Coach’s use of ace ‘dangerous’

THERE are still plenty of college coaches who play by their own rules in overusing pitchers, regardless of the awareness on the subject these days, but long-time Florida State coach Mike Martin abused his No. 1 starter over the weekend with such a shocking recklessness that he ought to be fired immediately.

The good news is that, at age 74, Martin may be retiring anyway. The bad news is that it might already be too late for Drew Parrish, the sophomore left-hander who was firstteam All-ACC this season and no doubt hopes to pitch professionally.

On Saturday Parrish threw 109 pitches over eight innings in an NCAA Regional elimination game against Mississippi State, and then after a two-and-a-half-hour rain delay, came back to pitch the ninth inning as well.

No surprise, Parrish wasn’t the same pitcher, walking two hitters and then giving up a game-losing home run, but obviously that’s not the issue.

He wound up throwing 133 pitches, which is pushing the limit in itself, but to bring him back after a delay of 159 minutes, including the time Parrish had to wait for his team to hit in the top of the ninth?

That’s borderline criminal.

“It makes me sick,” former Mets’ and A’s pitching coach Rick Peterson said by phone on Monday. “It’s incredibly dangerous.”

Peterson is as much an authority as anybody on the subject, having worked extensively over the years with famed surgeon Dr. James Andrews on biomechanical analysis of pitchers, and continues to study the causes of pitching injuries working with Dr. Glenn Fleisig, the research director at the American Sports Medicine Institute.

In addition, Peterson says his own career was derailed by similar abuse in college decades ago, when he was asked to pitch in an extra-inning game the day after throwing a 15-strikeout complete game as a starter.

“The coach said, ‘Rick, we really need you to pitch in relief,’” Peterson recalled. “I really struggled warming up but I went in to pitch, and after a couple of pitches, I threw a fastball and grabbed my shoulder. I was never the same after that, but nobody knew back then. Now everybody knows.”

Pitching injuries are such an issue in baseball, in fact, that Peterson says restrictions have been put in place throughout amateur baseball, from Little League to high school, but not college.

Still, you’d think college coaches would have their players’ best interests in mind, but there are plenty of well-known examples of coaches getting caught up in wanting to win: Matt Harvey, for example, threw 159 pitches once in a start for North Carolina, and who knows if that eventually played a role in him needing Tommy John surgery on his elbow to repair the tear in his ulnar collateral ligament.

With the MLB draft starting Monday night, Peterson says it’s something that teams have to take into consideration.

“The UCL is not a one-pitch injury,” Peterson said. “I’ve been with teams where we’ve found out some of these kids already have micro-tears when they were drafted, and it’s just a matter of time before they need surgery.

“Overuse combined with fatigue is the No. 1 reason a pitcher gets injured. So, do you think a kid would be fatigued after 109 pitches over eight innings? And then once you shut down, your body is already starting repair. You can keep a pitcher active during a delay and bring him back, but not after that many pitches and then two and half hours. That’s ridiculous.”

After Florida State’s loss, Martin defended his use of Parrish partly by noting that he stayed loose during the delay, throwing pitches every 15 minutes, and partly because the lefty isn’t planning to pitch over the summer.

Above all, though, here was how Martin explained his decision to bring his ace back after the rain. “We wanted him to have the ball because he wanted the ball,” Martin said. “His teammates wanted him to have the ball, and if I had it to do over again, I would make the same decision.” Well, of course Parrish wanted to finish such an important game. It’s the coach’s responsibility to know better.

Yet I watched the video of Martin’s postgame press conference, and the most stunning part is that, in defending his decision, he was doing so more as it pertained to losing the game than putting his pitcher at risk. In other words, he just doesn’t get it. “It’s shameful,” said ex-Mets’ and Yankees’ pitcher Al Leiter. “Mike Martin is a legend, but, oh my God, two and half hours? That scares the hell out of me."

Leiter was speaking partly as the parent of a high school pitcher, who as a junior has committed to Vanderbilt. Leiter said it’s the parent’s responsibility to research the coach and the way they handle pitchers, but even then at some point you have to trust him.

“Unfortunately, some coaches will do anything to win,” Leiter said.

“In this case it’s more about bringing the pitcher back after such a long delay. To say the kid wanted the ball, that’s a really bad answer. I just hope this situation gets so much attention that it will put coaches everywhere on alert.”

It surely would if Florida State fires Martin before he can retire. That will never happen, but at the very least, the NCAA, which is always so concerned about recruiting violations, ought to react to such abuse by incorporating overdue restrictions on pitch counts.

And rain-delay times as well. There might be a lot of debate about what the cut-off would be — 40 minutes, 50 minutes? But nobody in their right mind would argue for a number beyond two-and-a-half-hours.

Except apparently Mike Martin.