PITTSBURGH — The Pirates bullpen has experienced its share of fatigue this season, several pitchers matching or passing career appearances and inning totals out of the ‘pen this season. So it’s only natural for some of the position players to have some fatigue setting in in the second week of September.
“There might be,” Manager Clint Hurdle said. “I would expect some fatigue. But how do you build up endurance? I learned at a very young age, you want to build up running endurance you keep running farther. That’s how you build up endurance. You don’t run the same distance every tie out. You keep stretching it out, running more, running harder.”
Both center fielder Andrew McCutchen and second baseman Neil Walker could be experiencing some fatigue set in this late into the season. Both have appeared in 145 of the 147 games this season. Walker has already set a career-high in games played this season, while McCutchen is on pace to pass last years total of 154.
“For Neil, this is his first full Major League season,“ Hurdle said. “Andrew, it will be his second. You’ve got to find ways to continue to get out there and play. I think from my past experiences, you feel it more so when you’re not playing. But once the game starts, you seem to get into [a good] place.”
“This is all about building up endurance. All about getting their arms and their brains around a full season.”
Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports
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