Pitchers deserve more praise at World Series
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In many sports outside of baseball, there's an old adage of defense wins championships. Whether the game is a Little League game or a major league one, that mantra should be tossed around in baseball just as much as basketball, football or any other sport. But especially when it comes to youth baseball.
During my one day of covering the Little League World Series, the one thing that goes unnoticed — or is often undervalued — is how well 12-year-olds can throw a pitch. Not only throw a batter out of rhythm or even sustain one, but toss out a mixed bag of curveballs, sliders, fastballs and go off-speed with pitches throughout the course of a tournament.
It's easy for ESPN to highlight an MLB pitcher who does it against some of the best prospects to play. However it should be praised more often when youth kids go the distance and sport a complete game shutout with a one, two or three-hitter, for example.
Because after all, this is the best of youth baseball for two weeks. There are good hitters, and they deserve their credit. Nevertheless, the best youth baseball pitchers are bringing their A-game, too.
In the first of two international games, Chinese Taipei took on Curacao in what turned out to be a dominant performance from pitcher Hsu Shao-Chieh. Shao-Chieh not only pitched the second-highest innings with 2 1/3 — behind teammate Cai Yuan-Hao's three innings — he tossed a team-high four strikeouts, had no errors and didn't give up a single hit or walk.
More importantly, Shao-Chieh pitched during Chinese-Taipei's most pivotal point in the game, during the fourth, fifth and partially sixth inning when Curacao was pushing for any type of leverage for a comeback. And when Shao-Cheih struck out his four batters, he stared down each retired batter as they made their way to the dugout.
"We focus on the pitcher being well-controlled and making sure he's not giving too many walks and errors," Chinese Taipei coach Chen Min-Hung said. "We focus on the fundamentals."
I get it. This isn't the major leagues where players can bat in the .400 range, but eliminating consecutive batters and making a statement about it is special, especially as the competition strengthens throughout the tournament. There are big, fast, tall, strong-all types of talented hitters in the Series, so Asia-Pacific was proving it wants to show off the talent on the mound as well.
"We want to emulate the pitching competition," coach Min-Hung said. "Having a confident pitcher is a make or break for the team to do well. We want to give pitchers the opportunity to pitch in a similar style and caliber."
In the second game, where the stakes were a bit higher in an elimination game, Mexico and Japan squared off in what seemed to be a pitcher's battle. In what turned out to be a 2-0 shutout victory for Mexico, there was only one run put up on the scoreboard in the second and fifth innings, respectively. That included five hits for Mexico and three from Japan.
Mexico pitcher Bernardo Partida not only did a good job stranding runners, but he tossed a complete game, three-hitter with four strikeouts and no walks or errors on the brink of elimination.
That wasn't easy for a Mexico team who just lost to Japan, 6-1, five days prior to Wednesday evening's game. What impressed most was Partitda's ability to keep composure after giving up a couple hits in the top of the sixth inning. When Japan needed two runs to tie the game and possibly take the lead with two runners on, Partida didn't flinch and stayed on course to finish a marvelous performance to help Mexico advance.
There are many times in baseball when coaches, players and fans are relying on a big hit to lift them past its opponent. When in reality, it should be focused on a dynamite pitcher delivering mixed pitches, such as a tough curveball or going offspeed.
The Little League World Series produces some great talent hitting wise, and they deserve their credit when due.
But if the best batter on the best team in the Series can't get going, the teams' pitchers should get the praise for being versatile and dominant.
Zach Powell is the sports editor at The Lock Haven Express. Reach him at zpowell@lockhaven.com and follow him on Twitter @RealZachPowell.