Gene Mauch, who was famous for over-managing himself out of a couple of pennants, had a theory which was never fully implemented. His idea was to have 2 starters ready, a righty and lefty, but name some middle reliever type as his starter.
The idea was, every game his announced starting pitcher would be this middle reliever guy, the opposing team would have to set its lineup, the game would start, Mauch's starter would only pitch the minimum required (like, facing one batter,) and then, based on the opps lineup (right-handed or left-handed predominance,) Mauch would choose his "real" pitcher and trot him into the game, very early in the first inning. Mauch was a big subscriber to the whole righthanded-lefthanded pitcher-hitter thing and figured he would first force the opposition to commit a lineup, then Mauch could decide which of his real starters was the best matchup.
Had he actually followed through, he could've had a pitcher with 162 starts, few wins and losses, and about 50-60 innings pitched. A "Designated Starter" so to speak.
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07-26-2019, 02:08 PM
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