Torey Lovullo’s media briefing
- Ketel Marte: Back in lineup. Was day to day, but he said last night he was ready to go today. Has played a lot and bounced between three positions. His body was saying to him he needed a little rest, and he spoke up.
- Luke Weaver: Will throw a bullpen tomorrow, up to 35-40 pitches. Wore his full uniform, (Home Whites) for his last bullpen session. (Indicative of a guy trying to get his mindset into game mode as soon as possible)
- Robbie Ray: Will also throw a bullpen tomorrow
- Taijuan Walker: Will continue his throwing program. Is out to 190 feet
- Zac Gallen: 2018: 133 IP. 2019: 137 IP MiLB/MLB combined. Asked if there was a limit on him Torey said “We haven’t got there yet, but we’re mindful of that type of stuff”. There is no hard number at this time however. Asked if there is a pitch limit on Gallen, Torey responded that for the first start there was a pitch limit of between 80-90 pitches. (He threw 85) But for the 2nd start, where he was pulled after 4 IP/90 Pit. in Colorado there wasn’t a limit. But the situation dictated to Torey that it wasn’t the right time to push him up over 100 just to get one more inning out of him.
- Pace: Torey was not aware and seemed to surprised to learn that D-backs have the slowest avg Pace in NL to deliver pitches. (Starting pitchers = 25.5 seconds per pitch). As it relates to Zac Gallen, since he has come over he has averaged 29.6 sec, which is even 4 seconds slower than team average. Torey said they noticed in the last start in Colorado, he was very deliberate, and they want their pitchers to get up and get moving. Will try to get him to speed up the pace a little bit. Torey said they don’t preach working slowly.
The subject of pace is an interesting one. Since 2008, the first year for which data was fully available the MLB average time per pitch has increased from 22.7 to 25.6 seconds per pitch. That adds up, extending the average game by about 141⁄2 minutes. As noted, the D-backs starters are the slowest in the league, though the relievers are only third-slowest. Generally, bullpen arms take longer: slightly more than an additional second per pitch (25.5 seconds vs. 24.4) on average. But here are the “sloth rankings” on the D-backs, first for the starting pitchers, and then for the relievers:
- Zac Gallen - 29.6 seconds per pitch
- Merrill Kelly - 26.3
- Zack Greinke - 25.8
- Jon Duplantier - 25.6
- Taylor Clarke - 25.5
- Robbie Ray - 25.4
- Alex Young - 25.3
- Zack Godley - 24.7
- Luke Weaver - 24.1
- Mike Leake - 23.5
- Archie Bradley - 23.4
For the bullpen arms, I’ve not listed the position players, but it’s worth noting how quickly they worked: Alex Avila, John Ryan Murphy and Caleb Joseph were all below 16 seconds per pitch - Joseph came in at a lightning-quick 13.4 seconds, less than half the time of many of his colleagues! I guess when you have one pitch and are up there to throw strikes, there’s not as much need for communication with your catcher...
- Robby Scott - 31.6 seconds per pitch
- Greg Holland - 30.9
- Matt Andriese - 29.5
- Andrew Chafin - 27.7
- Yoshihisa Hirano - 27.6
- Kevin Ginkel - 27.4
- Jimmie Sherfy - 26.7
- Yoan Lopez - 26.6
- Jon Duplantier - 25.8
- Alex Young - 25.8
- Matt Koch - 25.7
- T.J. McFarland - 25.4
- Taylor Clarke - 24.5
- Stefan Crichton - 24.0
- Archie Bradley - 23.7
- Zack Godley - 23.2
Use these charts to figure out when you can go to the kitchen for a sandwich... :)