Jawbreaker wrote:

bartsimpson wrote: Bluffton HS had a junior pitcher throw 141 pitches and 9 1/3 innings last night. Coach made a mistake and went to the mound twice in the 6th, forcing pitcher to leave for the last two batters....put him back in in the 7th and pitched thru the end of a 10 inning game. Based on the article it's the second time this kid has thrown 10 innings.

http://www.thecourier.com/Issues/2010/Apr/30/ar_sports_043010_story1.asp?d=043010_story1,2010,Apr,30&c=s

Unreal, hopefully someone tells this kid's parents that 141 pitches for a HS kid is bordering on insanity.

A couple things are wrong with that article. He threw 120 pitches and he is only a sophomore.

Who said he threw 120? The Bluffton coaches after they realized how many it actually was? Did you count them based on the book? One thing I've noticed is that when people go thru a scorebook and count the balls and strikes that are shown with each at bat is that they often forget to count the last pitch....for example, a kid goes full count then gets walked. The book only shows 5 pitches...you have to remember to count the 4th ball that doesn't show up in the book. Either way, I'm not sure it matters....120 pitches plus 5 or 6 warmup pitches every inning for 9 or 10 innings is 180 "throws"....still way too many. If he is a sophomore that makes it worse. Somebody oughta be talking with your coach to find out if wasting 15 year old arms is worth a victory...sounds like it is.

darbypitcher22 wrote: ^^^^

first of all, I'm pretty sure you're allowed to visit 3 times in one game in HS.... one of my HS coaches said he did this one time before you have to take a kid out if you haven't made a visit before hand...

2nd of all that's just absurd. No reason for a kid to throw 120 and for it ti be the 2nd time he's done that is clear the coach doesn't care about the youngster's future(if he's any good) or his well being or developing the rest of his staff

Yep three trips per 7 innings and one trip per extra inning game with no carry over. Not sure why it says he had to be removed after the 2nd trip in the inning. You can take all three in the same inning if you want.

bartsimpson wrote:

Jawbreaker wrote:

bartsimpson wrote: Bluffton HS had a junior pitcher throw 141 pitches and 9 1/3 innings last night. Coach made a mistake and went to the mound twice in the 6th, forcing pitcher to leave for the last two batters....put him back in in the 7th and pitched thru the end of a 10 inning game. Based on the article it's the second time this kid has thrown 10 innings.

http://www.thecourier.com/Issues/2010/Apr/30/ar_sports_043010_story1.asp?d=043010_story1,2010,Apr,30&c=s

Unreal, hopefully someone tells this kid's parents that 141 pitches for a HS kid is bordering on insanity.

A couple things are wrong with that article. He threw 120 pitches and he is only a sophomore.

Who said he threw 120? The Bluffton coaches after they realized how many it actually was? Did you count them based on the book? One thing I've noticed is that when people go thru a scorebook and count the balls and strikes that are shown with each at bat is that they often forget to count the last pitch....for example, a kid goes full count then gets walked. The book only shows 5 pitches...you have to remember to count the 4th ball that doesn't show up in the book. Either way, I'm not sure it matters....120 pitches plus 5 or 6 warmup pitches every inning for 9 or 10 innings is 180 "throws"....still way too many. If he is a sophomore that makes it worse. Somebody oughta be talking with your coach to find out if wasting 15 year old arms is worth a victory...sounds like it is.

I'm sorry but I received my information from a coach and I was at the game so I guess I have a little bit better perspective of the game than you do. Also, I will continue to get my information from coaches and first hand accounts (http://blufftonpirates.com) and you can get your information from The Courier. The paper that couldn't get the kid's grade correct. I am not going to comment if it is right or wrong to pitch that many times in a game but I rather have the facts straight if you are going to debate this topic. Weather it is 120 or 141, at that point, I don't see that much of a difference.

As I said, 120 or 141 really doesn't matter...it's entirely too many. The fact that he threw 10 innings just adds to the problem due to all the warmup/cooldown time.

bartsimpson wrote: As I said, 120 or 141 really doesn't matter...it's entirely too many. The fact that he threw 10 innings just adds to the problem due to all the warmup/cooldown time.

120 pitches for this kid might be too many. However, for some kids 70 pitches might be too many. It really depends on the type of pitches and mechanics among many other factors.

Orel Hershiser talks about it very well when commenting on pitch counts. There's a difference between "just pitching" and "pitching in duress". If a pitcher is constantly putitng max effort in because of runners on base, or a close game, behind in count, etc. then they should be on a lower pitch count. If they are throwing effortlessly, just cruising along with not stress throughout the game, then they should be able to go higher. There's alot that goes into it othere than just plain 100 pitches and he should sit. Adam Wainright was consistantly going into the 7th or 8th inning last year, so the Cards had him cut his pre-game bullpen down towards the end of the season. There are a lot of factors. Just think it's interesting to listen to a ML pitcher/coach/announcer discuss it.
IMO though, no high school kid should push it...if they're good enough to go to the next level, then they will pay later on.

Jawbreaker wrote:

bartsimpson wrote: As I said, 120 or 141 really doesn't matter...it's entirely too many. The fact that he threw 10 innings just adds to the problem due to all the warmup/cooldown time.

120 pitches for this kid might be too many. However, for some kids 70 pitches might be too many. It really depends on the type of pitches and mechanics among many other factors.

You are correct...70 may be too many fro some kids....120 is too many for any 15 year old....again, the 10 innings is as much/more of a factor than just the 120 pitches. Your coach should be ashamed of himself.