Pitchers and number of pitches

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Apr 13, 2015
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How many pitches should a pitcher throw each day?/ Rest days? HS level and been throwing for past 2 weeks and pitching for past 10 days
 
Nov 9, 2021
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Also curious about this. New to the high school scene. Noticed they have some weeks where they play 4/5 games in a week. Is that harder on a girls arm to pitch multiple games in a week with no real off days. Pitching 4 games in a weekend happens but you can give them a few days off to recover.

Do any of you monitor pitch counts differently for high school than you do for travel ball is the question I guess I have?


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Oct 4, 2018
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My DD takes on average 13-15 pitches per inning. She pitches 7-10 innings per tournament day (assuming a full day of games). So about 120 perhaps in a one-day tourney, and then maybe 200 in a two-day tourney. And of course warm-ups, in between innings, etc. So perhaps as high as 300 pitches some weekends, and perhaps as high as 180 on a big one-day tourney if we go to the championship.

We don't pitch the day after a tourney or the day before. Sometimes we don't pitch 2 days after if it was a heavy weekend.

Then we practice 2-3 other days per week, like M/W/Th. Perhaps 100 pitches per session. Lessons tend to be on non-tourney weekends.

That seems to work for us. We haven't had any "overuse" issues that I can tell. As we move into high school next year, we will make adjustments. We usually have two games per week so that's easy enough to manage, and then nothing on weekends. From my observations of my older (non-pitcher) daughter the last two years, we simply don't have 4/5 games per week.
 
Nov 9, 2021
184
43
My DD takes on average 13-15 pitches per inning. She pitches 7-10 innings per tournament day (assuming a full day of games). So about 120 perhaps in a one-day tourney, and then maybe 200 in a two-day tourney. And of course warm-ups, in between innings, etc. So perhaps as high as 300 pitches some weekends, and perhaps as high as 180 on a big one-day tourney if we go to the championship.

We don't pitch the day after a tourney or the day before. Sometimes we don't pitch 2 days after if it was a heavy weekend.

Then we practice 2-3 other days per week, like M/W/Th. Perhaps 100 pitches per session. Lessons tend to be on non-tourney weekends.

That seems to work for us. We haven't had any "overuse" issues that I can tell. As we move into high school next year, we will make adjustments. We usually have two games per week so that's easy enough to manage, and then nothing on weekends. From my observations of my older (non-pitcher) daughter the last two years, we simply don't have 4/5 games per week.

Thanks,
I didn’t expect 4/5 games in a week in high school. There are two weeks that have that many but most are 2 games a week. My daughter is actually younger but allowed to play high school early. So because of her age we will have to monitor pitches a little more than her coach may prefer this year.


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Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
Thanks,
I didn’t expect 4/5 games in a week in high school. There are two weeks that have that many but most are 2 games a week. My daughter is actually younger but allowed to play high school early. So because of her age we will have to monitor pitches a little more than her coach may prefer this year.


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Yup, makes sense. And of course how much she pitches is more up to her and you than it is the coach. Might not be a popular opinion, but that's my take. I've had to tell coaches to pull my daughter. If that happens more than twice a season, we find a new team. Sadly, not quite as simple for a HS environment.
 
Nov 18, 2015
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Surprised you're seeing 4-5 games scheduled. I would only expect that if it was makeups toward the end of the season.
 
Jun 19, 2020
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4-5 games a week for us is typical in high school during the early tourney schedule. It settles down once district starts. I try to stay out of the HS coaches business but had to get involved twice last season. Once when she tried to throw DD in 3 games on the same day only a one hour break between game 1&2 and the third immediately followed the 2nd game(first scrimmages of the season). The coach was crappy about it to DD. Main reason is our other 2 pitchers got beat up on and she was embarrassed. You will get use to the flow of high school ball, monitor your DD and get involved if needed.
 
Oct 1, 2014
2,219
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USA
4-5 games a week for us is typical in high school during the early tourney schedule. It settles down once district starts. I try to stay out of the HS coaches business but had to get involved twice last season. Once when she tried to throw DD in 3 games on the same day only a one hour break between game 1&2 and the third immediately followed the 2nd game(first scrimmages of the season). The coach was crappy about it to DD. Main reason is our other 2 pitchers got beat up on and she was embarrassed. You will get use to the flow of high school ball, monitor your DD and get involved if needed.
Good on you for speaking up about it!
 
Jun 27, 2021
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Rest is crucial and I encourage days off when not playing. Too many times the only thing that gets calculated is pitch count- kid who throws 100 pitches a game, also threw 21 warm up pitches (3 per inning) anywhere between 25-50 warm up pitches just for one game. So a 100 pitch game easily is 175-200 per game.
 
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