The Wild Card Series Should End the "Quick Hook" Baldelli Myth

In what will be an infamous decision, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider pulled his starter, former Twins right-hander José Berrios at only 47 pitches in the top of the fourth inning after walking Twins Legend Royce Lewis to lead off the inning. Berrios had been, in the words of many, dealing. He had allowed three hits, but also recorded five strikeouts.

The decision would prove fatal. Lefty Yusei Kikuchi came into the game and induced ground ball after ground ball, but Max Kepler, Donovan Solano, and Carlos Correa put enough pepper on each to get on base and eventually put across two runs. Those runs would be the only runs scored during the whole ball game.

Meanwhile, both Twins starters found themselves in trouble in the fifth Inning. Pablo López had a runner on second with only one out, while Sonny Gray had runners on second and third with two outs.

Baldelli stuck with his starters, and both got out of their jams. 

Only after genuinely losing his stuff in the sixth did Baldelli finally pull López when it was clear he was reaching the end, with Louie Varland (and a major assist from Michael A. Taylor) to finish the inning. Gray was clearly gassed after five, and happily took the win he promised to his kids.

In fact, there was only a single quick hook in the whole series. Varland came into the sixth in Game 2 and Baldelli pulled him when it was clear he could not find the strike zone and the go ahead run at the plate. Fireman Caleb Thielbar worked it out by inducing a transformative double play.

Whether Schneider made the right decision with Berrios will be a point of major contention for baseball pundits and the entire country of Canada all offseason. Schneider's own players were even quick to criticize the decision, blaming the boogey man of “analytics.”

But “analytics” are also what led Baldelli to keep his pitchers in. And however anyone wants to read why Baldelli makes the decisions he does and how much the front office is managing those decisions, one thing was clear: there were no quick hooks this series.

The truth is Baldelli keeps his pitchers in as long as their stuff looks good and they can get productive outs. For some pitchers, that means a shorter leash. (see Archer, Chris, or Bundy, Dylan in 2022)

Five innings and 5 2/3 innings could be considered a pretty short leash.  But the playoffs are different. And only one team is now advancing to the Division Series. (Well two teams are advancing to the ALDS, but just one of the two teams that played at Target Field.)

If the playoff curse can end, so can the myth of Baldelli’s quick hook.