CHAPEL HILL – The North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors met Thursday and detailed the specifics about the pitch-count rules that will be implemented for high school baseball.
“There’ll have to be some real education between now and the start of the baseball season,” said NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker.
The maximum number of pitches that a pitcher will be allowed to throw in one day is 105. That number goes up to 120 for the state championship series.
There will be required rest periods based on the amount of pitches thrown:
— If a player throws 76 or more pitches in a day, four days of rest are required before pitching again.
— If a player throws 61-75, three days of rest.
— If a player throws 46-60, two days of rest.
— If a player throws 31-45, one day of rest.
— If a player throws less than 30, zero days of rest.
— Regardless of pitch numbers, if a player pitches two days in a row, he can’t pitch the next day.
In a July ruling the National Federation of State High School Associations declared that every member adopt a standard pitch count for baseball. Among the suggestions brought forth from coaches at that time were for a scale that increased later in the season as temperatures rise and pitchers’arms adjust.
That suggestion didn’t make it into the final proposal submitted by the North Carolina Baseball Coaches Association, which was for a maximum of 120 pitches per week. That was weighed against the suggestion from the NCHSAA’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, with the board of directors ironing out the details.
Tucker said that it’s likely coaches will be asked to use MaxPreps to record pitch counts after games. During games, scorekeepers from each team will meet to compare pitch counts, similar to basketball scorekeepers tracking and agreeing on foul calls.
The same scale will be used for varsity and junior varsity baseball, and will be used for every round of the state playoffs until the state championship game. A pitcher would be allowed to finish the plate appearance for the batter at the plate if he throws his 105th pitch.
About Author
