Coaching: Baseball & Softball Pitcher Safety

At Unique Sports, we are owned and operated by Coaches and Athletes that are active with sports in our community. Recently, it came to our attention that the Iowa High School Athletic Association announced a new pitch count policy for baseball that will go in to effect next season. 

 This new rule will undoubtedly make coaches jobs a bit more complicated, but will also ensure that young pitchers are not being overworked. The health and safety of young athletes should always be the number one priority and for that we support this new rule and similar rules across implemented across the country. 

If you are interested in the new IHSAA Pitch Count Policy for the 2017 season, it is outlined below: 

               10th-12th Graders   8th-9th Graders

No Rest    1-25                       1-25

1 Day       26-40                     26-40

2 Days      41-65                     41-65

3 Days      66-90                     66-90

4 Days      91-110                   91-110

When the pitcher reaches 110 pitches, he may not pitch to another batter. He may only finish pitching to the current batter.

If an individual were to pitch on consecutive days, the two or more-day total would determine how many days of rest would be required before the individual could return to pitch. The consecutive day total cannot exceed 110 pitches. 

10th-12th graders may throw 180 pitches in a week. 8th-9th graders may throw 150 pitches in a week. A week is defined as Sunday-Saturday.

If an individual were to throw 25 or fewer pitches in game one of a doubleheader, he may return to pitch in game two, up to 110 pitches for the day. If an individual were to throw more than 25 pitches in game one of a doubleheader, he would be ineligible to pitch in game two.

An adult designee from both teams approved by the school will confirm the pitch count of each pitcher at the completion of each inning. If there is a discrepancy that cannot be worked out, the home scorebook/count will be considered the official count. 

All varsity pitch counts are required to be entered into QuikStats within 24 hours of the completion of the game. All levels of baseball (freshman, JV, varsity, etc.) are required to complete the IHSAA Pitch Count Chart and both schools’ coaches are required to verify and sign said chart at the conclusion of the contest.