Portland’s Cole Ogorzalek delivers a pitch for Northeast Regional champion RCP last summer. The CT American Legion will be implementing new pitching count rules in 2017. Photo by Jimmy Zanor – The Middletown Press
Sheehan coach Matt Alteri, shown during the Titans’ Class M state baseball championship win last June, is one of many coaches who say the issue of protecting pitchers’ arms are more complex than simple pitch counts. (Catherine Avalone/New Haven Register)
MIDDLETOWN >> In what may be the single most radical rule change to impact Connecticut high school and American Legion baseball, both will be implementing pitch-count rules for the 2017 season.
Also, in what is a controversial and fundamental change, the Connecticut American Legion Baseball Commission has voted to limit all state tournament games — except the best-of-three championship series — to seven innings. All Legion tourney games have always been nine innings.
Legion baseball postseason games will remain at nine innings at both the Regional and World Series levels.
Speaking for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), state baseball tournament director Fred Balsamo said that the rules will not include a hard and fast number. Instead, there will be rules relating number of pitches to numbers of days required rest.
“The baseball committee has not yet come up with the number of pitches for each level, but when it does, that will be related to days of rest,” Balsamo said. “There will be no maximum number so a pitcher would not have to be yanked in the middle of an inning.”
Balsamo said the rule would work like this:
If a pitcher throws X number of pitches or fewer, he would need one day rest. If he pitched over that number but less than another number, he would need two days rest. That sliding scale would continue up to a number of pitches that would require a five day rest.
Many Middletown area coaches are not thrilled.
Mark Brookes, the longtime Haddam-Killingworth coach and dean of area baseball coaches, was to the point.
“A pitch count rule solves nothing,” Brookes said. “A solution can only be developed from looking at what a pitcher does over the course of an entire year. Does the pitcher take time off, play another sport, have good mechanics, condition properly in season and is diligent about caring for his arm? Multiple factors makes this difficult to impose effectively.
“Imposing a one-size-fits-all rule does not take into account individual differences.”
Josh Cofield, the new Middletown High baseball coach and a long-time coach at the middle school and Junior American Legion levels said, “I do not agree with pitch count rules in either high school or Legion baseball. In my experience, each kid develops differently. I track the numbers of pitches thrown, but I have had kids who are sore after 20 pitches and others throw 100-plus pitches and are fine.
“I think the current rules [there is an innings over time limit] are sufficient and allow a coach and pitcher to determine when to come out of a game.”
Cofield pointed a finger at the youth leagues and the existence of multiple leagues as the real problem.
Former Shelton pitcher Mike Cowell gets his shoulder wrapped in ice after throwing his second no-hitter of the season in a 3-0 SCC first-round victory over North Haven in May of 2015. (Photo via Shelton Athletics)
“As a middle school coach, I had kids playing for me and AAU and there is nothing stopping them from pitching in a middle school game on Friday and an AAU game on Saturday,” Cofield said. “At the very least, they should not allow kids to play in two leagues.
“More focus needs to be placed on pitching regulations [at that level]. These are young kids, 12 and 13 years old … and they are throwing more than they should at that age.”
Cofield has support in high places. Writing in the New York Daily News on Jan. 16, John Harper quoted the renowned sports surgeon Dr. James Andrews as saying he has seen a seven-to-ten-fold increase in injuries to 13-14-15 year old pitchers.
Harper also quoted Hall of Famer John Smoltz who said, “More [pitching] is not better. Kids shouldn’t be throwing year-round. I never saw a radar gun when I was in high school. Now kids are throwing with maximum effort and they’re getting hurt at a younger age than ever. We should get rid of the radar gun.”
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Harper wrote that Andrews and Smoltz believed, like Cofield, that the injuries are partly explained by the increase in travel teams and corporate-sponsored national tournaments. Smoltz said he tries to explain this to parents and that many of them “look at me like I was from Mars.”
Matt Altieri, the coach at state champion Sheehan of Wallingford, essentially agreed that the issue is far more complex than a simple innings-pitched or pitches-thrown analysis.
“I want to know how long [my high school pitchers] have been pitching, do they play other positions, do they pitch in the fall and summer, how long is their average outing and do they have a conditioning program,” Altieri said.
Xavier’s baseball team watches teammate Scott Marks warm up in relief last season. (Catherine Avalone/New Haven Register)
“Generally, pitchers who threw over the winter, had the appropriate amount of innings in the spring, summer and fall (commensurate with their conditioning level) and who conditioned with some kind of certified trainer will be able to handle the load while those who did not must be limited and monitored more closely.
“An idea is maybe pitch count should be increased as the season goes on with maybe 75 pitches every three days in April and 85 in May.”
Xavier High coach Nick Cerreta is opposed to pitch count rules.
“I’ve done some research and most states have rules having to do with an amount of innings per week or over a span of days,” Cerreta said. “While I think the inning rule now does nothing to prevent a kid from being pitched too much [I also] do not feel an actual pitch count rule should be created.”
Cerreta gave an example of a pitcher throwing 80 pitches in a grueling game and another kid throwing 80 pitches and breezing through a game.
“Each pitcher is so different based on their physical makeup, strength, mechanics and mental toughness,” he said. “Some can go 90 to 100 pitches with no problem and others may never be able to get there. Pitch count is subjective to so many things.
“I think an innings limit is the way to go, but it definitely needs to be adjusted from what they [CIAC] currently have in place.”
Craig Zimmerman, the state American Legion Baseball Director, said that the State Legion will institute a hard-and-fast pitch count rule in 2017.
“It’s a radical change from what we have [which is 10 innings in four days],” Zimmerman said. “It will be tied to age. If an 18-year old pitches 76 pitches — to a maximum of 105 — he must have five days rest.”
The National Rule is 12 innings in three days and since the state tourney is part of the national postseason, that rule will be in place for 2016. Zimmerman said the National Legion is “thinking about” a pitch-count rule, but “it hasn’t done anything.”
He said he wanted Connecticut “to be out front.”
For the 2016 season, Legion coaches must file with the state Legion the number of pitches each pitcher threw along with their game score. “We want to have our coaches to get comfortable with pitch counts,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman also made several references to remarks by John Smoltz.
The State Baseball Commission’s vote to shorten the postseason games to seven innings rather the nine innings was not without opposition. Both David Greenleaf and Paul LaFleur, members from Bristol, voted against the new rule.
They also voted against the pitch-count rules. Greenleaf said they were the only two to vote no.
“I am not in favor of pitch counts and all state tournament games should be nine innings,” Middletown Legion coach Tim D’Aquila said. “We have pitch counts on everyone, but I am more on ‘feel’ than pitch counts. A college pitcher coming back to pitch Legion should be able to pitch longer than someone who has barely pitched in high school.”
He said that one of his pitchers had Tommy John surgery “not because of pitch counts, but because he threw a curveball on a bad arm slot” before he came to Legion ball.
“Ask Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Tom Seaver or Bob Gibson about pitch counts,” D’Aquila added. “There is no correlation with pitch counts and arm problems … most of the time it is lack of preparation or bad mechanics.”
But two of D’Aquila’s colleagues, Berlin Legion coach Rob Manzo and RCP coach T.J. Grande, disagreed.
“I would be OK with a pitch count,” said Grande, whose team won the Northeast Regional championship last summer. “One of my goals was to keep pitchers under 100 pitches in the regular season and we were able to do that for all except two games. I had hoped it would keep their arms fresher for the state tournament and beyond, which would allow me to increase [their load] to about 115 pitches if needed.
“I know when the pressure of games comes into play it is difficult to take out your best pitcher, but their long-term health is more important in my mind. That’s easier said than done, so a pitch count would make a simpler decision for coaches if anything.”
Manzo, who coached Berlin to a state and regional title in 2009, said, “I think anything we can do to protect the arms of our pitchers is beneficial to their long term growth and success.
“I am curious to see how the management of this works out, i.e. checking pitch counts between innings between the two coaches?”
Many coaches said the rule will have other impacts.
“It will change how we structure our rosters once this goes into effect,” Manzo said. “We will be looking at filling our last roster spots with extra arms.”
Cofield said that at the high school level, “This will hurt smaller schools because they won’t have enough competitive pitching on their teams.”
The Legion coaches contacted all expressed their dislike for the new 7-inning tournament game rule.
D’Aquila is flatly opposed, as is Manzo.
“I am still a fan of the 9-inning game,” Manzo said. “Berlin would still be open to playing 9-inning games within zone [league] play. I would definitely be in favor of keeping the 9-inning tournament games.”
Said Grande, “While it is tough to switch from 7- to 9-inning games — both for pitch counts and strategy — it does prepare a state champion for the 9-inning regional games. I don’t think tournament games should be 7 innings unless it is nationwide change.
Cofield also weighed in on the length of the games.
“I think the games should remain at 9 innings in the interest of finding the best Legion team,” he said. “I think a lot of coaches will opt for 7 innings if given the choice because that will allow their best pitchers to save their pitch counts.
“However, I think the 9-inning games allow the best team to win.”
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