A new limit for the arms on the mound

As a pitcher on a baseball field, often times you can be the last line of defense in getting a big out.

Throw a pitch in the perfect spot, you could be a hero.

Hang it so the batter can get a good swing off, you could also be the goat.

Thanks to some new rule changes when it comes to high school baseball in the state, it could very well end up out of their hands.

IN CASE you missed it — or maybe we did — the Idaho High School Activities Association, under a directive from the National High School Association, established rules limiting the amount of pitches a player can make over the span of a game.

During the first 30 days of the season, a pitcher that throws anywhere between 71 and 88 pitches in a game is not allowed to pitch the next three days. Between 50 and 70 is two days’ rest, 29-49 is one day’s rest. Any pitch counts between 1 and 28, and you can pitch the following day.

Now that teams are in the second 30 days of the season, pitchers are allowed up to 110 pitches before having to rest three days. Between 61 and 85 pitches results in two days’ rest. Between 36 and 60 pitches mean one day’s rest. An outing of 35 pitches or less, and you can throw the following day.

No pitcher is allowed to throw more than 110 pitches in a game. Should they reach that number in the middle of an at-bat, they can finish against the hitter, but exit after the at-bat.

It’s early in the season — obviously — with a ton of rainouts and games being shifted, but a few coaches have began to adapt to the new ruling.

“I haven’t had to alter my pitching too much,” Lakeland coach Jason Bradbury said. “Although it takes more planning.”

Depth has helped early on as well for Bradbury’s Hawks team, who are 4-1 entering a doubleheader today at home against Post Falls at Gorton Field in Rathdrum.

“It hasn’t quite been a factor for us yet,” Bradbury said. “I could easily see it becoming a factor for those teams that only have two or three pitchers.”

And while they’re a smaller school in the 2A classification, St. Maries coach Craig Tefft hasn’t noticed it with his staff either.

“So far, it has not affected us and how we set up our pitching rotations,” said Tefft, whose team is 2-1 after Thursday’s loss to the Post Falls JV. “We have always tried to teach more kids to pitch and it will give them more opportunities to pitch in each game.”

COACHES ARE now required to enter pitch counts onto MaxPreps.com.

Most coaches use Gamechanger.com, an app that can be controlled from a iPad or iPhone.

“MaxPreps is not a very user-friendly site at all,” Bradbury said. “It takes twice the time just navigating through that website, and we have no training on it whatsoever. If the state is going to make this change, then we should not be on our own to figure it out. If I have to make a change on that site because of a mistake, it’s very difficult to do so.”

A downside Bradbury noticed has been the length of games have increased.

“In my opinion, it has just made the games longer with all the pitching changes,” Bradbury said. “And a lack of mound experience for many opposing players has created a lot more walks during the game, which leads to even more time being wasted.”

In previous years at state, teams often times might send a No. 1 pitcher to the mound to get a win in the opener, then opt to bring him back on one days’ rest if the team was lucky enough to play in a championship or trophy game on Saturday during the three-day tournament.

Now, coaches will have to use a lot more strategy and hope to get a little luck along the way.

“In my experience and especially the last four or five years, I have found that to many coaches, winning is more important than the player’s arm, and they will sacrifice that at all costs,” Bradbury said. “It’s a shame, but I do agree with a max number that pitchers have to stay under at any given day. I feel this could easily be accomplished without all the other pitch numbers, where the umpires could be notified by the scorekeeper, and then police it that way. If they did this, then no coach would be able to abuse the system on any given day, and arms would be saved.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176 Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.