset our bullpen, but we’re always cautious with the last part of development players, particularly young pitching,” Hinch said. “And they come fast. You have to be ready to handle the delicate time, they’re finishing their development.”
Link to original article
