David Esquer defends decision to pitch Quinn Mathews over 150 pitches in Super Regional

Quinn Mathews wanted the ball in the Super Regional with a chance to send Stanford to the College World Series, and he got all that he asked for and then some.

Cardinal skipper David Esquer wasn’t taking his star out against the Texas Longhorns with a chance at Omaha looming large. Esquer allowed Mathews to finish out a legendary complete game that sent Stanford to the College World Series, and the pitcher amassed 156 total pitches in the process.

Ahead of Mathews gearing up to potentially pitch again this weekend, Esquer defended his decision to let his pitcher take the ball and run with it.

“Yeah, obviously we’re looking at someone, what stress pitches they’re throwing. He is not cranking off 75% sliders or breaking pitches. He is throwing maybe 80 change-ups during the game, right? I thought between the change in the fastball that his stress pitches were down,” explained Esquer. “You know, the trainers — I consult with the trainers if it’s smart and the strength coaches. They were on board, and they said, ‘Hey, he is built for this. He is built for, at the end of the year, that you can ask him on one occasion to make a real serious go.’

“We had monitored him — or he is probably the only starting pitcher I’ve had that we had him in shape that he was able to go 120 pitches every game. To be our Friday starter, he was going to have to do that based on how his pitch counts work. He adapted to that. Instead of going five innings at 100 pitches, he is able to navigate through eight innings at 120.”

Evidently, the risk of regretting not letting Mathews give his all to the game and taking him out, potentially losing the chance of a lifetime was too great for Esquer to do so.

“Sometimes you think about how many pitchers you have held back that you didn’t give them a little bit longer leash that they couldn’t have been a better pitcher with the finish line being so short. He was resilient. Last year he pitched that role where he would close for us on Friday/Saturday. Whatever pitches he had left on the weekend, we would use on Sunday,” added Esquer. “He had nine wins and nine saves. He was resilient. He would always kind of bounce back.

If people watched — when I walk around the baseball field on a Monday, if I’m just kind of taking a tour of the stadium, I can hear one thing, which is a ball hitting up against our padded fence, and it’s Quinn Mathews throwing the day after he pitches. He talks about that he some days throws because he wants to know what adjustments he has to make when he has some fatigue. He has trained himself to be very resilient, and that was part of the decision.”

Thankfully, it all worked out in the end, and Mathews is alright and roaring for a shot at the College World Series.

“The other part is he wanted in so bad and was talking a little bit about that’s why he came back his senior year was to it have the ball in his hand for this team with the season on the line,” said the Stanford skipper. “You struggle with yourself whether to give him that opportunity or not. Again, with his safety in mind, it seemed like the right thing to do for him.”

We’re willing to bet Quinn Mathews won’t be throwing over 150 pitchers again in Omaha, but David Esquer and the Cardinal are happy he did so to get Stanford there.