World Series: Brewers' pitching fatigue, recovery; expert weighs in

A lot of people had a lot of strong words to say after the game as well, maybe a little frustrated as well, including with the pitching for the Brewers and possibly those decisions there. Some people saying Jacob Mizerowski should have been in. Some people saying, no, it was the right call. A lot of things that go into this and a lot of things that go into decisions like that. And we know that relief pitching has been the backbone of Milwaukee's postseason success. So I actually want to bring in a very special guest, Chris Geiser. He's with Marquette University. He's a clinical professor of exercise science and the program director of athletic training. So if there's anyone to talk to about this, it's you, Chris. Thank you so much for joining us here on Fox 6 Now. Thank you, Maddie. It's fun to be here. Yeah, so talking a little bit, just getting right into it, especially with the relief pitching, because Abner Uribe, he appeared in the first six games, Aaron Ashby frequently throwing multiple innings. What are the physical limitations of pitcher usage in the playoffs? Well, anytime you're putting forth a maximal effort like that, it takes a toll on the body and there's recovery necessary. These guys aren't throwing half-hearted lay. They aren't doing submaximal activities. This is a maximal activity. And so your musculoskeletal system needs time to recover. And it's a process to go through. So there's a reason during the long season that we don't pitch pitchers many, many days in a row, and especially starting pitchers who throw a lot of innings take that recovery time. I think it's been part of the Brewers' strategy to try to limit the number of pitches that guys throw so that they can recover a little quicker. They don't create as much damage in their arm, and so it's a little faster recovery. They can use them a little more often, and they seem to have a good rhythm going up into this. and when we talk about recovery how long is that process when somebody's in they're on the mound and they're pitching for several innings how long do they need to recover before they can go back out there yeah oftentimes that's pretty individualized and so the brewers seem to have a good handle on that and and when they're you know how long how long guys need to rest and how long that that uh before they can be effective again the guy can go out there and and want to do it while he you know for every for every intents and purposes have the same effort the same willpower but your muscles take some damage when you when you do throw the ball that hard and that often and so usually it's within a couple days before that that can they can recover and throw with the same effectiveness again if it's been a long outing you look at starting pitchers they go about every fifth day or so and that gives their muscles the time to be able to put forth that maximal effort again but through the course of the season again you see the toll that that takes also and i think this year the brewers have had a pretty good approach of getting guys rest they gave Misurawski a little rest in the middle of the season so that he could you know continue on and be ready for the postseason that way seems like that's been um they've had the luxury of doing that because they've had leads in the division and and have had um the ability to to get guys fresh for the playoffs and they've really come into these this last series in pretty good shape from that that standpoint but uh 12 innings 13 innings last night was going to take it's going to take a toll on their staff yeah that's what i was going to ask because the game four hours and 20 minutes long it was a marathon i know i was saying for the fans but especially for the players do you think that hurts our pitching arms as we head into game five tonight i think you could talk to both teams and both teams are going to be in the same boat there we've got guys who've been really successful for us and and um for the brewers i include us as the state of wisconsin i've been here all my life so um we live and die with these guys and and luckily they didn't have to get up and go to work this morning like most of us did so they can they can recover a little bit more get a little more sleep than than most of us have but um they they uh they have a pretty good awareness of where these guys are going to be at and their velocity and their effectiveness some pitchers again they get a little too amped up and so having a little fatigue in their arm sometimes makes their their other pitches a little more effective even if they lose a few miles per hour on the on the fastball so um they've been watching this much closer than the most than most of us have so they're probably in a good place to make decisions on guys readiness and their effectiveness, and we have to trust what the Brewers have been doing, I think, to make the right choices in that regard. But I would think that Tampa Bay is in a much tougher situation than we are because they haven't had the same success. They had a longer couple playoff series than the Brewers have, and our pitching has been pretty successful. So I look forward to good things tonight. Yeah, and I know I was asking a little bit about recovery, and you said it kind of depends from player to player. but talking specifically about Ashby, does his background as a starter help him bounce back quick from these longer outings? Yeah, the body is a magnificent tool. It's going to respond to the stresses that you put on it. So if your arm is used to throwing more innings and throwing harder over longer periods of time, your skeletal system, your muscles all adapt to that kind of stress. And so it's not as big a change on your system and it's not as big a shock to the system, if you will and so you recover a bit quicker and and you're ready to turn it around a little quicker they've been using him like this all year and and especially in their relievers they're used to coming in multiple days once in a while they'll say this guy's off limits today um and and that then they know that they've they've reached a point where he's not as effective and and um and can't go as much and in in the postseason here you have the advantage that you don't have to worry about playing a hundred more games after this the guys guys aren't going to get injured because they're overloading it for many many days in a row we have we have at most three more games four more games to go and and uh and uh you know then they all get a big rest so they can afford to put themselves out there a little bit more right now yeah that was going to be my next question because you were talking about rest in the Brewer strategy which has been very good making sure these players do get rest throughout the regular season and then the postseason but yeah does that strategy change now that we're looking at only a few more games left yeah absolutely and that's where it gets a little bit more of a judgment call because they haven't asked these guys to do this very often and maybe they have played with this more than i realized during the season and how how's this guy going to do on on multiple innings multiple days in a row and and maybe they have a better feel for that and they've watched the velocity and they've watched the bite on the on the breaking balls so um that's that's a big question now um hopefully they have better answers than we do and and that's why they're that's why they're in the position they are and we're just sitting back enjoying it yeah and i know fans are fired up a lot of people questioning the decisions that were made last night especially about Jacob Mizarowski saying why didn't they have him close it out they could have ended it right there what was the decision making process in from your perspective as to why they might have been saving him for a game five if it were to happen yeah i mean as an outsider here you never know if a guy's going to be successful or not and they they might have run into the same problem in the uh in the in the last inning that they did last night with with the pitcher they had Drohan um you know some of the problems they caused because of errors and and uh and the pitcher doesn't control that part of it and so if you end up in a situation where they they pull out a last second uh victory we go down to defeat and and then you've got to have a pitcher the next day that that compromises Mizarowski the next day he's he's not used to going multiple days in a row he's not set up to do that we don't know about his effectiveness there so that would have been a bigger wild card i think they have the luxury of having their two-way starting pitchers ready to go for the next two games three games if if they need them to um and and they weren't going to compromise their advantage in that realm yeah and i i've been learning a lot about baseball especially this year because i won't lie i'm not super super attuned to all of the things but i know that there is a a part in the box where it shows how many throws they've gotten at what point because i know it's like a hundred when you want to maybe switch them out but when is it a good sign when you're looking at that number versus what inning it is how do you know that the brewers are in a good place pitching wise when Mizorowski is on the mound well again that's that's fairly individualized pitcher to pitcher but um they they have numbers on on when these guys become less effective they also look at how many times they've faced each hitter so if the guy is effective and he's not gone through the lineup three or four times, they might switch someone out a little quicker or leave him in a little bit longer depending on the situation. So each pitcher is a little different. It seems like their strategy in the postseason thus far has been to pull the starter a little bit quicker and not let him get into a place of deep fatigue. And I wonder if that's going to change a little bit in the next game or two, because if their starting pitcher is being effective, that could be it. They could be done with the series here, and maybe they'll let him go a little longer. But we're really not looking at Mizorowski coming in to any great extent after this game. So I would expect if he's effective, they're going to leave him in there quite a ways that way. Sure. And kind of looking at this World Series run, anything surprised you from your perspective with that athletic trainer background, having that position at Marquette and studying this and teaching about it in the strategy of what you've seen so far any of the pitching changes anything that's been like huh i wasn't expecting that not really again i'm also a big brewer fan so i've been watching them all year and they do what they do and they seem to have a really healthy perspective on the game and i uh everything from how they're treating the players physically to how they're approaching the games mentally seems seems really sound and and uh and i'm really proud to be a part of this state and I'm glad to see that they're doing what they're doing. So I have nothing but compliments and confidence in that they're doing everything that they can to bring home a championship. Yeah, it is really such a cool time to live in Wisconsin and cheer for this team. And I agree, they've done a great job. This program has done an incredible job, especially during this post-season run. So we're hoping that it gets done in five, but we'll have to see. Chris, thank you so much for joining me here on Fox 6 Now. Hopefully if we do end up talking again, it'll be when the brewers are world series champions we appreciate you yeah we can both we can both wear our world series championship t-shirts next time yes absolutely and hopefully we can get our hands on them for sure uh we appreciate it chris we'll have to check in after the game