Pitching and Pitchers Discussion How long do you think?

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Seeing the article today in the Dispatch on protecting the pitchers arms, how long do you think before there are inning counts in HS? Right thing to do? Absolutely, as these arms are not made for the stress of everyday use and the kids need to be protected first and foremost. Bad knees, bars put in spines, ligaments torn, all of the above are simple reasons to do it. Nay Sayers are going to say, if they threw proper. Blah blah blaH, they are still kids at the end of the day and have a full life ahead of them.

But what a game changer it would be, these undefeated teams would have to play defense, what a novel idea!

 

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I'm most definately a naysayer!!! If you put a cap on the pitchers innings that is like stepping back into rec ball, why not get rid of the drop 3rd strike and continuous walk too? Pitchers put alot of time into pitching and that will take away any chances of throwing a shutout, no hitter, or perfect game. It is also a big giant step backwards in preparing those who want to go to play ball in college. Sorry, but I think that is a horrible idea and I'm sure EVERY pitcher would agree with me.

 

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Hilliard ... I am a pitcher's dad, and I have to agree with you. Daughter is finishing her college career with a strain on her throwing shoulder ... it could have been a mechanical thing I suppose, and she actually threw less innings this year than she has some others. But regardless of her situation, I do think a rule would help prevent injuries and make it a better overall game as you suggest. I don't think the limits would need to be anything like what they are in baseball, nor should they limit pitches or innings in any one game.

 

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What if someone proposes to limit innings per week as opposed to "per day" or "per game" (DH) ? Coaches would have to actually strategize, instead of "Just let Suzie fling it until she runs out of gas"...

 

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My dd (a pitcher) might not agree. But as her mom, I couldn't be more in agreement with setting limits! Last week my daughter pitched full games 5 days (it would have been six but she was too sore one day and actually had to say no one day). She might not be worried about any long-term issues but it certainly worries me. I don't think the human body is designed to do one repetitive motion over and over every single day without some sort of impact.

 

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Never going to happen.

 

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Not saying I am for or against the rule... But how do then handle "high school records?"

Do you start over from today and toss everything out the window? Most wins by a pitcher? Most Ks by a pitcher? Most etc. etc. by a pitcher?

Again.. not saying I am for or against... But I would think you would need to toss out all history and start from now... (you can't compare apples and oranges)

Would be kind of rude to everyone who has pitched prior to the rule change but I guess as records are meant to be broken - records can be meant to be tossed out the window and start over...

 

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I would like to suggest that the innings pitched in high school is a minute factor when compared to what effect the crazy off season work some of these pitchers are put through starting at such young ages.

In addition to over working over many years, proper mechanics are often not the norm for the majority of pitchers. For every one who has the desire, time, and money to get to a reputable pitching coach there are probably ten that are on their own or with someone who in reality could be hurting a kid.

So in my honest opinion taking the relatively few innings that high school ball offers away from these pitchers is not going to solve the problem or make the game better.

 

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I'm a pitchers dad and I'm all for some kind of limit, in alot of cases it will force the coach to coach and it will make the team better......I have seen coaches brag about how great there team is and what his record is.......then they lose that one pitcher and they are suddenly playing 500 ball. I think the rest of the team's skills suffer if your pitcher just dominates everybody.

 

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So far, three of the posters have admitted to being pitchers' parents, and all 3 said they were in favor of limits. Would agree Louuu that innings would probably be the best way to do it, but I can also see some merit based on the # of days (3-4 per week?) since that more or less forces some days of rest in there. One issue is that some teams would not have enough pitchers ... but then perhaps more girls might stick with pitching if they didn't see early on that they wouldn't pitch if they weren't a #1. My daughter was probably a typical high school pitcher in terms of the amount she threw, and the coaches tracked the # of pitches each pitcher threw in games. She averaged about 2000 per season ... what people sometimes forget is all of the warm-up pitches, so you can probably easily double that, which would be about 4000 pitches in about a 50 day period of time, not counting any off-day practicing or batting practice the coaches might ask them to throw.

MediaSteve ... agree that such a change would require an asterisk or something in the record books, but that's easy enough to do if it's the right thing for the girls or for the game.

 

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Good topic. Having never been around a team that relied on just one pitcher I don't know what I think. But I do have a question. Is throwing 3 consecutive 7 inning days in HS (21 innings and about 9 hours) harder or easier than throwing 3 games in one day during a tournament in the summer (15-18 innings spread over 12-15 hours)?

 

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Do you asterisk everything that happened when the pitchers plate was at 40 ft?

 

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I would be curious to know if the pitcher's dads / moms who are in favor of this have a dd who is their HS team's #1 pitcher or the #2/3. See where I'm going?

Seems to me if dd is #1 and parents are really concerned about overuse a conversation with the head coach can take care of it.

 

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I too am a pitchers parent and I don't favor inning limits for the pitchers. My dd doesn't pitch every day and she is 1 of 3 pitchers in a rotation on her team so she doesn't throw 3 games in a day either. She, along with her teammates, takes weekly strength and agility classes to strengthen their cores so they decrease their chances of injuries. She is very committed and puts alot of time and effort into her pitching and she would be very mad if they wouldn't let her throw an entire game. But then again, like Flarays said, I've never been involved with a team that had less than 3 pitchers so overuse type injuries haven't been an issue with us.

 

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Good question ... can see why you asked ... mine was her team's #1 all four years ... daughter would have had a major issue with me asking she not pitch so much especially since I was also an assistant coach! We did rest her in "easy" games, but I am just saying that I think it would be better to have rules around it ...

 

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Not sure Mark, if the controlling bodies and associations went for it as well, who knows? I am in favor of protecting kids at all costs. Records? Really?

 

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A think a good gauge would be the number of games you play in tourney time. Everyone wants their number one for the state tourney. Not sure how sectionals, districts, and finals are scheduled, but I think if you could have a max of 3 to 4 games in a week during tourney time, that would be a good starting point for then number of games allowed to pitch during the regular season. I think it could be beneficial in that coaches could develop more pitchers, the risk of overuse injuries could be decreased, pitchers could have the opportunity to play multiple positions, and you could increase the general competitiveness of league and season play. It would be more difficult for a team with one stud pitcher to run away with their league, yet you could preserve their ability to pitch all playoff games. Maybe this could even have an effect on the number of young women playing HS ball. Just a thought.

 

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Yea I know Hilliarddad3 - HS records really aren't even a consideration. So many things change over time they are meaningless really.

Don't get me started on the safety, health and well being of the athletes. Rec/LL, Travel organizations, High School governing bodies and the NCAA turns a blind eye when money interferes with safety. I guess every little bit helps - but there are a ton of things these bodies could do to impact the game!!! I just don't know about limiting innings. I don't have a point of reference.

 

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As a pitcher's dad, I would like to see some limits in place. And, Julie, our dd has been on teams where she was the only pitcher, and on a team when the stable of 3 starters was reduced to just one (our dd) due to injuries. After both seasons, instead of resting then taking the winter to work on her pitches and improve, she was forced to go through months of rehab and physical therapy. Right now, in what will be just her third year of travel ball pitching, has she been able to work on adding pitches and improving the ones she's got. And that has been on the go this spring, being the primary pitcher on her JV team, working with pitch counts, forced days off, due to doctors orders.

 

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I am a pitcher's mom and I don't support limits in high school. They are old enough to tell when they feel good and when they might need a break. 27 games over 9 weeks or so plus a few playoff games is manageable even for one pitcher. If a team only has 1 pitcher, then they really shouldn't schedule weekend double headers.