PIAA sets pitch-count limit for junior high baseball

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, July 19, 2019 | 9:33 PM

The PIAA believes junior high baseball players shouldn’t throw as many pitches as high school hurlers, so a separate pitch count was established this week.

Starting next spring, Pennsylvania’s junior high/middle school pitchers will be limited to 75 pitches in a day and 150 in a calendar week (Sunday through Saturday), according to a rule approved Wednesday by the PIAA board of directors.

“It goes back to the health and safety of the kids,” said North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto, the WPIAL representative on the PIAA baseball steering committee. “You have kids out there trying to (throw as many pitches) as people in 10th, 11th and 12th grade.”

The rule was recommended to the PIAA board by the baseball committee.

The high school pitch-count limit in the PIAA is 100 in the regular season and 105 in the postseason. The PIAA board voted 19-11 to approve these separate junior high limits.

The rule also established junior high guidelines for days of rest between outings.

Four calendar days of rest are required for 61-75 pitches, three days for 46-60, two days for 31-45, one day for 21-30 and no rest for 20 or fewer pitches.

The #PIAA board approved a pitch-count rule for junior high/middle school baseball pitchers. Here’s a look at the numbers. #TribHSSN pic.twitter.com/KYcn1pW1g2

— Chris Harlan (@CHarlan_Trib) July 20, 2019

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny