- Jun 20, 2015
- 851
- 93
problem with some of the above outlined schedules, esp for school ball, is games scheduled 3+ days per week.
Pitchers and number of pitches
- Thread starter lynx
- Start date
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That definitely happens early in the year for sure. It just takes place of something else on the schedule.
Pitching coaches here or pitcher parents = Honest question...How many innings or pitches do you feel is safe or when crossing the line in a weekend/tournament?
- Jun 20, 2015
- 851
- 93
the problem arises with this scheduling and pitching. I'm looking at a local HS schedule right now. and week 1 they have games M, W, R, Friday. and the next week is M, W, R, DH on Friday.
If you've got a coach that rides 1 pitcher. That's 9 games in 2 weeks. plus practices on off days.
Or another school, they have 13 games schedule between 25 Mar and 7 Apr. that's 1 game per day average. again, helluva work load if only riding 1 pitcher.
If you've got a coach that rides 1 pitcher. That's 9 games in 2 weeks. plus practices on off days.
Or another school, they have 13 games schedule between 25 Mar and 7 Apr. that's 1 game per day average. again, helluva work load if only riding 1 pitcher.
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When DD was younger 10U - 12U, I had a conversation about this with our pitching coach. She told me you would know when she reached her limit based on her mechanics starting to break down. It was obvious when she had enough and i would tell the coach to pull her. They didn't always like it but I wasn't concerned about the plastic trophy. I can say it didn't happen that often, and we never have had issues with pain from overuse. If there was soreness it was in the legs from driving off the rubber.
Agreed…As many as she likes as long as her form is good. DD’s coach is very good at seeing fatigue and trusts the other pitchers to jump in when needed. Sometimes he’d ask me, but I’d just say she’ll let you know….usually with balls leaving the yard if you wait to long LOL. When she gets tired she gets fat!
Earlier in the thread I think I mentioned that one way to think about pitch counts is similar to how endurance athletes think about training volume. So like a runner determining the length of a “long run” based on overall weekly mileage (6 miles is “long” if you run 20 miles per week but very short if you run 80 miles per week), my DD would think about how much she had thrown over the previous 3-4 weeks and use a rolling average to gauge how much to throw going forward. As an example, she generally would throw around 420 pitches per week, for an average of 60 per day. Call that number “A.” In terms of “ceilings” during tournaments or HS, you then might have:
1 Day Max = 2A to 3A (120-180 pitches)
2 Day Max = 2A to 2.5A per day (or 240-300 pitches over 2 days)
3 Day Max = 1.75A to 2.33A per day (or 315-420 pitches over 3 days)
4 Day Max = 1.75A to 2A per day (or 420-480 pitches over 4 days)
The ranges here are somewhat wide to account for all the intangibles, like how she is actually feeling; how her mechanics look; fatigue, rest, hydration nutrition; whether these are high intensity, pressure-situation pitches, or not; etc. Obviously this may be too much or too little for different ages, body types, and the like, and I am not sure all the ranges are quite right in themselves. But what may be useful is the sort of obvious concept of benchmarking your daily max off of how much you have been throwing in the lead up to that point. It also helps to know when to take a day off. You know an off day is probably needed if you otherwise are going to blow past your weekly average without one.
In these examples, DD would count every pitch thrown from the motion, including warmups before and in-game.
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- Jun 24, 2021
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100%. I have had a lot of success planning out softball and baseball workloads the same way I trained my track and XC athletes.
So what would you consider a good ratio for innings pitched at the high school level if the second pitcher is a significant drop off. 75% of innings for starting pitcher, more, less? Do you sacrifice your back up pitcher to the best teams to save your best for more winnable games? Curious what some of you think is the best way to handle a staff with only one really good pitcher without wearing that pitcher out.
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That idea always intrigues me. If you are 80% sure you'll lose an upcoming game, do you pitch #2 to save #1 for a game that is more 50/50? Or do you pitch #1 trying for that win and then #2 in the next game. Do you secure a 1W/1L record or gamble for the 2W record?
