Little League pitch counts and rest requirements
Here is a summary of Little League and LCB's pitch count rules.
A few years ago Little League offered a pilot pitch count program to certain leagues around the country designed to protect the arm health of pitchers by limiting their participation in the game at the pitcher position, and involved moving from an "innings thrown" to a "pitches thrown" system. LCB was a participant in the pilot program and it was a success for us. We reported our results and comments back to Little League and soon the pitch count program became part of the rule book.
The pitch count rules are fairly detailed and they require some explaining. By the way, these particular rules apply to Spring regular season games only; tournament and Fall season pitching rules are different.
The Spring pitching rules fall into two categories: pitch counts and rest.
Pitch counts
The rules state that pitchers cannot exceed a certain
amount of pitches thrown per game. (The rule actually uses the
phrase "pitches per day", but because we don't play doubleheaders,
for us a day equals a game. For
clarity we'll refer to it as "per game".). How many they can throw is
based on their league age and assumes the older the player the more pitches
he/she can throw and their arm can safely withstand. Here's the chart:
| League age * | Maximum pitches per game |
| 13-16 | 95 |
| 11-12 | 85 |
| 9-10 | 75 |
| 7-8 | 50 |
*Remember, "league age" is how old the player is on April 30 of each year.
Rest requirements
The rest rules are intended to complement the pitch
counts and serve to control how often a pitcher can throw. However,
not every pitcher will throw the maximum amount of pitches allowed
in a game, therefore there is a sliding scale of rest rules based on
the amount of pitches thrown. This chart applies to all players
league age 15 and younger and takes into account the changes made by
Little League for the Spring 2010 season:
| Pitches thrown in a game | Required rest |
| 66 or more | 4 calendar days |
| 51-65 | 3 calendar days |
| 36-50 | 2 calendar days |
| 21-35 | 1 calendar day |
| 1-20 | no (0) calendar days |
*Calendar day does not include the day of the game, either the one just played or the one upcoming. It does include Sundays. See the FAQ's below.
As you see, the more a pitcher throws, the more he/she is required to rest before pitching again.
Note: If a pitcher throws 40 or fewer pitches in a game, he/she may enter the game as a catcher. (There might be a change to this rule for the Spring '10 season.)
These rules have one primary purpose, and that is to protect the arm health of the players. There are too many instances where overuse of players' arms have led to injury, and in some cases permanent damage. Who's responsible for this? The adults who let it happen.
Who designed the pitching rules? Little League, working in conjunction with some of the foremost medical
experts including Dr. James Andrews of the American Sports Medicine
Institute in Alabama, an authority on "Tommy John surgery".
Why are these kinds of pitching rules necessary? To protect
the arm health of the players.
My child is capable of throwing more pitches than the rules
allow. Why can't he? He or she can't because Little
League (and LCB) believe that eventually they could be injured from overuse.
Young arms need to be protected, and we're taking the long view.
What about pitchers who are playing up or down in a league not
normally in their age group? The pitching rules are designed
around an individual pitcher's league age and amount of pitches
thrown, therefore it doesn't matter in what age-level league they're
playing.
Who keeps the pitch counts? Officially, it's the scorekeeper.
However, the manager is ultimately responsible for knowing how many
pitches a player has thrown and when he/she must be removed.
What if the manager and scorekeeper disagree on the pitch count?
The scorekeeper keeps the official count. A manager can and should
consult the scorekeeper often to ensure they agree, but ultimately
what gets recorded in the scorebook is the official record.
Can a pitcher exceed the maximum number of pitches allowed in a
game? In limited circumstances, yes. The rules allow for an
at-bat to be completed by the pitcher even if he or she goes beyond
the limit. The pitcher can throw to that batter until he reaches
base, or is put out, or until the third out is made on a runner.
What if a game is suspended because of
rain? If it's determined the game should resume and be completed
at a later time, the pitchers of record at the time the game was
halted may continue to pitch to the extent they are eligible within
the pitch count and rest rules.
Do the days of the games count when determining the calendar days'
rest? No. When the rule refers to "calendar days" it means days
between games. For example, if there is a game on Tuesday and the
next game is Friday, there are 2 calendar days between those games -
Wednesday and Thursday. By the way, Sundays count as a calendar day.
Do these rules apply to tournament play?
Regular season and tournament pitching rules are now the same.
Do these rules apply to the Fall season?
Not necessarily. LCB's Fall seasons have a different format than
Spring, for example, due to the more casual nature of the Fall
season we currently keep the scoreboards off and there is no
official scorekeeper. However, pitcher arm health concerns do not go
away just because it's Fall, so we use a different formula that both
ensures pitchers will not exceed the maximum pitch counts and
encourages managers to develop more pitchers.
What is "league age"? League age is
the age a player has attained on April 30 of each year. For our Fall
and Spring seasons LCB considers the player's league age the age
he/she attains the following April 30.
Can a pitcher go to catcher in the same game?
In 2009 Little League changed the rule, permitting a
pitcher to enter as catcher in the same game as long as his/her
pitch count has not exceeded 40 pitches. There may be a rule change
for Spring '10 limiting the amount of innings a player can be at
catcher and then pitch.
These rules mean a manager has to develop a lot of pitchers and
catchers, right? Yep.
