MVN: Most Valuable Network

Teams generally have the same plan for raising a starting pitcher through the minor leagues. They let him pitch at a level for a prescribed period of time every 5 days, evaluate him, and determine whether or not he has learned enough to be promoted to the next level. The criteria that they use to determine how long a pitcher has to spend at a level or for how he has learned varies from team to team, but the overall strategy is pretty static.

Relief pitchers are a whole different animal. The emergence of the closer position in college has put Major League organizations into a bind. They are not sure how to take these relief pitchers and make them into major league assets. In the old days, relief pitchers generally emerged from failed starting pitchers. Guys like Mariano Rivera and Eric Gagne were bad starters, but electric relievers, due to some flaw like not having a third pitch or not being able to endure 5-6 innings of work.

Teams are experimenting with different strategies now. As far as I can tell, they use two entirely different paradigms, each aimed at solving one particular problem, to raise their relief pitchers.

Pressure

The first strategy that teams use assumes that the biggest hurdle for a relief pitcher to overcome is the mental game. The argument notes that relievers, especially late-inning ones, need to be prepared for pressure-packed situations, and therefore should be used like a closer in the minor leagues. Teams spent their important 1st round pick on a relief pitcher with the expectation that they will be their primary closer or set up man, and demand that work out of the reliever in the minor leagues.

The best example of this is Casey Weathers. Drafted 8th overall (The highest that I can remember for a reliever) in the 2007 draft, the Rockies immediately gave him the closer treatment. He finished games, pitching 1 inning per appearance. He appeared in 44 games this season, and pitched 44 1/3 innings. He essentially went straight to Double-A, and did very well there. The Rockies assumed that Weather's natural physical talents as a relief pitcher were already developed, and that he would only need a little experience before being ready for the major leagues.

The Red Sox tried something similar with Craig Hansen. Hansen, arguably the NCAA's best closer during his tenure, suffered from poor control. He walked over 4 batters per 9 innings, but was able to function because he overwhelmed college hitters. The Red Sox rushed him to the major leagues after just 12 innings. In subsequent years, he only pitched a handful of innings below Triple-A, and has languished there since. The Red Sox couldn't solve his control problems, and eventually gave up. He was traded to Pittsburgh in the Jason Bay / Manny Ramirez deal this summer.

I do not like the "closer approach" to relief pitchers. 40-50 innings in the shorter minor league season are not nearly enough to take a prospect how to pitch. Just like starting pitchers, relievers have problems that need to be overcome in order to make the Majors. Craig Hansen has control problems, but he also has very good stuff, and should have made a very good major league asset. It is also a bad approach to take with non-closers: non-closers need to throw multiple innings in different situations, and sometimes need much more time to develop. Pitchers can't stay in the minor leagues forever, and a pitcher without Casey Weathers' kind of stuff needs innings to learn a craft. For this reason, teams rarely manage to take a reliever pitcher without outstanding stuff and make him a major league reliever - they convert starters instead. These starters had the innings to figure things out.

Innings

Another reason that teams hold relievers to 50 innings a year is fear of injury. Starting pitchers are able to get 150+ innings in as minor leaguers not just because they pitch long outings but also because they have a prescribed period of rest between appearances. Teams are beginning to split the difference between starter and traditional reliever: pitch them for 2-3 innings at a time with a prescribed period of rest in between each appearance.

I wrote about the New York Yankees yesterday, who are on the cutting edge of relief prospect innovation. They have instituted the large-scale policy in their system of pitching players that they identify as plausible major league relief candidates for 2-3 innings (depending on pitch count) every 3 days. The result has been an explosion in the amount of innings that their prospects are pitching. Whether or not this ability translates to a major league level remains to be seen, but it raises interesting possibilities. The next generation of Yankee relievers may be able to pitch longer outings than their peers on other teams, or they may go down with horrible arm injuries.

Mark Melancon is one of the more interesting examples of this. The Yankees drafted him in 2006, but he almost immediately had to undergo Tommy John Surgery. After a year of rehabbing, he entered the 2008 season healthy, and with all of his pre-surgery velocity and control. The Yankees immediately put him to work - defying critics who cautioned to proceed slowly with his surgery recovery - into long outings. He pitched 95 innings in 44 appearances between three minor league levels in 2008, or 2.15 innings per game. Melancon would often pitch well into the third inning of his appearances because he would get out of an inning with 8-9 pitchers. With longer appearances, Melancon needed to learn to throw economically. He did.

The Yankees and other organizations are doing this with a lot of pitchers. They haven't seen any of it help them out at the major league level yet (although Edwar Ramirez was an early test case, and David Robertson struggled to adjust), but there is a good chance that they will be able to pitch longer outings. If they are able to, teams that raise these kinds of minor league pitchers will be able to radically alter their roster. Teams in the American League have been trending toward carrying 12 (and sometimes, even 13) pitchers lately, mostly due to the necessity of using 4-5 pitchers in some games where the starter exits in the 5th inning. The Yankees just may be opening a roster spot for a super-specialized player - a dedicated pinch runner, or a defense-only shortstop, or a third catcher.

Casey Weathers and the Colorado Rockies won't have the same advantage. When you teach a player to throw 1 inning at a time throughout his minor league career, he's not going to throw multiple innings at the major leagues. Mariano Rivera is considered the best reliever of all time not only because he has the lowest career ERA of any reliever in history, but also because he was able to out-endure his peers season after season.