KSHSAA sets pitch limits at 105 for upcoming season

Lawrence High senior pitcher Parker Kirkpatrick delivers a pitch during the Lions' game against Maize during the River City Baseball Festival Saturday at Hoglund Ballpark.

After receiving data from high school baseball teams across the state last year, the Kansas High School Activity Association has determined 105 is the magic number for pitchers.

Pitchers — at all levels of high school competition — will be allowed to throw a maximum of 105 pitches in one day, KSHSAA announced in November. They will be allowed to finish a batter if they reach 105 pitches in the middle of an at-bat.

If a pitcher exceeds 76 pitches, he will be required to rest for at least four days before he is allowed to return to the mound. It’ll be three days of rest for 61-75 pitches, two days for throwing 46-60 pitches and one day after tossing 31-45 pitches. If a pitcher throws 30 pitches or less, he can throw again on the following day.

The National Federation of State High School Associations adopted a national “pitching restriction policy based on the number of pitches thrown in a game” during July. In the past, KSHSAA had an innings limit — nine innings in one day and 12 innings over a 48-hour period.

Free State coach Mike Hill, who served on the national rules committee that recommended pitch limits, and Lawrence High coach Brad Stoll have both supported more protection for young pitchers.

“For us, we don’t feel like this is going to have any impact on what we do,” Hill said earlier this year. “I think this is true of a lot of coaches in the Sunflower League. We’ve already tried to be overprotective on arms.”

It was up to KSHSAA to determine that 105 pitches would be the state’s maximum number of pitches and the number days of rest in between appearances, but it mostly followed the Pitch Smart recommendations from MLB and USA Baseball.

The pitch-count limit was put in place to prevent the number of arm injuries for young pitchers. At an American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine in July 2015, a study presented from Rush University in Chicago found 56.7 percent of Tommy John surgeries are performed for 15- to 19-year-olds.

Tommy John surgery involves the reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), which replaces the elbow ligament that essentially holds the upper and lower arm together with a tendon from elsewhere in the body.

The pitch count does not include warmup or bullpen pitches. An official scorer will keep track of pitch counts for both teams and coaches will have to sign a KSHSAA tracking sheet after each game to ensure each school is aware of the days of rest requirements.

Violating the pitch count will lead to an immediate suspension for the pitcher and coach, plus the team will have to forfeit the game.