Astros pitching coach Doug Brocail wants Bud Norris to lower his strikeouts this season, to make him more efficient:
“Here’s a guy who’s going to throw 200 innings-plus for us this year. I personally would like to see the strikeouts cut down and more contact so that he can have quicker innings and not have so many pitches at the end of the year. The more I can keep him in the game and the less pitches he throws, the more chances we have of winning the ballgame.”
Norris threw 3,195 pitches in 2011 to 795 batters, for an average of 3.96 pitches per batter. The Astros - as a rotation - threw 16,258 pitches to 4,174 batters for a 3.90 PPB ratio. Even more knowledge: All starters across MLB faced 124,544 batters, throwing 470,896 pitches, which works out to 3.78 PPB. So, yeah, Norris throws .18 pitches per batter more than average (or, about 1 pitch per five batters).
For comparison's sake:
Brett Myers: 3.65 PPB
Wandy Rodriguez: 3.89 PPB
J.A. Happ: 4.26 PPB
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
