Nolan Ryan pitched in a different era, where pitchers were not on pitch counts and were not ‘coddled’. For the non-baseball readers, a pitch count is just that — the number of pitches thrown, and when a magic number (usually around 100) is reached the pitcher is pulled regardless of whether they still have command and strength to remain. During his career as a pitcher he threw 222 complete games and worked hard to stay in form. Well, he is now the president of the Texas Rangers and is re-instilling that sense of work ethic to the team. This change is documented in the May 24, 2010 Sports Illustrated in Nolan Ryan’s Crusade — the contents of which I can’t find on the SI website.

But here are the interesting parts that apply to testing and culture (painstakingly typed out even).

  • What’s wrong with pitchers today? For one thing, they don’t learn to think for themselves anymore. Coaches started calling all the pitches in high schools and colleges. How do they know, sitting on the bench, what the guy on the mound has confidence in?
  • Pitchers have been pampered. I’d go to spring training, and al they”d do was throw on the side. Now how in the world do you learn how a hitter’s going to react to your pitches without a hitter in there?
  • Today a quality start is six innings. What’s quality about that?
  • Their ceiling has been lowered. It’s up to us to jack it back up
  • Texas hurlers have embraced Ryan’s challenge to raise their expectations and take ownership over their starts.
  • Backing away from a pitcher’s limits too far doesn’t make a pitcher less vulnerable; it makes him more vulnerable. And pushing the envelope, while it may lead to a catastrophic event, is more likely to enhance the pitcher’s durability than to destroy it.
  • …on the first day of spring training last year Maddux stood in front of his pitchers and said, “Pith counts are limits. You have no limits.”
  • The Rangers instead believe that not all 100-pitch games are created equal. Some are more stressful on the arm than others, and if the pitcher is cruising late in the game, there’s no reason to hive him the hook.
  • Ryan ordered that pitchers throw live batting practice to hitters from Day One of spring training — a routine almost unheard of in Big League camps…
  • They were the first team willing to think outside the box and now they’ve started a chain reaction
  • It is important to have people who are willing to make a commitment