A Complete Guide to Pitch Counts

[@bryanhowcroft2932]

The Ontario Baseball Association actually has an app that all coaches have to use for teams aged 10u-22u in the province. There are severe penalties for noncompliance and violations, including coach suspensions and game forfeits. In addition to limitations on pitches thrown, there are also restrictions on pitching and playing catcher in the same day so as not to over tax a multi position player. Definitely worth looking up.

[@DanBlewett]

I'm glad to hear that.

[@vandar42]

Great vid Dan, and great advice as always 😎

[@DanBlewett]

Thanks 👍

[@TruthSeeker-v6m]

i love this vid

[@1310an]

We had a situation where an opponent's coach had a 10-year-old throw 114(!!!) pitches against my son's team. And he gave up 10 runs too, so these were difficult innings. Rest assured there were CONVERSATIONS to be had with the board and the adults ostensibly responsible for these children.

[@DanBlewett]

When I lived in Illinois, the very first HS game I watched was in early March, and the Varsity coach's freshman son (who was very good for a freshman) threw 125 pitches in a 12-5 LOSS. My jaw was on the floor. It was 30 degrees and they were losing handily the whole time...and yet the kid stayed in. Horrible.

[@andrewdavidralph]

Something that a lot of travel ball coaches and travel parents, don’t keep in mind is that when a player plays 5 games in one weekend, they throw a crap load of warm up throws! Warm up catch before every game is probably 30-50 throws? Another 5-15 before every inning? Add those to their week of practices and the number gets very high! Our travel ball team 11u-14u had strict rules regarding pitch counts. 50 pitches max per kid per weekend. And catch play and bullpens throughout the week were regimented and scheduled out. If you can’t win with that, you don’t deserve to! Spend more time on throwing strikes and defense!

[@DanBlewett]

that's good that your org has done that. I personally think 50 pitches max for 13 and 14U is too restrictive - there's no reason they can't safely go up to 80 pitches mid-season - but I'd rather it be too tight than too lax.

[@andrewdavidralph]

@@DanBlewett I know what you mean but I think definitely depends on the kid and how much they play throughout the whole year? We are located in CA and kids can play Travel baseball year around(they shouldn’t in my opinion). Some kids are playing 100+ games a year. Start doing the math on throws. It will make you sick to your stomach.

[@andrewdavidralph]

I think for kids that play rec or school ball in spring and 6 tournaments a summer, it’s probably no big deal but unfortunately I think ASMI falls short for a lot of kids around here at least. 🤷

[@andrewdavidralph]

Also, I’m not trying to sound like myself or our organization is better than anyone else. I’ve just seen kids quite literally change their health because a coach wanted to win some cheap fake rings!

[@DanBlewett]

I think that's a good point re: playing year-round, but for everyone else I don't worry about the math on the position throws - those were always present in youth baseball - in the backyard, in practice, in games. That aspect hasn't changed and position throwing was considered when making these guidelines in the first place. Position throwing volume isn't what's hurting arms - it's throwing 80 pitches on Friday and 80 more on Sunday.

[@Ajallen20]

Would love to see how this changes when combined with IF throws across the diamond let's say 50 ground balls hit 30 throws across the diamond from short or 3B...The other 20 reps balls were not thrown...

[@DanBlewett]

it doesn't. pitchers at the amateur level have been playing other positions since the beginning of time. these pitch count guidelines factor in the general throwing load from other positions, with the exception of catcher, which is singled out. Otherwise, it gets too complicated to try to factor in everyone's position throws with pitching workload; it's too much. It's not ideal to play shortstop every game in a tournament then start a game as a pitcher, but I'm also not seeing any research that shows it's an injury risk - however I do try to limit that and rest a player if he or she has played a ton of middle infield in the immediate days before a start on the mound.

[@DanBlewett]

and ultimately, the reason pitchers get injured is not because they played other positions (aside from catcher) in addition to pitching. It's when they pitch 3 innings on Friday then 5 more innings on Sunday, and they do that for years on end, being severely overpitched with too little rest. That's where the basic pitch count and rest guidelines really matter.