COLUMBUS, Ohio – Details for a nationally-mandated pitch count restriction in high school baseball were approved Thursday by the Ohio High School Athletic Association Board of Directors at its January meeting. Last year, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) informed all states that they were required to have a pitch count limit instead of a regulation based on innings pitched over a certain number of days. Previously in Ohio high school baseball, a pitcher could pitch up to 10 innings in a three-day span. Each state was tasked with determining its own regulation.
The new OHSAA pitch count regulation calls for a maximum of 125 pitches permitted in a day, and contains several other details such as the number of days required between pitching appearances based on the number of pitches thrown. The regulation approved Thursday replaces OHSAA baseball regulation 1.7, which was approved last year and indicated that details for the pitch count regulation would be finalized in January.
“Our initial goal was to meet the requirement of the NFHS rule that now requires individual states to create their own pitch count limitations,” said Assistant Commissioner Jerry Snodgrass, who is the baseball administrator for the OHSAA. “After assembling a group representing the necessary stakeholders, including a member of our Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, we have met that goal. We continue to look at further ways in which these limitations will affect teams as well as providing adequate education for our coaches and those in non-school baseball.”
2017 OHSAA Baseball Pitch Count Regulation
Daily Pitch Limit: 125 pitches
Number of Days Between Pitching Appearances After Pitching:
1-30 Pitches: 0 days
31-50 Pitches: 1 day
51-75 Pitches: 2 days
76 or More Pitches: 3 days
Doubleheader Note: If a pitcher throws at least 31 pitches in a game, he may not pitch in another game that day (or the next day, per the chart above).
At Bat Completion: If the daily pitch count is reached during an at bat, a pitcher may exceed the pitch count only to finish pitching to the current batter.
Data Collection System: At the end of each contest, coaches must submit pitcher data to a designated data collection system. Schools are required to keep pitch count data on all pitchers and make the data available to the OHSAA upon request.
Regulation Violation: A team shall forfeit any victorious contest in which a player violates the pitch count regulation.
Suspended/Interrupted Games: All pitches thrown during a game that becomes suspended or interrupted (due to weather or darkness, for example) shall count toward the pitch count regulation.
Scrimmages and Previews: All pitches thrown in a scrimmage or preview shall count toward the pitch count regulation.
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