High school pitchers can't rack up insane pitch counts anymore
With every high school baseball season comes the same story told in a slightly different manner. If you follow baseball, it’s impossible to avoid the “Teenage pitcher from ____ high school throws 186 pitches in 16 inning victory.”
Considering the age of the player, and the dangers involved with high pitch counts, this seemed like a possible form of sports abuse. Until now, it was completely within the rules.
Thankfully, the National High School Federation has mandated that states must now implement pitch counts limits for high school pitchers. The new rules must be in place by the start of the 2017 season.
Georgia became the latest state to announce its new policy, according to J.J. Cooper of Baseball America.
Georgia’s new rules will limit any varsity pitcher to no more than 110 pitches in any outing. Pitchers will be able to finish facing their final batter even if that means they go beyond 110 pitches. The new rules for Georgia will also mandate three days of rest after any outing of 86 or more pitches, two days of rest after 61-85 pitches, one day of rest for 35-60 pitches. Pitchers who throw less than 35 pitches can pitch again the next day.
If you’ve read Jeff Passan’s “The Arm” (shameless plug, deal with it), you know that teenagers are having Tommy John surgery at alarming rates. Some of that comes from being put into situations where they are allowed to throw an excessive amount of pitches in a big game.
Sure, those high school pitchers usually say they felt fine at the time, or wanted to remain in the game, but the responsibility lies on the coach to protect his player. Of course an athlete is going to want to stay in the game. They are competitive and want to win. It’s up the adult to make the tough choice and do the right thing.
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That doesn’t always happen. Just this June, a high school kid in Kansas was allowed to throw 157 pitches in a single game. No pitcher in Major League Baseball has reached anywhere close to that limit in years. Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale don’t hit those limits. The fact that a teenager did is inexcusable.
Prior to these new pitch count rules, most high school associations had limits on the amount of innings a player could pitch over a certain amount of time. That’s how high school pitchers have been able to legally have outings with insane pitch counts.
Keeping pitchers healthy is still an inexact science. While we don’t fully understand “The Arm” just yet, making sure high school athletes aren’t throwing more pitches per outing than professionals seems like a step in the right direction.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
