Pitchers

Not trying to upset anyone and I am sure it has been discussed on here before but I just wanted to see how some of you folks (especially high school coaches) feel on the subject.

Herd Michelle Smith on TV saying that they should limit pitchers in college with either a pitch count or inning count. I would hope that the same would apply to high school. Just wanted to here some pros and cons for this.

 

Did she explain her reasoning?

 

Some of these high school coaches will have" HEART ATTACKS". They ride pitchers til they drop. Because they have no infield, or can't coach players that make errors. My niece was a pitcher,(College now)
I don't see the reasoning?

 

No disrespect meant to Michelle, but that's her job now--to talk.

I've heard pitching coaches remark about some pitchers that they shouldn't be pitching at all.

Unless the numbers make it obvious that pitchers are harming themselves by throwing too many pitches then it needs to be left alone as far as limiting number of pitches or innings by some kind of rule.

Comparing HS to TB there are some TB pitchers that pitch 2 or 3 games a day sometimes. HS at most is about two games a week.

Many schools are lucky to have just one pitcher; limiting pitches would, effectively, end some programs.

Pitchers should be monitored closely by their coaches and their parents. Keeping a pitcher out of the circle isn't always a popular decision but the player's health and safety is the highest priority. That is a policy that should be decided in advance--not during the heat of competition. The player, the parent, the coach should be aware of the player's limits and respect those limits.

 

Michelle Smith has said many things during her tenure as a Softball Sportscaster that are just plain wrong. Her grasp of NCAA, ASA or ISF rules is tenouous at best.

I've watched some pitchers throw 15 innings a day for two days straight without apparent harm. I've seen others that were only outstanding for about three innings per day; pitch them more than that at your own peril. Would it do them any harm? Well, the risk of getting hit hard increased a lot.

 

Little League

Michelle Smith was a phenomenal pitcher, but I think her comments stem from the fact that she is a spokesperson for Little League Softball. They use pitching restrictions, although their restrictions have loosened up in the last few years. In my opinion, LL Softball can't compete with the other softball organizations because the rules are too stringent.
LL Softball is a good recreation program and every town should have one to set girls on the fundamentals of softball at a young age.

 

There is simply not enough evidence YET to determine if pitching needs to be moderated. The claim that fastpitch pitching is "more natural" and causes no harm has no proof to back it up. To say a player can pitch 15 innings in one day with no "apparent" harm is disingenuous. These injuries will appear down the road. ALL repetitive motion is potentially damaging. Poorly managed repetitive motion IS damaging.

The jury is still out on fastpitch but it certainly deserves study and discussion. That is why I asked if she mentioned WHY.

 

Do people on the baseball have this discussion?

No. Why? Because baseball pitcher's arms are gold mines (think six-figure signing bonuses). Parents would not allow their son's arms to be abused as occurs in softball and coaches who did would soon be blackballed. The myth that "because the underhand motion is more natural a girl with good mechanics can pitch an infinite number of innings without harm" is just that, a myth.
Anyone who subscribes to it is, at best ignorant and at worst a fool. Oh, and what about the lower back and knees that have to endure those 30-inning weekends? I couldn't begin the list the names of all the pitchers I have seen suffer overuse injuries in the last decade. Most of you who read this could do the same. The basic problem is that most girls' pitching careers are over at 21. Honestly, no one, not the HS coach, TB coach or college coach is concerned if the girl's shoulder would allow her to pitch until 40 (like in baseball). If that concern did exist you wouldn't see 12 year-olds throwing five games in two days.

 

inning counts

.....I've read the above posts and all of them are geared towards "injury/safety".

My take is from a defensive angle.

For example,Throw a righthanded riseball pitcher, go through the opposing teams lineup once, if the pitcher is dominating, then stick with her, if not, then bring in your leftie dropball kid or etc.

The point is no team/coach can cookie cut a predetermined pitch count unless its done in some sort of rehab situation.

Inning count, then mix it up, don't let the hitters dig in on a kid after seeing her once makes sense to me.

Fishman

 

Dukedog is a smart man!