Throws a lot?

In early December, Blake Treinen and the Dodgers agreed to a 2-year deal. Treinen is an important pitcher for the Dodgers. In 2024, he made 50 relief appearances, posting a 1.93 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP over 46.2 innings. Opponents only hit .194 against him.

 

In the postseason, Treinen made 9 relief appearances. He tossed 12.1 innings and posted a 2.19 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. In particular, there were 3 times that he threw more than 30 pitches in a game. Moreover, in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, he tossed 2.1 innings and used 42 pitches. He did throw a lot in the postseason.

 

After reading news about Treinen’s return to L.A., I was just wondering whether he often threw 40+ pitches in the regular season.

 

Blake Treinen made his MLB debut in 2014. In the first season, he made 7 starts. But since the 2015 season, he has never made any starts. So, as a reliever, how many times did he throw at least 40 pitches in a game? To understand a little bit more, I decided to check on the statcast website.

 

Firstly, Blake Treinen threw 40+ pitches in 3 relief appearances. He used 40 pitches on April 28, 2015. Treinen tossed 2 innings for the Nationals. He gave up 3 walks and 1 run. Treinen collected a win in this game. The other 2 times were in 2018. Treinen was pitching for the A’s. He threw 44 pitches on April 18 with giving up 4 hits and 1 run over 3 innings. And he used 40 pitches on July 21, allowing 1 run in 2 innings.

 

In addition, on May 14, 2015, Blake Treinen tossed 4 innings for the Nationals. He used 57 pitches and allowed only 1 run. In this relief appearance, Treinen threw 6 strikeouts.

 

Finally, there were 2 times that he threw at least 60 pitches in a game as a reliever. On April 17, 2014, he used 60 pitches to toss 2.2 innings. He gave up 7 hits, but just allowed 1 run. The other time was in 2016. On June 7, Treinen used 66 pitches to throw 3 innings. He didn’t allow any runs in this appearance and got a win.

 

Looking back at Treinen’s performance with throwing at least 40 pitches in a game so far in his career, he actually got the job done by allowing no more than 1 run. Nonetheless, the last time that Treinen used at least 40 pitches in a game as a reliever during the regular season was in 2018. And Treinen used 40+ pitches in a postseason game twice. One was in the 2024 World Series game 5 and he earned a win. The other time was in 2018. And interestingly, the opponent was the New York Yankees. He used 42 pitches as well but the result wasn’t good. Treinen tossed 2 innings. He allowed 2 hits, including a home run that was crushed by Giancarlo Stanton, and gave up 3 runs. In Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, it was a courageous decision to let Treinen throw more than 40 pitches because he hadn’t done that for quite a while. Nonetheless, it turned out to be a great decision. He didn’t make the same mistake, which was to let Stanton collect a hit.