Pitching rules met with trepidation
Coaches have mixed feelings about limits placed on pitchers
Strongsville left-hander Jaret Beechy throws a pitch in the Division I state championship game. Like all pitchers this year, Beechy was on a pitch count every time he went out. Photo by BRUCE BILLOW
For as long as there has been baseball, every pitch has counted. Over the just-completed high school season, every pitch was counted.
Following the lead of Major League Baseball, which for years has coddled its pitchers and limited the amount they throw, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in 2016 set guidelines for the number of pitches thrown by pitchers in grades 7-12.
The new standards followed research cited by the NFHS that said 85 percent of high school pitchers who underwent Tommy John surgery (replacement of the ulnar ligament) needed the procedure as the result of overwork.
Under the Federation’s rules, most of which Ohio adopted for the 2017 season, if a pitcher throws more than 76 pitches in a day, he must have three days between appearances. If he throws 51-75, two days. A pitcher throwing 31-50 pitches in an outing must sit the next day. Pitchers may not appear three consecutive days.
By Ohio rule, pitchers are limited to 125 pitches in an outing. The Federation limits pitchers to 105 in a day, which is extended to 115 for tournament games. Ohio pitchers who throw more than 30 pitches in a game may not pitch in the second game of a double-header. Pitchers may finish pitching to a batter if a limit is reached during that at-bat.
Before the implementation of the new rules, pitchers were limited to 10 innings in three days.
Prior to the season, coaches in The Post’s 14-school coverage area were surveyed and the answers varied as to how much they liked the rule. Of the 13 who answered, seven were for the rule changes, two against them, but understood their reasoning, and the rest saw potential problems while generally being in favor.
“I think it’s long overdue,” said Strongsville coach Doug Cicerchi, whose team finished the year as Division I state runner-up. “Whether it’s in high school or summer ball, kids are asked to throw way too many pitches with far too few days rest in between. If they throw that much, their long-term health is in jeopardy.”
Several coaches brought up the fact that the new rules become moot if summer travel coaches don’t adhere to them. As of now, there are no standards governing the numbers of innings or pitches thrown during club games.
Another prevailing theme was the new rules favor bigger schools, which are likely to have more pitchers available to begin with. At the smaller schools, a trickle-down effect can cause potential havoc on junior varsity and freshman teams.
“I’m struggling to even have a Saturday JV double-header,” said Rittman coach Joe Staley, whose team hails from the smallest school in the area. “A guy’s pitching well on the JV level? ‘Hey, you’re probably going to come up and help me pitch on the weekend.’ It’s hurting the development of those younger guys.”
The solution there? Make everyone a pitcher. That’s easier said than done, of course, but non-league games may have to be proving grounds for new arms.
“It forces everybody to be a pitcher and sometimes that’s a good thing,” said Black River coach Jake Wright, who lost his No. 1 starter to injury early on and was put in an even more precarious position. “You might have a kid that comes into high school and doesn’t think he’s pitcher because of the pitch count rule and you might find out you have a guy.”
Coaches also said setting limits with somewhat randomly generated top ends can be penal in certain instances. There are plenty of coaches who won’t let a pitcher go 125 pitches under any circumstance. At the lower end of the number line, though, some guys can bounce back more quickly than others.
The rules hit hardest in tournaments. In the past it was almost common for a pitcher to work an entire game one day, then maybe close the next day. With teams facing back-to-back postseason games, that’s now out of the question.
There’s also no reconciling guys who play other positions between starts. Their arms are being used just about as much.
“How many times is my shortstop throwing over to first in between innings?” Rittman’s Staley said. “They’re going to throw more than 30, so should I sit my shortstop the next day because he threw 31 balls over to first base?”
Next week: How the locals felt after the rule was in place for most of the 2017 season.
Following the lead of Major League Baseball, which for years has coddled its pitchers and limited the amount they throw, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in 2016 set guidelines for the number of pitches thrown by pitchers in grades 7-12.
The new standards followed research cited by the NFHS that said 85 percent of high school pitchers who underwent Tommy John surgery (replacement of the ulnar ligament) needed the procedure as the result of overwork.
Under the Federation’s rules, most of which Ohio adopted for the 2017 season, if a pitcher throws more than 76 pitches in a day, he must have three days between appearances. If he throws 51-75, two days. A pitcher throwing 31-50 pitches in an outing must sit the next day. Pitchers may not appear three consecutive days.
By Ohio rule, pitchers are limited to 125 pitches in an outing. The Federation limits pitchers to 105 in a day, which is extended to 115 for tournament games. Ohio pitchers who throw more than 30 pitches in a game may not pitch in the second game of a double-header. Pitchers may finish pitching to a batter if a limit is reached during that at-bat.
Before the implementation of the new rules, pitchers were limited to 10 innings in three days.
Prior to the season, coaches in The Post’s 14-school coverage area were surveyed and the answers varied as to how much they liked the rule. Of the 13 who answered, seven were for the rule changes, two against them, but understood their reasoning, and the rest saw potential problems while generally being in favor.
“I think it’s long overdue,” said Strongsville coach Doug Cicerchi, whose team finished the year as Division I state runner-up. “Whether it’s in high school or summer ball, kids are asked to throw way too many pitches with far too few days rest in between. If they throw that much, their long-term health is in jeopardy.”
Several coaches brought up the fact that the new rules become moot if summer travel coaches don’t adhere to them. As of now, there are no standards governing the numbers of innings or pitches thrown during club games.
Another prevailing theme was the new rules favor bigger schools, which are likely to have more pitchers available to begin with. At the smaller schools, a trickle-down effect can cause potential havoc on junior varsity and freshman teams.
“I’m struggling to even have a Saturday JV double-header,” said Rittman coach Joe Staley, whose team hails from the smallest school in the area. “A guy’s pitching well on the JV level? ‘Hey, you’re probably going to come up and help me pitch on the weekend.’ It’s hurting the development of those younger guys.”
The solution there? Make everyone a pitcher. That’s easier said than done, of course, but non-league games may have to be proving grounds for new arms.
“It forces everybody to be a pitcher and sometimes that’s a good thing,” said Black River coach Jake Wright, who lost his No. 1 starter to injury early on and was put in an even more precarious position. “You might have a kid that comes into high school and doesn’t think he’s pitcher because of the pitch count rule and you might find out you have a guy.”
Coaches also said setting limits with somewhat randomly generated top ends can be penal in certain instances. There are plenty of coaches who won’t let a pitcher go 125 pitches under any circumstance. At the lower end of the number line, though, some guys can bounce back more quickly than others.
The rules hit hardest in tournaments. In the past it was almost common for a pitcher to work an entire game one day, then maybe close the next day. With teams facing back-to-back postseason games, that’s now out of the question.
There’s also no reconciling guys who play other positions between starts. Their arms are being used just about as much.
“How many times is my shortstop throwing over to first in between innings?” Rittman’s Staley said. “They’re going to throw more than 30, so should I sit my shortstop the next day because he threw 31 balls over to first base?”
Next week: How the locals felt after the rule was in place for most of the 2017 season.