The days of having a starter in high school baseball throwing 140 pitches or more in a game may have gone by the wayside for the most part around the same time as Napster.
But Jan. 19, the Ohio High School Athletic Association ensured it for good.
At its January meeting, in conjunction with the National Federation of State High School Associations requiring new limits last year, the OHSAA approved a new structure for pitch count regulation starting this spring.
Under the new mandate, a pitcher cannot throw more than 125 pitches in one day, and there is now a mandatory amount of rest days depending on number of pitches thrown.
For 31-50 pitches, one day rest is needed. For 51-75, it’s two days, and for 76 or more, three days.
It is a welcome sight for area coaches.
Among other changes:
• In a doubleheader, if 31 pitches are thrown in a game, that pitcher can’t work in Game 2.
• Pitchers can exceed the pitch counts only in order to complete an at-bat.
• Coaches now have to submit pitch count data into a database, and schools have to make that data available to the OHSAA upon request.
