HOULTON, Maine — Now that baseball season is officially under way, coaches are finding themselves adjusting to the new pitching rules that were instituted by the Maine Principals’ Association.
In the past, if a pitcher tossed a certain number of innings, they were required to sit out a certain number of days before they could take the mound again.
Under the new rule, a player who throws between one and 20 pitches is not required to sit out any days for rest. Those that throw 21-39 pitches must refrain from pitching for one day; those throwing 40-65 pitches must have two days of rest; those tossing 66-96 pitches must rest three days; and those delivering 96 or more pitches (with a maximum of 110 pitches) must wait four days before throwing to batters again.
Pitch counts are nothing new to younger baseball programs such as Little League, Senior League and Babe Ruth league as coaches have had to keep track of pitch counts for years. The rule does not currently apply to softball.
According to the MPA baseball bulletin, each team must count its pitches and the opponents’ pitches. Those counts must be confirmed after each half-inning. It is ultimately the home team’s pitch count that is considered the official record.
At the end of each game the head coach will sign the official MPA pitching tally and each school must retain a copy of it and make it available to the MPA upon request if eligibility questions arise.
Violation of the pitch-count rule constitutes the use of an ineligible player and will result in forfeiture of the game.
The new ruling has received mixed reactions from area coaches.
“I think the new pitch count rule is a great move to help protect pitchers’ arms,” said Tim Thoreson, Katahdin baseball coach. “It also brings out the necessity for programs to do a better job developing pitchers. Teams can no longer ride two to three pitchers through an entire season.”
Thoreson added it may introduce another wrinkle to the game in how a coach approaches strategy. “We might see more batters taking pitches, attempting to run up the opposing pitcher’s pitch count,” Thoreson said.
Houlton baseball coach Jim Castner is not in favor of the new rules.
“Personally I am not a big fan of it,” he said. “Instead of trusting coaches to know what is best for their kids, the MPA is trying to apply a panacea that will not work. Tactically, this changes things drastically. For example, pitchers will have to be more aggressive earlier in the counts. Also any (fielding) errors will have even more of an impact than before because pitchers will have to throw more pitches to get out of innings.”
