Pitcher goes to 179 last night

I hear you about the parent, but tell me, when has anybody in HS EVER seen a parent yank their kid off the mound? In this case they should, but it's easy for us to say what they should have done--not as easy to actually do it. It's the coach's responsibility plain and simple.

The problem with this does not show immediately. The kid can pitch a year before the damage can take its toll. But I promise you---damage was done.

I'm like Cliff, I would like to hear more details of the game- how many innings? Not that it makes any difference other than 179 pitches in a 7 inning game seems improbable.

 

My son is a pitcher who wants to pitch in the pros. If in HS he was put in this situation I would not care what that coach said or felt because my primary concern would be my son's arm and the long term damage that could be done. I have taught my son to know his own limits. He knows how long he can go and I would hope if he ever got into that situation he could speak up for himself. I am not saying this kid should have done that because we don't know all the details, but especially pitchers need to be able to speak up about their limits and no one's limits go to 179 pitches. This is an extreme case so I am sure we will never know it, but those parents didn't stay quiet after the game. Good luck to the kid, maybe he will be okay. And my bet is, that this will never happen again.

 

Braves....even using our South Carolina math that's a little over 25 pitches an inning if he threw 7.....check my math though, you know how I am with numbers.

 

sadly....

just another example of a "coach" who doesn t know what he is doing and has either chosen or been out in this position of responsibility and leadership by a superior who doesn t know what they are doing either! Atrocious!

 

WOW!! I dont see a coach allowing that many pitches in any game, furthermore I dont see how a HS kid can be in that kind of shape at this time of the year, anyway... Who counted these pitches anyway?

However, 15 pitches per inning average is excellent for HS. The number varies with the physical conditioning and the stress the pitcher puts on himself through his mechanics or lack of them. However, only as the season prgresses and mechanics and conditioning improve should the number of pitches thrown increase totally. BUt you still look at 15 / inning. If a pitcher throws 25 or more, then I become concerned about fatigue.

 

It is hard to say what you would do as a parent until you have been in that situation. But I do know it should not have gotten that far. Yes it is the coaches "fault" for letting it happen, but the parents and the player have to take some responsible also.
I have in the past told my son to tell the coach to get somebody else warmed up because his pitch count was nearing 90. Fortunately we have a coach that listens to his players. And fortunately we have a son that will listen to his parents even though he thinks he can handle it.
In that situation, after his pitch count got over 100 both my son and the coach (along with the rest of the players and fans) would know of my desire to take him out.

 

Cliff, it don't always have to do with winning. I once saw a kid left in a legion game and his team got beat in 7 innings by the mercy rule, he had thrown 175-ish? pitches and pitched the complete 7 innings.

Poor decisions like this, is exactly why I enjoy reading the posts from some of the better HS baseball coaches around NC (i.e. CoachEvans, Coach27, etc) who post on TBR,,,, because CLEARLY every HS is not fortunate enough to have a baseball coach who knows what the hell he is doing. I want to encourage coaches to continue posting and sharing ideas on this message board, because a lot of folks read your comments, and some of you coaches may be helping newer/younger coaches learn on the job. Coaches don't coach for the money, but its truly refreshing to see great coaches who spend so much time and energy on their programs and hear them speak of how much they love teaching the game of baseball to young men.

As for the parents, no I don't blame them for not speaking up. We say over and over that parents should shut up and let coaches coach,,, problem is you got to have trust in the coach that he isn't going to damage or screwup your child. And honestly, whenever a parent feels like his son/daughter is getting truly screwed and others are coming up to you confirming the same thing, at that time the parents SHOULD speak up. Parents have got to remember, if parents don't speak up or defend their child, ain't nobody else going to,,, just try to be tactful how/when you do it.

 

hit...

the nail on the head 21!

 

I was going to jump in on this one with both feet, but The Oriole summed it all up. Been down that road and it was a nightmare.

Well done.

 

I'm glad they didn't keep a pitch count back when I played (many years ago). It would be scary to know how many pitches we threw back then. A lot of the pitchers back then would throw batting practice on off days. Thing about it was we were throwing something all the time. Either a ball, rocks ect all the time. I think arms were so much stronger back then and we hardly ever heard of someone having a sore or hurt arm and the pitchers in the majors were expected to throw 9 or more innings. I really think kids and people in general are just not as physically tough now a they were say 40 years ago. I saw an interveiw a few years back with a former mlb pitcher and he was stating how much more he and the guys he played with threw than the guys now days and he made the same statement about how he grew up throwing stuff all the time