I read an article by Glenn Fleisig that stated that a month of no baseball activity is what’s needed to fully rest the arm. It was decade ago so I don’t know if he still maintains this view.
Edit: by fully He meant that any in season rest of 1 or 2 starts was useless because of all the throw sessions you’d have to have in to return that soon.
That's fine but I just dont see why that was needed. Shutting down for a month means it's going to take another month to ramp back up to get meaningful work. The season has 5 weeks left. A shut down with 56 innings, with a strict pitch count, after throwing 117 last year in college just doesn't make sense. They might as well have just let him make a few more starts, get to 75 ip and shut him down.
Then there's the argument that a complete shut down is stupid. He already pitched a full season in college with 117 innings. He has a chance to reach the bigs next year with his blend of size, stuff, results, age, and body of work(college workload). But now he'll be in an innings limit again, and his only consistent pro experience was 12 starts/56 innings and a long shut down. That's not preparing him to get through a full pro season.
He doesn't need to be on that strict of an innings limit. He could've hit 120 pro innings this year the pace he was going, and that should've been no problem after going 117 last year. Especially with lower pitch counts and innings per outing.
Even just skipping a couple starts does "save" the arm. Bullpens aren't the same stress level as a game. You have him skip 2-4 starts with maintenance pens, and hes still throwing but its less stress on the arm, and you've saved him 10-20 innings from his total. He shouldn't be a guy you're looking to keep at 75-85 innings because he's 19 and never done it before. He's 6'6 230, 22 years old, almost 23. He was a college kid, and topped 100 innings there. I just dont see the reason to go backwards.
Maybe he actually was having some arm issues. Fatigue, not an injury. Who knows. Without anything public, it's just seems like an odd schedule for him. There is the possibility of pitching in the AFL against better talent, but he could go 85-90 during the season and still go 25 in the AFL, without any increase in innings from the previous year.