Little League implements pitch-count rule
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) – Little League Baseball will implement a new pitch-count rule next season, a change that organizers hope will reduce wear and tear on youngsters’ arms. Starting in 2007, the number of pitches thrown in a game will determine how long that player must rest before returning to the mound. The current system is based on innings pitched.
The change, unanimously approved by Little League’s board of directors Friday, expands on a test conducted over the last two years. Pitch count rules were voluntarily tested in about 500 of the 6,400 leagues in the United States this past regular season, and the regulations were expected to become mandatory.
Sports medicine researchers have said arm injuries in young pitchers have become more prevalent as children pitch more innings on more teams, are mismanaged by coaches or aren’t properly monitored by parents.
Little League president Stephen Keener hopes the change influences other youth baseball organizations.
“We can’t resolve this issue on our own,” Keener said at a news conference Friday, an off-day at the Little League World Series. “It will send a strong message and go to great lengths to help with the education of parents and coaches … just how serious an issue this can be.”
Current rules limit pitchers 12 years old and younger to six innings per week, and six innings per game. Inning limits increase with age.
The new rules would bar 11- and 12-year-old pitchers from throwing more than 85 balls a day, with limits also varying with age.
Rest requirements would change according to the number of pitches thrown. A pitcher who throws more than 61 pitches in a day would need three days of rest before returning to the mound, while someone who throws between 41 and 60 pitches would need two days rest.
There would be slight modifications for tournaments, such as for the Little League World Series, though the pitch-count limits would not change, Keener said. Those parameters will be released later this year.
Before Keener’s announcement, Beaverton, Ore., manager Jeff Keller, whose team is playing Columbus, Ga., for the U.S. title on Saturday, said he favored using a pitch count.
Keller managed in Oregon in the Murrayhill Little League, which tested the pitch count limits this year. He said he was wary of the change at first, but grew to like it.
“The number of kids I see with arm problems, elbow and shoulder injuries, it’s alarming,” Keller said.
Columbus manager Randy Morris said he wished there wasn’t a need for pitch counts, but understands the change.
“They’re going to have to have something done, and if it takes something like a pitch count, then I’m for it,” he said.