Iron Arm - Pitcher throws 172 pitches in win

I wouldnt want my son throwing that many , but at the same time that equates to only 15 pitches an inning. A 5 to 10 minute break between innings , it sounds worse than i think it was.

The kid could throw at speeds between 70 and 80 , possibly a sidearm pitcher , and never have arm or shoulder problems. There are all sorts of things that come into play.

Has anyone heard if that player or his parents objected to it ?
Did he show any arm problems ?

 

Me too Tigers,

 

Let me be a little more specific on my pulling my son if it had been him!!! First i do indeed respect the coaches. Second just because i pay to get in dosent mean i have to sit there while some coach has a brain fart and wants to win so bad or to prove a point about something that he is allowing a kid to throw 172 pitches. I dont know if any of you supporters of the coach that allowed this to happen know a guy by the name of Dick Mills or notbut he is a very well respected pitching coach. E-Mail him and see what he says about this? As far as being paid?????? Law Enforcement personnel get paid also. But if i paid to get into any event and i saw for example a bad cop shoving some elderly person around for no good reason dont think i wouldnt step in respect or not. My point is ( in life,when things are happening that we as decent human beings know for a fact that something is totally wrong, it is our duty and we are bound to do what we can to prevent this from happening) Here again im not saying that all of the fans should have ran on the field to protest him pitching this much, what i am saying is that it WOULD be the parents responsibility to stop this madness. Make no mistake about it, when the coach allowed it to happen the RESPECT goes out the door. COMMON SENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Keep Rockin! If you still support this coach and think its OK and respectful to allow it you probably think it would be ok to train a catcher by throwing fastballs at him while he kneels behind the plate without any protective gear or a cup on! This would teach him to block and get in front of the ball without fear! There again COMMON SENSE!!!! And if my math is correct it = 24.571 pitches per inning!!
172 divided by 7? At any rate it's too damn many. I hope my coments havent offended anyone either, but to say it would be disrespectful for a parent to pull their kid if it were happening to their son is wrong, then all i can say is duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This subject has been rode hard and put up wet............to even remotely consider giving this coach any support or respect under an example like this one is simply INSANE.

 

As a high school baseball coach, and knowing what traditional wisdom says about pitch counts and so forth and so on, I think that maybe the coach in question exhibited poor judgment, maybe. But, if the player and his parents agreed to let him continue, who are we to judge. Maybe this kid isn't a prospect to play at the next level, maybe he's just having fun doing what he loves to do with no intention on becoming the next great one. My grandfather pitched in the negro leagues, and one thing I did learn from him is that a kid knows his limitations, and he knows when to say when. He told me stories of some of his teammates throwing double headers, or at least starting one and finishing the next. Was there really more arm trouble before the geniuses implemented a standard pitch count and what was acceptable? If someone can point me in the direction of some documentation to prove that, then I'd love to read it. Don't get me wrong, 172 is probably too many pitches for a high school kid, but in this day when kids are indeed bigger, stronger, and faster....maybe there's a kid who's arm can withstand 172 pitches once in a while. I don't know for certain, but in other sports, there are some amazing things happening. How many kids ran sub-4.5 40's twenty years ago. Not many! My point is that the modern athlete is more refined and more powerful than ever before, and maybe the arm can handle more pitches than we expect of it. Maybe not. It is all dependant on the kid. If he's throwing mostly fastballs with minimal pressure on his joints, who knows? Shouldn't a kid who throws 90% fastballs be allowed to throw more than a kid who throws 70% curveballs? I don't have the answers, only posing questions.
I think that the more competitive kid wants to win every bit as much as the coach, maybe more. Every pitcher on our squad would pitch as many as it takes to get the win, especially against our hated arch rival. Picture this, your ace is approaching 90 pitches in a game to decide whether or not your team, which has 9 seniors, moves on to the state playoffs. He finishes the next inning with 110 pitches, and then you subsequently score 1 to go ahead in the top half of the inning. But you need to close it out, and you know this kid can do it, he's been throwing well all night. They have 3,4, & 5 coming to the plate in their half of the inning. Your number 2 pitcher threw 95 pitches the day before in the semi-finals of your tournament. Do you trot your number 3 pitcher out to face the heart of their lineup? Or leave your ace in to close the deal and face the inevitable wrath of the BASEBALL GODS? No matter which move you make, you're only gonna please half the people, maybe less than that.....Think about it!