A high school baseball pitcher in Texas threw 145 pitches in a single outing last week. His coach says he asked the senior to sit out after the 11th inning, but Brandon White insisted on staying in. He said his arm felt fine.
If his team took the lead in the top of the 12th, he asked to be left in for the final three outs. Then he took the matter into his own hands. Leading off the 12th inning, White hit a solo home-run. That meant he stayed in to pitch the bottom of the 12th, closing out the 4-3 win.
It's easy to understand that he wanted to close out the game he'd started, especially against a district rival at a point when his team was undefeated in the district.
It's harder to understand why he was still in after 11 innings, long after he'd surpassed recommended pitch counts for players his age.
His Carrollton Creekview (Texas) High coach told the Dallas News that he prepares his players by slowly increasing their pitch counts throughout the season; that he kept checking with White to make sure that he was feeling okay; that everything seemed fine.
“We do cap our pitchers,” Mansanales said. “We start them off at 30 pitches [per game] early in the season during tournaments. Then I like for them to be at 45-50 pitches. Once we get to the second game in district, it’s like, ‘We’re winning today. Whatever it takes, we’re winning.’
It's rare to see a professional pitcher go more than 100 pitches. A teenager? That's dangerous, according to Pitch Smart.
Pitch Smart is a joint effort between MLB and the American Sports Medical Institute. It recommends 17- and 18-year-old pitchers should be capped at 105 pitchers per outing, with at least four days of rest after any 76-plus-pitch outing.
White said his arm felt like a "limp noodle" the next day, and he was kept out of practice for the rest of the week.
Danielle Elliot is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact her at delliot@yahoo-inc.com or find her on Twitter and Facebook.
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