Staggering Pitch Counts in HS Baseball – From the Bird’s Nest
So, I’m having lunch at my desk on this cloudy Tuesday afternoon (it’s Meatball Stew day at Landry’s Café) and I’m catching up on Twitter. And, I see a tweet from our good friend Josh Parrott (former Ragin’ Cajuns beatwriter now freelancing in the Houston area) that piqued my interest. He had a link to a story concerning a recent baseball game in New Orleans involving rival schools Jesuit and Archbishop Rummel.
And I was appalled by what I read.
The game featured two college signees: Rummel’s Mitch Sewald (LSU) and Jesuit’s Emerson Gibbs (Tulane). For the record, Jesuit won the game, 2-1, in eighteen innings.
Must have been a heck of a game.
But, unfortunately, the game wasn’t the story.
Sewald pitched ten innings and threw 154 pitches. Gibbs pitched fifteen innings and threw a whopping 193 pitches.
Now, I certainly understand wanting to win games, especially against one of your big rivals.
I don’t understand putting a young man’s future in jeopardy in order to do it.
Noted orthopedic surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, has said the recommended pitch count for a 17-18 year old is 105 pitches.
That wasn’t surpassed, it was obliterated.
I wonder how LSU coach Paul Manieri and Tulane’s Rick Jones feel about this.
I also wonder how coaches Joey Latino and Nick Monica still have jobs.
Thanks to Josh for bringing this article to light.
( you can follow both of us on twitter: @jayespn1420 and @JoshuaParrott)