Fact #3, In the past 10 years the St. Louis Cardinals have a mean league average of 10th in ERA, and are 11th in runs scored over the same number of years, so it has been pitching that has been the greater measure of their success than their hitting.

The odds are actually much less, cause A) it assumes a complete game, B) it does not include the strikeouts a pitching to contact type does acquire, and C) it doesn’t take into consideration the majority of outs a strikeout pitcher achieves, which is most often more than the strikeouts he gets in a game. So in reality it is more like once every 3 games pitched an error occurs by a fielder on a batted ball.

But as I suggested strikeout pitcher only strikes out about 3 times more players than a pitch to contact guy, approximately 12 to 4, so the outs by batted balls is 15 to 23, so eight times a game a fielder has to make a play, which means that now once every 6 games one base runner reaches base once more for a pitch to contact type than a guy who strikes out 12.

Of course pitch to strikeout guys, get more double plays made behind them which would nullify the one baserunner every 6 games pitched. Plus, the defenders are “on their toes”, cause they aren’t standing around, and would also nullify the one baserunner in 6 games.

Fact #2, A pitch to contact guy can get at least one out on one pitch, and a strikeout guy needs at least 3. I also thought you could make the leap that obviously this would mean the pitch to contact guys pitch counts are lower than the power guys but I guess not. Unfortunately for you stats do not support your idea that power pitchers have lower pitch counts. The comparisons are difficult because defining pitch to contact guys is very subjective. Are they the guys who get the fewest strikeouts, perhaps, but a power pitcher who sucks also gets few strikeouts. Or are they the guys who walk the fewest, generally yes, but some very good power pitchers do not walk many and pitch to contact types can also be nibblers who do walk a lot.

So making the comparisons isn’t easy, but the following 10 pitchers, pitched 188 innings or more, struck out 155 or less, and finished in the top 35 in ERA. J. Weaver (142), 7th, K. Lohse (143), 8th, J. Zimmermann (153), J. Hellickson (124) 14th, M. Harrison (133),16th, W. Miley (144) 18th, J Niece (155), 25th,

How is the fact that strikeouts and low pitch-counts go together a fallacy? Strikeouts are caused by missed bats and pitches in the strike zone. How would this not help keep pitch counts low? This is common sense. Sorry, but you are wrong here. I hate to state it so bluntly.

How are strikeouts not an “art”? You think it is easy to teach strikeouts?

Please explain to me how pitchers control batted balls. Pedro’s peak might’ve been the most dominant in MLB history. Surely he could’ve induced weaker contact. But check out his BABIP. Why should I not believe in DIPS? You have not provided a single fact to help your cause.

It is a fact that pitch-counts are reduced by strikeouts, because they are outs. Walks and hits increase pitch-counts. Missing bats means there is less of a chance for a hit. This is all fact, backed up by years and years of evidence, not some silly idea centered around how a player could throw a 27 pitch perfect game. And I have no idea why you are citing errors. What about all the ground-balls that find holes? Errors have nothing to do with this. As an aside, Coors is huuuge.

Maybe the Cardinals’ recent success can be better explained by other factors? Like their amazing offenses.

(Cont.) So the “guarantee” is rendered meaningless and moot. C) As to strikeouts keeping pitching counts down, I hardly know how to respond. In theory, a contact pitcher could complete a game with only 27 pitches, and a strikeout pitcher would need 81. So while strikeouts can be valuable, they are mostly wasteful. This is doctrine in the St. Louis Cardinal organization and has served them well. And perhaps if other teams adopted the philosophy it wouldn’t be so “uncommon”.

I miss the days when Cy Young award winners were debuting at camp…..