Yes, that's right-- 232 pitches. He did win the game by a score of 4-3 and recorded 13 K's, allowed 10 hits, and gave up five walks along the way.
So after a game like that what do you do for an encore? Icebath? OD on Icey Hot for what had to be a sore arm? Not move until the next time you have to pitch--which would hopefully be at least a weak away?
Nope. You pitch a complete came on three days of rest.
Now to be fair to the coach--who I am sure most of us are calling a complete idiot right about now--it was just 9 innings and only 159 pitches this time.
No--still an idiot.
The youngster did record the win (4-1), but the method to earn it is questionable to say the least. However, the practice of high pitch counts and long innings seems to be the norm in Japan. Dice-K said he threw a 250-pitch game once (17 innings). Anraku's opponent in his last game threw over 200 pitches as well.
You have to wonder how in the world these guys are able to get away with such high counts too. Word is that Anraku was still throwing in the 90s at the end of his second marathon game.
Workloads like this explain why a lot of pitchers that come over from Japan do not do so well after a couple years in the Big League (i.e. Dice-K). You also have to wonder about the hitters that these guys face. Had any Japanese pitcher dominated once he came to the MLB I'd think that Japanese pitchers were just over matched against guys like Anraku, but that hasn't been the case.
They just aren't that good. I guess that makes sense though. Next to Ichiro has there been a top notch bat to come out of Japan in recent years? I think not.
If Mom and Dad are smart they might want to get their boy out of Japan and into the minor leagues here so he can have a real chance at making some money playing ball. He might get bored only throwing 100 pitched and 5-7 innings, but he'll have a much longer career.
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