The most impressive number from Reds starter Brandon Williamson was not his 6 strikeouts

Baseball is all about the numbers. It always has been and it always will be.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brandon Williamson made his major league debut on Tuesday night and became the 22,931st player to do so. But that number didn't tell the story.

Williamson pitched into the sixth inning and was pulled after recording two outs with a runner on base. Through those 5.2 innings of work, Williamson dominated the opposition and punched out six batters. But again, those six strikeouts, while impressive, were not the most important stat of the night for Williamson.

The most impressive stat from Brandon Williamson's 1st start was his 72 pitches thrown.

The biggest takeaway from Brandon Williamson's debut wasn't the horizontal break or velocity, but it was his efficiency on the mound. Williamson dispatched of 17 Colorado Rockies hitters while using just 72 pitches. That's an average of less than five pitches per out.

Hunter Greene's start on Monday was the exact opposite. The right-hander was pulled after throwing 96 pitches over just four innings of work. That comes out to eight pitches per out. Those are the types of outings that tax, not only the starter, but the bullpen.

Williamson could have gone deeper in the game. In seven of Williamson's eight starts for the Louisville Bats this season, the left-hander had eclipsed the 72-pitch mark. But manager David Bell could see that Williamson was laboring a bit in the six inning and decided to pull his starter before the game got out of control.

Overall, it was a truly remarkable performance for Brandon Williamson. The southpaw allowed just one earned run on a solo shot to Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. Aside from that one blip on the radar screen, it was an efficient and successful start to a career for Williamson.