Gary Parlin doesn’t interpret the Maine Principals’ Association pitching limitation rule as a violation of his coaching liberties.
He knows that the restrictions, like the speed limit or the banishment of smoking on school property, are designed to protect children, or maybe even protect the veteran Mt. Blue High School baseball and football coach from himself.
“I see it like football where we have athletic trainers now to keep us honest. When I was coaching football with Ray (Caldwell) back in the 1980s, the decision of whether or not they went back in the game was totally in our hands,” Parlin said. “And if they were standing erect on the sideline it usually meant yes.”
Pitching is even trickier medical science. Naked eyes can’t see a maxed-out rotator cuff. Elbow and shoulder strain aren’t easily measured.
For any student-athlete with college or professional dreams, however, the long-term consequences of pushing his fuel tank past the red line are dire.
“I’ve heard too many stories,” said Buckfield Junior-Senior High School coach Chuck Williams, “about freshmen and sophomores who threw their arms out.”
Most states instituted standards in the late 1980s to regulate high school pitching rest. The MPA adopted its code in August 1990 and made only two minor modifications since.
Any player pitching more than three innings is ineligible to throw again without three full calendar days of rest. In other words, a starter who works into the fourth inning on Monday may not return to the mound before Friday.
A pitcher appearing in one, two or three innings must rest his arm at least one full calendar day (not merely a 24-hour period). If a pitcher’s stint includes one inning or less, he may pitch on consecutive days, but throwing one pitch constitutes an inning.
“That’s a tough one to get around,” said Leavitt Area High School coach Dave Morin, noting that a pitcher could throw one pitch in the sixth inning to earn the final out, pitch a one-two-three seventh inning and be forced to sit a day.
Violators – and there have been few protests in 15 years – are subject to forfeited games due to the use of an ineligible player and possible suspension from tournament play.
Morin said pitch count is a better indicator of arm overuse than innings pitched, but he conceded that policing such a rule would be impossible.
“It’s probably a pretty good rule for most of the kids,” Morin said. “Because you know, I’m not a pitching coach.”
A tender age
Sore arms were an epidemic two decades ago, when umpires held coaches accountable but wielded little more than the power of suggestion.
“We basically had no rules,” said Parlin.
Parlin remembers a Class A school from York County using its ace, a NCAA Division III prospect, in Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday succession during the playoffs.
That pitcher’s collegiate career ended early due to arm injuries.
“The rule is great for me as a coach, because it takes the emotional part right out of it,” Parlin said. “You take any kid and you ask him, How’s your arm?’ He’s going to say, Feels great, Coach,’ even if it’s about to fall off.”
Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Dick Mills agrees that a student shouldn’t make that call.
On his Web site, www.pitching.com, Mills says parents should hold a coach accountable and enforce even stricter standards than state regulations, if necessary.
“Six innings doesn’t mean squat. It should all be based on pitch count and nothing else,” Mills writes. “I … recommend that every (parent) pick up one of those hand-held counters and take one to each game and use it. If you are a coach who is willing to let it slide because of some big’ game, then you don’t deserve being called a youth coach.”
Parents at Leavitt, Mt. Blue and Buckfield need not worry. All three coaches say they consider pitch count and age above even MPA law when planning their pitching rotations.
Parlin’s limit is 80 pitches until the end of April and 120 pitches when the weather heats up. Morin uses that same range, taking into account each pitcher’s throwing motion and mechanics when making the call.
And no two athletes are alike. On his 1996 Class B championship team, Morin coached right-hander Matt Additon, who later shone as a closer at Division I Clemson University.
Additon rarely walked batters or wasted pitches. He’d also attended enough clinics to know when and for how long to ice his arm after a start.
“Matt probably could have pitched whenever we needed him,” Morin said. “But most kids need three days off, maybe even four.”
Clouding the issue
This year’s atrocious spring weather stretched every pitching staff.
Leavitt used six pitchers during the season. Everyone from Class A Mt. Blue to Class D Buckfield had to juggle. Yet even in the midst of that inconvenience, Parlin appreciated the value of the pitching rules.
“It forced me to start a sophomore, Adam Gilbert, a couple of times as a fourth guy, and he pitched really well,” Parlin said. “He plays in the field, also, but he could have gone this whole season without pitching at all if the rules were different.”
As the regular season morphs into the playoffs, Williams is confronted with more mound logistics. Most of this year’s Buckfield hurlers are freshmen and sophomores, and their Babe Ruth League season already has begun.
Williams knows it’s an obstacle his competition would love to face. Due to extensive travel in the East-West Conference, Buckfield frequently plays doubleheaders even in a dry, mild spring. Rival schools with enrollments of 50 or 60 students might rely on two pitchers for an entire season if it were permissible.
“When their coach is yelling out instructions to the mound about how to pitch,” Williams said, “you know they’re not very experienced.”
Mills, whose careful supervision of his son’s development helped earn Ryan Mills a $2 million signing bonus with the Minnesota Twins, says the stress of pitching dictates stringent limits.
“Every time a pitcher throws a baseball,” Mills bluntly wrote, “the shoulder and the elbow want desperately to fly out of the sockets.”
That’s something Morin wouldn’t want on his conscience, with or without an MPA guideline peering over his shoulder.
“Even with this rule,” he said, “I remember a coach one time telling me, Yeah, I started Joey three days ago. He pitched a complete game and threw 147 pitches.’ And I was thinking, Man, what are you doing?’ There’s always that one person out there.”
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