pitching limits

[Mike]

I am in a situation where I feel I need to protect my daughters arm. She is 12 and I am going to use a chart I found for boys to start limiting her pitches and let the coach decide how to finish games. What do you guys think?

The chart says for a 12 yo, 75 pitches per game, 100 pitches per week.

 

[quincy]

I am all for limiting the P.

You would be better off setting a limit for innings pitched, opposed to actual pitch count. Probably a little bit a combination of both but for a general rule I like innings pitched better. Neither system is perfect.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

There is no need to limit her to 100 pitches a week. She will have a hard time getting stronger, with that little bit of pitching. At 12, most of my students are throwing that many pitches per day.

I do keep a pitch count, when I am watching my students pitch, just to know where they are at. But, with proper mechanics, warm up, cool down and rest, girls at 12 should be pitching a complete game.

 

[Mike]

Thanks, but heres my issue with inning limits. 6 innings is fine if they all average about 12 pitches, but a couple of bad innings and your pitch count gets ugly. I agree neither system is perfect though. Its hard to go tell a coach, "hey, my daughters form is starting to degrade and she is looking a little tired, you need to pull her" its easier to say, "she's only got 8 pitches left coach".

Ultimatly the kids should not have any say, the answer will almost always be, "I'm fine, I can keep pitching". If they know they only have 75 pitches to get through a game it could very well have a positive effect on how they pitch.

In the end I think opinions come down to strategy, how can I get the most out of our better pitchers. I personally couldnt care less if her team wins, I would like to see her be able to still cast her fishing pole and still shoot a rifle when shes 35 and not be struggling with a shoulder injury she got at age 12.

 

[obbay]

Last year (DD was 10) another coach had scorekeeping app on his iPhone and he used to email me stats after the game. our pitchers, DD included, usually pitched well over 100 pitches per game. Usually closer to 140. None of them had any problems with overuse (and no one was icing, either)

Rather than limit pitches, I think you'd be better off icing after games. Even though she isn't sore, Icing is good for recovery.

75 pitches is nothing in softball. In DD's first game of the season, she was doing ok until the 3rd inning, I think. Walked 4 batters, gave up 3 runs. Afterward, head coach asked if I thought she might be done. (I too would rather see her injury-free than hurt to win one game.) I said I didn't know, let's see what happens. She then proceeded to strike out 6 of the next 7 batters, game over. She not only wasn't sore from pitching the whole game, she wasn't tired either AND she improved later in the game.

We are playing LL and they have a rule that any pitcher who pitches in more than one inning cannot pitch the next Calendar day. They also limit the number of innings pitched per day and per week. It's enough that you could have your best pitcher still pitch 3 games in a week, as long as you have at least a day off in between.

 

[Mike]

Thats a good point amy, but there has to be a limit somewhere. What is your opinion on a per game limit?

 

[Mike]

I'm not worried about overuse injuries right now obbay. Also why is it taking a kid 140 pitches to get though a 5 to 7 inning game? Either your defense needs to step up our your pitchers are throwing alot of bad pitches, which means bad form, which equates to bad habits, which ends up in further injury. I am through arguing about icing, it has a purpose but not what most people use it for.

 

[chinamigarden]

What is the sudden belief that your daughter's arm needs protecting? Of course it is important to keep our kids healthy, but is there an underlying reason that this has become important at this point?

MY DD in 12U pitched about 300 pitches a week during the season. Like many of the families here, we set up practice during the winter so we could build her up to that level. But it never became an overuse situation, She never had an issue with her arm and at the end of the season she wound up pitching about 400 pitches in 4 days. Mentally she was toast, but physically she was fine.

Is there a specific complaint she is having right now that is causing you to think that limiting her to 100 pitches a week would help?

 

[Mike]

75 pitches is nothing in softball.

obbay

I agree, but not in a good way.

 

[Mike]

chinamagarden,

No, she is fine and its not a sudden belief, just a sudden situation where she is the only pitcher. And I am not talking about limiting her to 100 pitches a week, that is what the chart for the boys said. I am looking at 75 pitches per game, as for the week ?????, still exploring.