Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Pitchers Facemask

[coop24]

Baseball LLWS pitching distance is 46 ft., why have we not seen a pitcher wearing a mask?

 

[brownsfan]

And if I recall correctly, catcher's must wear a throat protector. In league play, they don't really enforce that rule until tournament time. They should mandatory the facemask.

 

[jdcii]

One word... EGO!

 

[Really]

Leave it up to the players and parents.

 

[brownsfan]

Leave it up to the players and parents.

Normally I completely agree with this statement. But Little League has ALWAYS stated safety first to the point there are pitch counts and innings allowed to pitch in said amount of days. This now includes softball. That's all I'm saying.

 

[fpitchdad]

Here we go again, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to post on here about the LLWS pitchers not wearing masks.

 

[Westler33]

I don't know if I have ever seen a boy wearing a mask at any age group.

 

[Chad Strahler]

Let it go people. Bats have been really tamed compared to softball fwiw.

 

[FastBat]

The Rip-it fielding masks don't work with baseballs. It says so on the box. I have a son and dd. But, I wanted one for my son as well.

Pitch counts in LL baseball also include catching, so you can't put your pitcher at catcher after the count has maxed out. All for safety!

They also cannot use Big Barrell bats in LL baseball. They usually can in travel baseball.

Throat protectors MUST be worn in regular season and tournament play.

I took the LL Ump Classes last year, they were really great!

 

[Westler33]

The bats may be tamed down from softball but it still seems like those boys in the LLWS are still miss hitting balls 230' plus.

 

[Fairman]

There are two primary reasons why Little League Baseball does not require a face mask on their pitchers.

The first is that Little League Baseball is played by 12 year old boys that typically have not begun their growth spurt. After this age baseball moves to larger and larger fields. The softball field is fixed with 10U's and professional players playing on the same size field.

The second reason has to do with the actual distance of the mature game. At 12U a Little League Baseball player has 10% more time to react to batted ball. At 18U the baseball player has 158% more space/time to react than a softball player. (See calculation Below)

((What I don't understand is why Little League doesn't require the batters to wear face-masks.))



Baseball: 60'-6" less a leap of 6' less the front of the batters box of 22" = 52'-8" from Pitcher to the batter (in the front of the box)
Softball: 43'-0" less a leap of 6' less the front of the batters box of 40" = 33'-8" from Pitcher to the batter (in the front of the box)

Baseball is 158% more working distance than softball and still pitchers get hit by batted balls. That extra 19' translates into a signifacant increase in reaction time.

 

[Westler33]

I don't know about kids in LLWS not hitting their growth spurt yet because you have kids 6'2" and kids 4'9" both 12yo.

 

[TnTs_Dad]

You rock Coop, thanks for starting the thread!

 

[Ferrigno20]

It wouldn't be OFC without a face mask debate.

 

[Westler33]

You will always have this some for and some against.

 

[coop24]

I do my part

 

[Chad Strahler]

The bats may be tamed down from softball but it still seems like those boys in the LLWS are still miss hitting balls 230' plus.

And so does the rest of every game of ball. My dd wears a mask. I'm just saying some people really act like this thing is way over the top. Did anyone say they we're miss hitting the ball 230' ? Didn't think so... I'd say they were hitting it right on... Foul or not. Oh wait no masks on the batting helmets either... why not get that going too. Should be wearing them all same as the girls huh?

 

[Chad Strahler]

Wait coaches should have helmets on the bases too. I mean heck mlb makes their coaches right? But they don't wear masks on mound or at bat.

 

[Fairman]

Actually I would love to see the coach's box moved back behind the base. I am way to close when a girl gets a rip on a pitch. I've had a few umps attempt to move me back to the box......I offer to let them stand there and I'll work the bases. Baseball coaches are standing 70' away and wearing helmets and we are standing 40' without a prayer.......a few of the WCWS coaches are wearing helmets.... can a mandate be far behind?

 

[Chad Strahler]

I'm just playing devils advocate here anyway. I don't certainly want to see any of them or us hurt doing what we love. But I do say to each his own. I don't judge either way and hate seeing kids get hurt.