College World Series: Is Stanford Pitcher Rested And Ready, Or Is He Done, After Throwing 156 Pitches On Sunday?

All pitching arms are different, and in the case of Stanford left-hander Quinn Mathews, so is his brain.

Remember, Stanford is in Silicon Valley in northern California. People are just techno smarter there.

Unless, of course, you are former Stanford chemical engineering major Elizabeth Holmes. She began an 11-year prison sentence in Bryan, Texas, on May 30 for defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of dollars via her "magic" blood testing company Theranos that was supposed to change the medical world. It never worked, and she faked it and must help pay $452 million back to investors.

Mathews, meanwhile, apparently has a magic arm, and he's not faking anything, unless it hurts and he's just not telling us. The senior ace left-hander from Aliso Viejo, California, threw 156 pitches through nine innings to beat Texas, 8-3, on Sunday in the Super Regional at Stanford. Stanford had lost the previous game, so it was facing elimination. It beat Texas Monday to reach the College World Series that starts Friday in Omaha, Nebraska.

Stanford pitcher Quinn Mathews celebrates his complete game victory with Tommy Troy (right) over Texas in the Super Regional Sunday in Stanford, California. (AP Photo By Josie Lepe.)

Not all schools keep pitching counts, but 156 is believed to be the most pitches by a college pitcher this season and possibly in many seasons. It is also more pitches than any Major League Baseball pitcher has thrown since Boston's Tim Wakefield threw 169 on June 5, 1997, in a 2-1 win against Milwaukee, according to Baseball-Reference.com. And Wakefield mainly threw knuckleballs, which do not stress the arm nearly as much as breaking balls and fastballs. He pitched another 14 years.

Mathews (10-4, 3.60 ERA) did not start for No. 8 national seed Stanford (44-18) in its College World Series opener on Saturday against No. 1 seed Wake Forest (52-10) at 2 p.m. on ESPN. Junior right-hander Rhett Lowder (15-0, 1.92 ERA) started for the Demon Deacons. He is projected to be the eighth pick of the Major League Baseball Draft on July 9. Lowder leads the nation in wins and has struck out 131 in 108 innings.

Stanford Plays Wake Forest In College World Series Saturday

The CWS started Friday with Oral Roberts beating TCU, 6-5, and No. 2 seed Florida beating No. 7 seed Virginia, 6-5, in Bracket 1. Both were ninth-inning thrillers.

The Stanford-Wake Forest winner (Bracket 2) will play the winner of No. 5 seed LSU (48-15) and Tennessee (43-20), which play at 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. The eight-team CWS is double-elimination in separate brackets. The two bracket winners play in a best-of-three national championship series beginning a week from Saturday.

Quinn Mathews Says He 'Feels Good'

"I feel good today," Mathews said Thursday at a press conference in Omaha. "I mean, I've just played catch every day. Didn't take a day off and didn't screw up the routine. The body feels good. The mind was a little drained. I'm not going to lie to you. That probably took the bigger brunt. I feel good. I don't know how I'm physically able to do it. I guess I've just been blessed with an ability."

And Mathews, a Science, Technology and Society major, just wrote a 30-page paper on how to treat elbow injuries - you know just in case he gets one.

Mathews may know the technology of his arm better than anyone. So, he's got that going for him.

"Through time and through the work, not just this past year, but through my whole life, I've always thrown a lot," he said. "I've kind of prided myself on being able to throw, not taking days off."

Mathews did not just start throwing a lot over night under coach David Esquer. He gradually built up his innings. He threw only 21 innings as a freshman in the 2020 COVID season, then 66 and two-thirds in 2021. He threw 99 and a third last year when he was 9-2 with a 3.08 ERA and nine saves. He leads the nation this season with 120 innings.

Quinn Mathews Has Gradually Built Up Endurance

He has has gone by the Nolan Ryan credo of building arm strength by pitching through soreness. Ryan hated pitch counts while the Texas Rangers general manager and believed babying arms can lead to arm injuries maybe more than overuse. Of course, he had a bionic arm.

But Stephen Strasburg is a prime example of Ryan's beliefs. Despite strict pitch counts during his MLB career with the Washington Nationals, he still has had a slew of arm-related injuries and has not pitched regularly since 2019. He has been on the injured list regularly since 2020.

"You learn how to throw with soreness and fatigue and stuff like that," Mathews said. "It's just athletics and pushing yourself. I think it's just been my whole life. I've just tested myself in terms of my physical capabilities."

Stanford Coach May Or May Not Start Mathews In Opener

Esquer was graciously considering giving Mathews the day off Saturday and going with his No. 2 starter - junior right-hander Joey Dixon (7-0, 4.86 ERA). Dixon started the game Saturday. He only threw 15 pitches Monday in an inning of relief for the 7-6 win over Texas in the Super Regional title game. He also threw only 61 pitches through four and two-thirds innings last Saturday when he started against Texas.

"We're still monitoring Quinn to see physically how he comes off of that," Esquer said Thursday.

Ya think?

Quinn Mathews Has Thrown 336 Pitches Since June 2

"He wants to pitch, and he is pushing, but again, we're looking into his well-being too," Esquer said.

Well, it's about time. Mathews threw 336 pitches over three games between June 2 through his last appearance on Sunday, June 11.

"We're going to make sure that he is physically at his best," Esquer said.

What Is Disturbing About Stanford Coach's Decision

The most disturbing part about Esquer's decision to let Mathews throw 156 pitches last Sunday is the fact that Stanford scored three runs in the top of the ninth for an 8-3 lead. And he still sent Mathews out in the bottom of the ninth already at 134 pitches. That after the time it took Stanford to send seven to the plate for three runs with two pitching changes. That's time enough to get stiff.

And Esquer had plenty of other pitching options to get three freakin' outs with a three-run lead, even if he was obviously saving the staff for the Super Regional final the next day.

"I think it's criminal," TSN and Sirius MLB Network Radio analyst Steve Phillips said after the game. "I do. I think this is so wrong to be able to do this."

Phillips worked as the general manager of the New York Mets from 1997-2003 and is a former MLB analyst at ESPN.

Is David Esquer Trying To Win For Himself?

"This is a coach wanting to win for himself," Phillips said. "Sure, the players all want to win, but you've got to protect the kid against himself. Of course, he's not going to take himself out of the game. But this is a coach winning at all costs. And at the cost of a young man's arm, most likely."

While Mathews may not be a knuckleballer like Wakefield, he is not a true power pitcher, as Esquer pointed out.

"Before people pass judgment, they don't know what we know," he said the day after Mathews threw 156. "He has been trained to throw 125 pitches on a weekly basis. He did go above that, but we took into account that he wasn't cranking off a majority of sliders and fastballs."

Mathews has a 92-93 mph fastball, but he mainly threw changeups and other off-speed pitches.

"We thought that lowered the stress of the pitch count," Esquer said.

Esquer answered questions about his use of Mathews on Thursday.

Quinn Mathews Threw Lesser Stress Pitches

"Obviously we're looking at what stress pitches they're throwing," he said. "He is throwing maybe 80 change-ups during the game. His stress pitches (breaking balls, fastballs) were down. I consult with the trainers and strength coaches, if it's smart. They were on board, and they said, 'Hey, he is built for this. At the end of the year, you can ask him on one occasion to make a real serious go.'"

Esquer makes a good point. Mathews throwing 164 pitches, if most of them are off-speed, could be equivalent to a power pitcher like LSU's Paul Skenes throwing 124. This is because Skenes throws mostly fastballs in the upper 90s and nasty breaking balls.

Skenes threw 124 in a complete game win over Tulane in the NCAA Regional round two weeks ago to the chagrin of MLB scouts, according to the Washington Post. Perhaps he caused more damage to his arm than did Mathews, although Skenes' last pitch was 101.2 mph. So, it's not like he was tiring.

But Skenes threw just 101 pitches in his next start. And his coach took him out in the eighth inning with a 14-0 lead.

So Esquer makes a plausible defense argument because Mathews throws a lot of off-speed stuff. Unless, he lets Mathews throw much more than 110 or so pitches in his next game.

Because I don't care how many off-speed pitches Mathews throws or how much he knows or writes about arm injuries, 156 pitches are too many.

And if I'm Mathews' father, and he is getting close to 120 pitches this weekend, I'm going to the dugout to meet Mr. Esquer and take him out, too.