Pitching and Pitchers Discussion How many games/innings to pitch at 10U?

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​As the season is getting underway, I am wondering what some of the more seasoned coaches feel is safe number of innings for a young pitcher to pitch in a day and/or in a weekend. I know there are many teams still posting for pitchers - how do teams manage the lack of pitching at the younger ages? Some teams only have two girls that are "game ready"... do you sacrifice seeding on Saturday and use girls who are still raw to make sure they don't get burned out or is it ok to use just two, or your number one for the whole day if the situation dictates?

 

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This is a tough question. In my opinion it depends how much repetition your girls get during the week. If she is pitching a couple times during the week then stamina should be good to pitch a couple times per day. I don't know what tourneys you are in but most games are a time limit so she will only pitch 4-5 innings anyway until the finals which are full games. Another concern is stress and most will say that underhand pitching is a more natural movement and there isn't much stress on their arms. My wife is a Physical Therapist and would say this is true if the girl has sound pitching mechanics. If they don't they tend to get too much shoulder involvement and can wear down much faster than pitchers with proper mechanics. This is just an opinion nothing more.

 

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Limits should be based strictly on pitch count, not innings. This is a tough question to answer, since mechanics vary, conditioning levels vary and physical builds vary. IMO, this should be a parent's decision based on recommendation from the child's physician, and NOT left up to a coach. My DD did not start pitching in earnest until 12u, so I have no comparison to 10u. I do remember that each practice session from 12u up we counted pitches, and used 100 as the limit. This was an average upper range target for competitive tournament games - some were considerably less, in the 75-80 range, and some were around 100 or slightly more on those "rough" days. We focused on shooting for an "all body tired" - especially LEGS. Any sign of localized pain was cause for alarm, and we looked at mechanics. Although I can only remember her having forearm discomfort when starting to throw movement pitches, and the dreaded hip bruise. Basically, the 100 pitches was the magic number, but that was definitely not necessarily the stopping point if all else was OK. She's 23 now, and has no ill effects at all.

 

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I had a parent who charted pitch count along with balls and strikes for each of our 3 pitchers on both Sat and Sun. I instructed her to let me know when the pitcher throwing, reached 100 pitches. At that point, the coaching staff evaluated the girl pitching and made a decision based on how she was throwing (mechanics,ball/strike ratio, and the game situation). Typically we kept our pitchers pitch count at a maximum150 per day.

 

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I am kind of with OP. You also have to factor in things like weather. 150 pitches is one thing on a 75 degree day, something totally different on a 95 day with high humidity. If you take the time to get to know your pitcher's mechanics in the spring you will know when they are tired. You will start to see changes in their release, leg push, etc. I also would say don't count on the pitcher to tell you when they are tired, most are far to competitive to admit they are out of gas. I had a 10 year old approaching 200 pitches for the day and almost had to fight her to get the ball off of her.

 

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The first thing to get in your mind that Saturday is strictly exhibition and you must be strong on Sunday to advance. If you ride your pitchers hard and put them away wet-Sundays will be very short. At 10U it is imperative that you develop the entire stable of girls that might be interested in pitching, your goal should be to make each player stronger at the end of your season that she was at the start. A mentally or physically worn out pitcher will find some other sport to play where the coaches are not insane. Give the kid a break. Keep count of the pitches for the weekend. Pay attention to odd soreness anywhere on her body (not just the arm). If you don't you might be down another pitcher.

Let you #3 and #4 pitch a few games on Saturday, you'll be surprised how quickly they progress and how much sharper your #1 and #2 are on Sunday when it matters.

Also let me put in a word for the catchers.... every pitch that a pitcher throws the catcher throws back overhand; this motion is substantially more taxing. Give your number one catcher a break (or two) on Saturday so that she can lift her arm over her head on Sunday.

 

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Help yourself and get more parents involved. For the last few years on my teams I have been fortunate enough to have a parent chart every pitch. (Put a strike zone on a sheet of paper) It does alot to tell when your pitchers are getting tired, when they are just off and what they need to work on as far as placment. He also tracks strike outs , BB, HBP, and First pitch strikes. The first pitch strikes is a great one to use as a goal setter for every game with every pitcher! It gives them some thing to work torwards every game. Plus then more parents are aware of how many pitches your are throwing and why they might getting pulled from the game. On pitch count it all depends on the pitchers endurance. We work on that at practice and at lessons. But always ice after every game no matter what! My daughter is now 14u as a pitcher and has had to pitch up to three and four games in a weekend. It all about the player!! Hope this helps!:yahoo: