New WIAA Pitching Rules

[jerichoholicninja]

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/wiaa-passes-new-rules-regarding-baseball-pitch-counts-b99749598z1-384159151.html

 

The plan requires differing amounts of rest depending on the pitch count. A pitcher who throws 1-30 pitches in a day doesn't require any rest; 31-49 pitches requires one day of rest; 50-75 requires two days; and 76-100 requires three days.

 

The plan will replace the rule that calls for a pitcher to take two days of rest after throwing a total of seven innings over any three-day period. That inning maximum rises to 10 in the event of extra innings, but only applies to the player pitching when the game goes to extra innings.

 

...

 

When the pitcher reaches 100 pitches, he may not pitch to another batter but will be allowed to finish pitching to the current hitter.

 

I understand and will totally get behind rules to protect pitchers health but this goes too far and will do nothing but hurt small schools and will essentially turn some JV games into a total joke. My biggest issue is the 100 pitches in a game limit. At the small school where I coach each school in the conference really only has two pitchers and then two or three guys who can at least throw it over the plate half the time. We play two or three games a week, sometimes four because of weather. With the 100 pitch limit they've basically eliminated a complete game. You now are either going to have to use one of your questionable pitchers or your other actual pitcher to finish a game taking away innings or a start from him.

 

I think back to this past season I had a Friday JV game and talking with the other coach before the game and after 3 games that week we both were down to our last pitcher of the week and if he couldn't go the whole game it was pretty much pulling names out of a hat. Both of our guys went all 7, his threw 157 pitchers (probably too much) and mine 115. If we were playing under these new rules his guy goes maybe 4 innings and mine 6 and the game turns into watching batters take 4 balls and then walk to first.

 

Like I said before, I totally support protecting pitcher's health but in my 9 years of coaching I've had three pitchers with arm injuries. Two got hurt during football and the other hurt himself during his first college baseball practice after not picking up a baseball for 6 months. For your D1 or D2 schools this isn't going to make much of a difference but for everyone else this is going to make the game worse.

[pacopete4]

Have to develop more pitchers. Too often high school coaches find their good arms and take the time to only develop those pitchers. This rule will hopefully help change that. While you might've only had a couple of arm injuries while they were in high school, having high pitch counts can affect a player after their time in high school. Coaches have got away with murder for too long. It's good that there's finally a set of rules in place to stop those idiot coaches (not calling you one) that only worry about their win/loss record as a coach.

[MrTPlush]

Yah coming from a D3 school even then pitching is extremely hard to come by. There just aren't the quality pitchers and developing more just isn't realistic. 3/4 of the years I was in high school we were lucky to be playing baseball by the last week of April. We were constantly playing 3-4 games every week. We didn't have 7+ pitchers to handle that workload. I can't imagine trying to win games with these kind of rules. I am sure the private schools are thrilled though since they typically have more pitching depth/talent.

[pacopete4]

Yah coming from a D3 school even then pitching is extremely hard to come by. There just aren't the quality pitchers and developing more just isn't realistic. 3/4 of the years I was in high school we were lucky to be playing baseball by the last week of April. We were constantly playing 3-4 games every week. We didn't have 7+ pitchers to handle that workload. I can't imagine trying to win games with these kind of rules. I am sure the private schools are thrilled though since they typically have more pitching depth/talent.

 

 

I coached up in Superior for many years, I know your pain. The realistic approach is to start later in the spring and end in the summer. That way the weather has turned for the better and games aren't all piled up. I'm coaching in Iowa now. We have summer high school ball. We play 40 games (max). We start end of May and finish at the end of July depending how your playoff run goes.

[jerichoholicninja]

Yah coming from a D3 school even then pitching is extremely hard to come by. There just aren't the quality pitchers and developing more just isn't realistic. 3/4 of the years I was in high school we were lucky to be playing baseball by the last week of April. We were constantly playing 3-4 games every week. We didn't have 7+ pitchers to handle that workload. I can't imagine trying to win games with these kind of rules. I am sure the private schools are thrilled though since they typically have more pitching depth/talent.

 

 

I coached up in Superior for many years, I know your pain. The realistic approach is to start later in the spring and end in the summer. That way the weather has turned for the better and games aren't all piled up. I'm coaching in Iowa now. We have summer high school ball. We play 40 games (max). We start end of May and finish at the end of July depending how your playoff run goes.

 

I've suggested this to our AD a couple times and he says he would be for it but the coaches that are public school teachers wouldn't be because they don't want the season to go any further past the end of their school year. I'd like them to add two weeks to the season but start at the same time. Right now we get a week and a half or two before our first game. That is no where near enough to get ready especially when there's a good chance you'll never even get a practice outside before that first game.

 

As for the rules, I'd like to know if there were any studies of just Wisconsin pitchers. There's no year round baseball here and let's be honest almost no pitchers are good enough to go pro and very few will even play after high school so I really doubt that there are that many injuries here that this needs to be an issue. And it's totally dependent on the pitcher and how the game goes. If you've got a guy throwing upper 80's with hard breaking stuff his 100 pitches are going to be a lot more stressful than a kid lobbing 60 MPH strikes with some junk balls.

 

I just looked at my JV pitchers' pitchers per inning from the last two years. They were 19.2 and 21.4. Meaning I'm only getting 4 or 5 innings out of my pitchers next year. That would have been fine this year as I had some depth and generally split games between two pitchers with 4 and 3 innings each but I can't expect that every year.

[Samurai Bucky]

As I was coming back from one of my daughter's softball tournaments last night, I commented how baseball is so much different than softball. On my 18U team, we had a girl pitch four games in two days: 113, 88, 86, and 80 pitches. Due to injuries, I had to pitch another pitcher a few years ago that had 300 pitches in a day. That would be impossible with throwing overhand.

 

I looked at the little league rules and the WIAA are more lenient than those of the Little League at the same age. What is the general rule of thumb for minors and MLB?

[Patrick425]

My son is in his 3rd, and last year, as a varsity player at his school. (If you have TWC, they televised his game on TWC sports - Waukesha West vs. Muskego, from this past Tuesday and will air it several times over the next or so. He's the lead off hitter and CF for West). From what I've witnessed watching varsity baseball over the last 3 years, I'm for the 100 pitch rule as I have seen games where pitchers are throwing 140, 150, or more pitches. Keep in mind also that the current rule in HS baseball in Wisconsin is basically no more than 7 innings in a 3 day window (I believe there are exceptions when a pitcher continues to pitch in an extra inning game). So, right now a pitcher could pitch 120-150 pitches on a Monday and then come back on Thursday and pitch another 120-150 pitches. Basically 2 days rest between starts and no pitch count rule. To me, that's crazy.

 

As for the rules, I'd like to know if there were any studies of just Wisconsin pitchers. There's no year round baseball here and let's be honest almost no pitchers are good enough to go pro and very few will even play after high school so I really doubt that there are that many injuries here that this needs to be an issue. And it's totally dependent on the pitcher and how the game goes. If you've got a guy throwing upper 80's with hard breaking stuff his 100 pitches are going to be a lot more stressful than a kid lobbing 60 MPH strikes with some junk balls.

 

Actually, High school players up here are starting to play the sport on almost a year round basis now. If their HS plays spring baseball, many then play legion or travel baseball in the summer and then get involved in a fall league after that (If they play HS summer baseball, many then also play in spring and fall leagues). There are also many indoor facilities that have gone up in the past 10-15 years where they train and can actually play simulated games on a full size infield (Hitters in Racine for example) in the Winter. Some of the better players may even travel for a week or two during the winter to go play baseball somewhere down south. Youth/HS Baseball is becoming a big business for many Wisconsin organizations (Hitters, Reinhart, Bigler, Stix...probably others that I'm not aware of). I think this is a big reason you saw two Wisconsin HS boys drafted in the first 2 rounds of this years draft. No, they were not pitchers, and I know it's still a big long shot for northern state pitchers to make it that far, but I think you will continue to see more and more get to that level going forward than in years past.

 

Watch for a 2018 grad by the name of Jared Kelenic out of Waukesha. If he continues on his current trajectory, he could end up as a higher pick in the MLB draft than Gavin Lux (who got picked 20th overall this year). He's currently on the 40 man Team USA U18 Trials Roster.

http://web.usabaseball.com/article.jsp?ymd=20160626&content_id=186312688&vkey=news_usab