David Shoenfield at ESPN.com speaks with pitchers who find success without necessarily throwing hard. Logan Webb is the prime example.

In a season in which so many starting pitchers have been hit with injuries, those around baseball have speculated on how to keep pitchers healthier, and velocity has been part of that discussion. Would pitchers get hurt less often if they weren’t throwing as hard? In other words: If they were more like Webb?

It’s a theory — although one that not even its poster child necessarily lives by.

“I’ll be honest, I still chase velocity,” Webb told ESPN. “Every offseason I’m trying to add miles per hour.”

But now that Webb and others have shown an alternative path to ace-dom — will anyone else follow their lead?

ESPN.com

The article presents good arguments for throwing hard or saving something. Here he discusses Kyle Harrison:

And of course, even Harrison picks his moments to turn it up.

“If I got a guy 1-2, two outs in a situation with runners on, then I’m going to kind of reach back and get a little more,” he said. “I’ve never looked up the stats, but you always know when it’s that sixth or seventh inning and you’re at 98 pitches, you know that’s your last pitch, it feels like every pitcher, that last pitch might be an extra 1.5 mph.”

In fact, while Harrison averages 92.7 mph on his fastball overall, with two strikes it ramps up to 93.4 mph. Batters have hit .155 against his fastball with two strikes.

Sometimes less is better — sometimes more is better.

Rather than putting in maximum effort every pitch, save that effort for the big moments.