NEWSLETTER
Stanford lefty Quinn Mathews just threw a whopping 156 pitches in a 16-strikeout complete game to help keep his Stanford Cardinal alive in a quest to reach the College World Series.
Mathews, who is considered a legit draft prospect, has routinely thrown well over 100 pitches this year for Stanford, certainly had it working in the game.
You’re understandably going to hear a range of opinions on whether it’s OK to let a college arm go 156 pitches, but Mathews was eager to stay in and keep going:
The question, of course, is whether Mathews should even be in a position to make that kind of decision, or if the coaching staff should protect him from himself. Keep in mind, this is not a fifth year senior pitching in the last game of his baseball career. Mathews is considered a top five round prospect (MLB Pipeline has him ranked 119th in this class), and a performance like this, while impressive, can absolutely leave teams wondering if a guy is taking on damage that’ll hurt him (and them) down the road.
As Keith Law notes, this kind of pitch volume simply doesn’t happen anymore:
Hopefully Mathews is ultimately fine, and MAYBE he’s the super rare rubber arm who can throw this much – in this high of a stress situation – and not suffer any meaningful wear and tear. I’m not sure teams will be eager to find out in the draft, though (at least not in the bonus range he might otherwise have commanded), and that could be on his coaching staff.
