With baseball season just around the corner, I thought this would be a good time to mention what guidelines are out there for our young pitchers. Over the last year I have had the opportunity to work with youth baseball pitchers, providing them with pitching lessons and one of the first questions I get from parents is, “How many pitches should my son be throwing? And how much rest does he need?” Major League Baseball along with USA baseball has provided the public with Pitch Smart Guidelines to provide better insight and management of the workload of our youth pitchers. The following is a list of age groups and pitch counts with numbers of rest days in between.
BELOW IS A LIST OF AGES AND RECOMMENDATION
7-8 year olds:
Daily maximum for pitches in a game is 50. If your youth pitches 1-20 pitches within a game, they can pitch the next day without a day off. If your youth throws 21-35 pitches in a game then they will require a one day rest break. If your youth throws 36-50 pitches in a game then they will require a 2 day rest break.
9-10 year olds:
The daily maximum for pitches in a game is 75. If your youth pitches 1-20 pitches within a game, they can pitch the next day without a day off. If your youth throws 21-35 pitches in a game then they will require a one day rest break. If your youth throws 36-50 pitches in a game then they will require a 2 day rest break. If your youth throws 51-65 pitches in a game then they will require a 3 day rest break. If your youth throws 66+ pitches in a game then they will require a 4 day rest break.
11-12 year olds:
The daily maximum for pitches in a game is 85. If your youth pitches 1-20 pitches within a game, they can pitch the next day without a day off. If your youth throws 21-35 pitches in a game then they will require a one day rest break. If your youth throws 36-50 pitches in a game then they will require a 2 day rest break. If your youth throws 51-65 pitches in a game then they will require a 3 day rest break. If your youth throws 66+ pitches in a game then they will require a 4 day rest break.
13-14 year olds:
The daily maximum for pitches in a game is 95. If your youth pitches 1-20 pitches within a game, they can pitch the next day without a day off. If your youth throws 21-35 pitches in a game then they will require a one day rest break. If your youth throws 36-50 pitches in a game then they will require a 2 day rest break. If your youth throws 51-65 pitches in a game then they will require a 3 day rest break. If your youth throws 66+ pitches in a game then they will require a 4 day rest break.
15-16 year olds:
The daily maximum for pitches in a game is 95. If your youth pitches 1-30 pitches within a game, they can pitch the next day without a day off. If your youth throws 31-45 pitches in a game then they will require a one day rest break. If your youth throws 46-60 pitches in a game then they will require a 2 day rest break. If your youth throws 61-75 pitches in a game then they will require a 3 day rest break. If your youth throws 76+ pitches in a game then they will require a 4 day rest break.
17-18 year olds:
For youth 17-18 the daily maximum for pitches in a game is 105. If your youth pitches 1-30 pitches within a game, they can pitch the next day without a day off. If your youth throws 31-45 pitches in a game then they will require a one day rest break. If your youth throws 46-60 pitches in a game then they will require a 2 day rest break. If your youth throws 61-80 pitches in a game then they will require a 3 day rest break. If your youth throws 81+ pitches in a game then they will require a 4 day rest break.
19-22 year olds:
The daily maximum for pitches in a game is 120. If your youth pitches 1-30 pitches within a game, they can pitch the next day without a day off. If your youth throws 31-45 pitches in a game then they will require a one day rest break. If your youth throws 46-60 pitches in a game then they will require a 2 day rest break. If your youth throws 61-75 pitches in a game then they will require a 3 day rest break. If your youth throws 81-105 pitches in a game then they will require a 4 day rest break. If your youth throws 106+ pitches in a game then they will require a 5 day rest break.
Another important aspect about pitching and managing a youth pitcher’s work load is taking time throughout the year to rest from throwing. The Pitch Smart Guidelines recommend taking a 2-3 month break from throwing and avoid competitive pitching for at least 4 months per year.
Injuries have become all too common with youth baseball players due to over throwing and being worked too hard as pitchers. Pitch Smart is a great tool to utilize in order to reduce injury of your youth pitchers.
CHARTS CAN BE FOUND AT THE SITES BELOW:
Reference:
https://www.mlb.com/pitch-smart/pitching-guidelines
https://www.mlb.com/pitch-smart/risk-factors
