How Brilliant IS Leo Mazzone?

by DavidNYC on Oct 2, 2005 8:14 PM EDT

Everyone always praises Leo Mazzone's alleged pitching genius to the skies - he's the baseball equivalent of Lee Strassberg, the longtime acting instructor whose best-known role was Hyman Roth in Godfather II. But how clever is he, really? From today's NYT:

For a guy who makes the postseason every year, Leo Mazzone can become a little annoyed watching the games. Mazzone, the Braves' renowned pitching coach, can handle the bloated time for commercials, the countless glove-tugs and pensive resin-bag bounces. But when it comes to all the times a relief pitcher trots in to face just one hitter before leaving for yet another, he, like many onlookers, gets a little fidgety.

"I think all that matchup stuff is overrated," said Mazzone, a plain-spoken West Virginian. "Just go ahead and pitch."

Contra Mazzone, however, the rest of the article goes on to make it clear that using one-batter pitchers has a big impact. In a thousand such at bats this year, hitters have only hit .170 and slugged .282. (In 2004, it was even better: .131/.209.) These kinds of numbers don't lie - and what's more, they even include the screwups who get yanked by Joe Torre after one disastrous at bat.

Pronouncements like these make me wonder about these supposed baseball gurus. Mazzone's remark sounds no different to me that Minaya's anti-intellectual remarks about on-base percentage. I suppose Mazzone is not making the ultimate decisions on when to use pitchers, but I'm sure Bobby Cox listens to him intently.

Mazzone has an unmatched track record - but who knows? Maybe it would be even better if he paid more attention to the stats.

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Comments

Mazz

I think it's important to make the distinction between pitching coach and manager. It's Mazzone's job to get the most performance possible out of a pitcher given the tools he has to work with, but it's not his job to understand the tactical nuances of the game or the statistics that can often mean the difference between winning and losing.

It is then the manager's job to take the finely tuned pitchers he is given and plug them in as the situation dictates. Mazzone's understanding (or lack thereof) of intelligent in-game strategy is not a pre-requisite for being a great pitching coach -- that is, getting the pitchers to perform at or above their established levels.

I would assume that Bobby Cox makes the bullpen decisions, but even if Mazzone himself made them, poor in-game judgment is really the manager's domain and I wouldn't consider such ill-advised decisions to be a mark against his record as a pitching coach.

by Eric Simon on Oct 2, 2005 11:27 PM EDT reply actions

Pitching Situations

It's true the Braves have never been big believers in situational relievers like LOOGY's and ROOGY's, but also I feel that it depends on your pitching staff also. Some lefties do not fare well against other lefties, particularly those who change speeds in lieu of using breaking balls as an out pitch.

It should be noted that Mazzone does not traditionally like pitchers who are reliant on breaking pitches. According to the Mazzone school of pitching, it is most important to establish the low outside corner with the fastball, and then change speed and location off of that location. That type of a pitching philosophy does not lend itself well to situational pitching.

And you really can't complain about that philosophy with all the success he's had.

by Alex Nelson on Oct 3, 2005 2:46 PM EDT reply actions