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VHSL Proposes New Pitch Count Rule

October 19, 2016

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By John Nolan
Virginia Assistant Director and Content Manager

In accordance with the National Federation of High Schools decision in the summer to mandate that each state develop a pitching rule that is based on pitch count, the Virginia High School League has proposed the following new pitching rule, which will take effect in the spring of 2017 once ratified.

If a pitcher throws 1-25 pitches in a day, no rest is required.

If a pitcher throws 26-50 pitches in a day, one calendar day or rest is required.

If a pitcher throws 51-75 pitches in a day, two days of rest must be given.

If a pitcher throws 76-100 pitches in a day, three days of rest is required.

If a pitcher throws 101 or more pitches in a day, four days of rest must be given, no pitcher may throw over 110 pitches in a day. A pitcher who reaches 110 pitches during an inning will be allowed to finish the batter that he is facing before he has to be removed.

No pitcher may throw more than 51 pitches over two consecutive days, if a pitcher does, one day of rest must be given.

Unlike the old system, there are no conditions in which a pitcher may come back for a limited relief appearance before receiving full rest. For example, if a pitcher throws 94 pitches in a start on Tuesday, they must rest for three days starting Wednesday, and would be unavailable to pitch again until Saturday.

To help with enforcement, all schools will be required to use the GameChanger app this spring to track pitch count, with the home team’s count being official if there is a dispute. This system will hopefully be an improvement over the old one, which used innings instead of pitch count and saw numerous examples of pitchers throwing large quantities of pitches while still being available based on innings.

Using GameChanger and simplifying the rest requirements will hopefully also prevent teams from having to forfeit games for violating the rule. Both the 2015 and 2016 Postseasons were marred by teams that clinched State Tournament berths on the field, only to have to forfeit the game the next day because they had violated the rest rule.

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