Times-News
THE BIG STORY
Sunday, May 7, 2017 | E1
Sunday, May 7, 2017 | magicvalley.com | SECTION E
PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
The pitching motion is a stressful task for the human arm. In this seven-image composite created in-camera, Filer High School right-hander Cooper Moon demonstrates a pitch April 21 at Filer’s field.
COUNTING ERA No-hitters take back seat to pitcher health VICTOR FLORES
vflores@magicvalley.com
KIMBERLY — Pitcher Braden Coronado sat in the dugout as the no-hitter he built vanished into center field. The Kimberly High School senior threw five shutout innings against Snake River High’s baseball team March 18 without allowing a hit. Coronado needed six more outs to complete the no-hitter, but he never got the chance. Bulldogs coach Simon Olsen didn’t want to overextend his ace, who had thrown 89 pitches already. Coronado wasn’t happy. “I felt like I could’ve gone four more innings,” he said. Kimberly wouldn’t earn one of the most revered accomplishments in baseball that day. With no outs in the seventh inning, Snake River’s Kolin Gardner hit a single off Coronado’s replacement, Lars Christiansen. Later this season, it happened DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS again: Coronado was pulled from a no-hitter after the sixth inning, and College of Southern Idaho pitcher Jake Nelson stretches during rehabilitation April 17 in Twin Falls. As a high school his replacement gave up a single. A pitcher in Utah — before that state’s adoption of pitch count limits — Nelson rarely gave it a rest. He paid the price with a major culprit in both early exits: torn elbow ligament and had Tommy John surgery in February. Coronado’s pitch count. pitches in a game must rest three This year, Idaho joined 45 other states with mandatory pitch limits full days before he sees the mound in for high school baseball. It’s too soon another game. A pitcher who throws to know whether Idaho’s restric86 pitches on Monday, for example, must rest Tuesday, Wednesday and tions will accomplish the long-term Thursday. goal of reducing the rash of pitcher arm injuries. But they already have Players are required to rest two squashed no-hitters and revamped days if they throw 61 to 85 pitches pitching rotations. in a game, and one day if they toss 36 Idaho high school baseball has to 60. Players can pitch the next day never needed so many arms. if they throw fewer than 36 pitches in a game. Idaho’s new rules Both teams in a given game are reCounting pitches and resting quired to keep track of each pitchpitchers aren’t new developments er’s total and post the counts to in high school baseball. The key difMaxPreps.com. The state board of ferences this year involve specific, control can discipline teams that mandatory parameters. provide incomplete pitch data; last In July 2016, the National Fedweek, it ruled that Coeur d’Alene eration of State High School AsHigh must forfeit an April game that DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS featured a self-reported pitch count sociations (NFHS) mandated pitch limits for states that sanction base- Athletic trainer Richard Bingham massages College of Southern Idaho pitcher violation. ball. The Idaho High School Activ- Jake Nelson’s right arm after a round of post-surgery rehabilitation April 17 in ities Association, which sanctions Twin Falls. Please see PITCHERS, Page E2 baseball for the regular season but not the state tournament, fell into limits, identical to the restrictions not exceed 110 pitches — unless he More online: A new Magicvalley. that category, so it began to look in Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii and reaches that number in the middle of com gallery today collects some at various states that already had Utah. an at-bat, in which case he’s allowed of the Times-News’ best gameaction photos of high school pitchers pitch restrictions. In December, the Idaho’s in-game pitch counts used to finish the hitter. IDHSAA finalized its current pitch to be limitless. Now, a pitcher canA pitcher who totals 86 to 110 around south-central Idaho.
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MORE INSIDE: Brief history of pitch counts, E2 | Pitch counts at a glance, E4
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BIG STORY
| SUNDAY, MAY 7, 2017
TIMES-NEWS
“Every arm is different, and genetics plays a big role as to longevity of the throwing arm in baseball.” Dr. James Andrews, an Alabama orthopedic surgeon renowned for operating on the arms of injured pitchers.
PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Pitcher Austyn Sherman, a junior at Filer High School, throws against Buhl on April 11. Filer and Magic Valley’s other 3A teams often don’t have the pool of pitchers that larger programs do, but under mandatory pitch limits they’re developing more arms.
Pitchers From E1
What’s the use?
Injury prevention is ultimately why the IDHSAA enforced pitchcount rules this year, and that’s why numerous Magic Valley baseball coaches and players are proponents. Decades of research made this point clear: A baseball pitcher’s arm is more likely to get hurt the more he throws. And that’s true at every level. Elbow and shoulder injuries that require surgery or retirement occur in 5 percent of youth pitchers, according to a 2012 paper by Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Glenn Fleisig. More than half of Major League Baseball
pitchers go on the disabled list in a given year, according to the 2016 book “The Arm.” In an email, Andrews said fatigue is the No. 1 factor in pitcher arm injuries — both on a macro level (fatigue over seasons and years) and a micro level (fatigue in games). “If a young thrower throws with fatigue, there is a 36 to 1 times (chance) an injury can occur to the throwing arm,” said Andrews, an Alabama orthopedic surgeon renowned for operating on the arms of injured pitchers. For decades, innings pitched was the primary number MLB teams used to measure their pitchers’ workload. The 1989 book “The Diamond Appraised” focused on batters faced per game
to measure pitcher overuse. In 1998, then-Baseball Prospectus writer Rany Jazayerli took it a step further with the Pitcher Abuse Point system. PAP attempted to quantify overuse via pitch counts, specifically when a pitcher was fatigued. The MLB’s focus on pitch counts has sharpened this century. Detroit’s Justin Verlander led the league with an average of 107.9 pitches per game last season. In 2011, that number wouldn’t have ranked in the top five. At the high school level, only one baseball-sanctioned state — Massachusetts — doesn’t have some kind of pitch maximum or required rest days. Before the
Spectators never see baseball like this In a new video on Magicvalley.com today, you see what the athletes see. To follow the ball through a play, Times-News Chief Photographer Drew Nash put a GoPro on a pitcher, a catcher, a hitter, a base runner and an outfielder during a Canyon Ridge High School varsity baseball practice. Nash has spent years photographing high school baseball — like this shot of Minico’s Alan Ambriz pitching against Twin Falls’ Ryan Nolan on April 15. But Nash never shot the game from the athletes’ perspectives until this GoPro video project. The fascinating result: an insider’s perspective on the ball.
Please see PITCHERS, Page E3
Brief history of pitch counts
1990: Knuckleball specialist Tim Wakefield, then of the Pittsburgh Pirates, throws 172 pitches against the Atlanta Braves.
1988
1989
2010: Little League adopts pitch-count rules based on a player’s age.
June 1999: Dr. James Andrews, an influential and world-renowned American orthopedic surgeon, suggests 100 pitches as a ballpark figure for when an arm tires during a pitching outing.
1988: Major League Baseball begins tracking pitch counts as an official statistic.
1990
1999: Chicago Cubs pitching prodigy Kerry Wood tears his ulnar collateral ligament and misses the entire year, after a rookie season in which he shouldered a heavy pitching load at age 21.
1998
1989: Then-23-year-old Al Leiter of the New York Mets throws 163 pitches in his second start of the year. Starting pitchers throw at least 140 pitches in 55 games this season. 1998: Baseball Prospectus writer Rany Jazayerli introduces the “Pitcher Abuse Points” statistic, the first attempt to quantify the damage inflicted on a pitcher’s health in a given game.
1999
2004
2008
2004: Jazayerli amends the Pitcher Abuse Points statistic to consider new research on pitcher arm injuries. 2008: Vermont becomes the first state to spurn an innings limit in high school games in favor of a hard pitch-count limit.
2010: The Yankees and Red Sox local baseball broadcasting channels become the first to display pitch counts on-screen during games. 2010
2015: The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) holds a joint meeting with the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and USA Baseball’s medical safety committee to discuss pitch-count limits for youths.
2012
September 2012: The Washington Nationals, despite being headed for a playoff appearance, shut down allstar starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg after he reaches his innings limit for the year. Strasburg tore his UCL two years earlier, at 21, during his rookie season.
2014
2015
April 2016: Ross Stripling of the Los Angeles Dodgers is pulled from his Major League debut after reaching 100 pitches, despite throwing a nohitter through 7 1/3 innings. High school senior and Illinois State University commit Brady Huffman throws 167 pitches in a 10-inning game, drawing national attention and criticism of his high school coach, Roger Butler. 2016 July 2016: NFHS mandates that each state in which baseball is sanctioned must enact a pitch-count rule.
2014: ESPN begins displaying pitch counts on-screen during games.
September 2016: Idaho High School Activities Association approves a draft of pitch restrictions. December 2016: The Idaho association finalizes adoption of current pitch-count restrictions.
Sources: San Francisco Gate; Grantland; Sabernomics; MLB.com; ESPN.com; Idaho Statesman; Washington Post; SportToday.org; Daily Chronicle; Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center; Baseball Reference; littleleague.org; idhsaa.org; USA Today. — Alex Valentine, Times-News staff
TIM WAKEFIELD
STEPHEN STRASBURG KERRY WOOD
ROSS STRIPLING M 1
BIG STORY
Times-News
Sunday, May 7, 2017 | E3
“My hand would be shaking, and I was like, ‘Dude, I can’t pitch.’ I’d end up pitching.” Jake Nelson, about pitching for a Utah high school
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
In rehabilitation after Tommy John surgery, College of Southern Idaho pitcher Jake Nelson must do 26 exercises six times a day.
Pitchers From E2
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NFHS pitch count mandate last summer, however, Massachusetts was not alone. Just ask Jake Nelson. Nelson, a freshman pitcher for the College of Southern Idaho, in November tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm, his throwing arm. Four months later, he became yet another pitcher to undergo Tommy John surgery, which replaces the UCL with another tendon, either from the player’s body or from a cadaver. The surgery was developed in 1974 by Dr. Frank Jobe, who first conducted it on Los Angeles lefty Tommy John. The surgery has experienced a steep incline the past 20 years among MLB arms, according to the Hardball Times. It’s even more common at the youth level. During 2007-11, 56.7 percent of all Tommy John surgeries were performed on 15- to 19-year-olds, according to the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. In 2015, Nelson graduated from Utah’s Herriman High School. His home state didn’t institute pitch counts until this spring. “Why didn’t they have that when I was there?” he said. “That would’ve saved my whole surgery.” Nelson said he threw as many as about 125 pitches in a high school game, and he threw 100-plus every other week. He pitched on short rest, and he often remained in games with a tired arm. “My hand would be shaking, and I was like, ‘Dude, I can’t pitch,’” he said. “I’d end up pitching.” Nelson had it easy compared with some high school hurlers. Last year, an Illinois high school coach received national criticism for allowing right-hander Brady Huffman, an Illinois State recruit, to fire 167 pitches in a game. Former MLB star Kerry Wood — a poster child for promising young pitchers derailed by arm injuries — threw 175 pitches in a high school game, according to the Dallas Morning News. Not every case of pitcher overuse is due to an overly competitive coach. Nelson, for instance, often volunteered to remain in games when he was fatigued. “No one likes sitting out,” he said. Nelson’s right arm blew out during CSI’s fall world series. He reared back to throw a fastball, but the ball bounced yards in front of the catcher. His arm, which had been sore for years, radiated pain from his pinkie to his elbow. He heard a pop. So did his coach. “I’m screwed,” he thought. Nelson’s arm was in a brace from February until early April. The scar on his right elbow looks like a zipper. He has been doing bicep curls with light resistance, and he just began to throw, although he won’t step on a mound for another nine months. He does
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
With a clicker, Minico pitching coach Eric Miller counts Alan Ambriz’s pitches against Twin Falls on April 15. 26 exercises six times a day. Tommy John surgery saves 80 percent of pitching careers, according to “The Arm,” so Nelson’s long tunnel is well-lit. When he does return to the mound, he plans to treat his right arm with extra caution. “If I feel pain, I’m gonna shut it down,” he said. “It’s just not worth it.”
Correct, or overcorrect?
No coach or player wants to see an arm injury, but some wonder whether Idaho’s new pitch limits are the best way to tackle the issue. Even pitch counts’ supporters admit they are arbitrary. While the baseball-sanctioned states structure their limits and rest days similarly, the specific numbers vary. Some states force players to take four days off from pitching after they tally a high pitch count during a game, while Idaho and others mandate only three days. The lower limits of these high counts range from 75 pitches to 106. Some states prohibit players from throwing more than 100 pitches, but the highest maximum is 125. Jazayerli’s PAP system focused on 10-pitch ranges from 100 to 150 pitches. Those are easily digestible round numbers, but, as Jazayerli admitted, they bear little statistical significance. Four years after PAP was introduced, Jazayerli and colleague Keith Woolner made some adjustments to the system. Still, Woolner wrote, “it is difficult, if not impossible, with present record keeping and medi-
“Is 110 the magic number? I don’t know. It could be right on, it could be five over, it could be five under. The guy who knew the exact number would be a millionaire.” Ty Jones, the IDHSAA’s executive director
cal knowledge to ascertain where a particular pitcher’s threshold is.” Today, 100 pitches qualifies as a lengthy start in an MLB game, but nobody knows how much is too much. The answer isn’t any clearer at the youth level. “Is 110 the magic number? I don’t know. It could be right on, it could be five over, it could be five under,” said Ty Jones, the IDHSAA’s executive director. “The guy who knew the exact number would be a millionaire.” As Andrews noted, fatigue isn’t limited to games or even seasons. The American Sports Medicine Institute — where Fleisig is research director — discovered that young baseball players who pitched competitively for eightplus months a year were five times more likely to receive arm surgery, according to “The Arm.” “It’s too much baseball,” said Olsen, Kimberly’s coach. “I’m of the mindset that kids need to play multiple sports.” Burley High head coach Devin Kunz has firsthand experience with arm injuries. The lefty was a pitcher in the Texas Rangers’ farm system in the early 1990s. He tore his UCL in 1993 and received
Tommy John surgery from Jobe. He didn’t pitch again. Kunz has embraced pitch counts and decries sports specialization, but not because of his injury. Kunz didn’t pitch in high school, and he was an outfielder for his entire career at Brigham Young University. When he finally saw the mound as a senior, he came in from the outfield late in games. One hundred pitches wasn’t a consideration. Kunz started some games in the minor leagues, but he came out of the bullpen in 25 of the 34 games he appeared in. Kunz wasn’t an outlier. The bullpen isn’t always safer than the rotation, and MLB relievers visit the disabled list every year with arm and shoulder injuries. Relievers throw fewer pitches per game than starters but appear in more games, and they average higher pitch speeds than starters. In 2015, Hardball Times discovered that the third of MLB pitchers who averaged 93 mph on their fastball were almost twice as likely to reach the disabled list the next season as pitchers whose average fastball clocked in at less than 90 mph. The only way for a pitcher to
completely prevent an arm injury is to stop pitching. And yet, many pitchers manage to avoid the operating table. This was true before pitch counts, and it will be true going forward. “Every arm is different, and genetics play a big role as to longevity of the throwing arm in baseball,” Andrews said. Eric Miller, pitching coach at Minico High, had a career similar to Kunz’s. Miller pitched in the minor leagues in the 1990s, tore his UCL and underwent Tommy John surgery by Andrews. He also says in-game pitch counts are incomplete methods for tackling the arm injury issue. Before the operation, Miller asked Andrews if there was Please see PITCHERS, Page E4
Reporter Victor Flores pitched this package to an editor the day after Kimberly’s Braden Coronado was pulled from his second no-hitter of this season. That game reinforced Flores’ idea to pursue the story.
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BIG STORY
| SUNDAY, MAY 7, 2017
TIMES-NEWS
PITCH COUNTS AT A GLANCE
Pitches per start MLB pitchers averaging at least 100 pitches per start. 39 29 25
17
With a universally tighter focus on arm injuries in baseball, lower pitch counts are trickling down to all levels of baseball, from Major League to Little League. Average pitch counts in Major League Baseball are dropping year-over-year, and states across the U.S. are required to limit high school pitch counts.
2011
2012
Number of pitches
110
120
ND
125
Not sanctioned**
ID
WI IA
CO
CA
PA IL
KS OK
NM TX
MO
OH
IN
WV VA
KY
MA
NJ DE MD
RI CT
NC
TN AR AL
86109
110 * Must exit pitching mound after finishing at-bat
36-60
Source: Idaho High School Activities Association
Little League pitch counts In 2007, Little League adopted firm pitch-count limits nationwide. A player who hits the maximum comes off the mound. 105
= 5 pitches
95
Source: Little League
SC MS
3 days*
NH ME
NY
MI
NE UT
AR
61-85
3 days
1-35
VT
SD
WY
2016
No limit***
MN
OR
NV
2 days
0 days
WA MT
2015
Idaho has one set of pitch-count limits for the first 30 days following a high school team’s first spring practice. A second set of limits, shown here, applies for the rest of the season. How many days a pitcher must rest before taking the mound again is based on the number of pitches thrown in a single game.
1 day
105
2014
Idaho rules for rest
Idaho’s high school pitch-count maximum is the most common limit used around the U.S. in 2017. 100
2013
15
Source: fangraphs
Pitch count by state PITCH COUNT
24
85 75
GA
LA
AK
50
FL HI * The pitch counts shown for Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Maryland and Missouri apply to players who are upperclassmen. Underclassmen have lower limits. ** South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming baseball teams are not sanctioned by a state federation. *** Baseball in Connecticut and Massachusetts is sanctioned, but the states have not instituted pitch maximums. Connecticut does have mandatory rest days. + The limits shown in Nebraska and New York apply to playoff games only. A lower limit applies to regular season games. ++ Louisiana will implement this limit for the 2018 season. +++ In Oklahoma, a pitcher who reaches the limit may finish the inning but not start another. Source: National Federation of State High School Associations
7-8 years old
MLB average pitches-per-start leaders 2011 113.5
1. JERED WEAVER, LOS ANGELES ANGELS
113.2
109.4
2. JUSTIN VERLANDER, DETROIT TIGERS
3. FELIX HERNANDEZ, SEATTLE MARINERS
109.3
4. TIM LINCECUM, SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
9-10 years old
11-12 years old
17-18 years old
2016 108.8
5. ROY HALLADAY, PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
107.9
107.2
1. JUSTIN VERLANDER, DETROIT TIGERS
2. CHRIS SALE, CHICAGO WHITE SOX
104.2
3. MAX SCHERZER, WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Source: fangraphs
103.8
103.5
4. KEVIN GAUSMAN, BALTIMORE ORIOLES
5. JOHNNY CUETO, SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
DEBORAH HILE, LEE ENTERPRISES GRAPHICS
Pitchers
“Maybe I was not meant to play pro baseball. Maybe I was meant to go elk hunting. Maybe I was meant to marry my wife and have two awesome kids. God has a plan.”
From E3
anything he could have done to prevent the injury. The surgeon’s response: Every arm has so many throws in it. “Maybe I was not meant to play pro baseball,” Miller said. “Maybe I was meant to go elk hunting. Maybe I was meant to marry my wife and have two awesome kids. God has a plan.”
Eric Miller, pitching coach at Minico High
Effects in Idaho
Idaho has some kinks to work out with its pitch-count rules, but teams are already feeling their impact. Keeping track of pitches in games is simple but tedious, especially for schools that approached pitch counts in a lax manner before this year. Posting the counts to MaxPreps is another step that some busy coaches don’t enjoy. Enforcement has experienced some growing pains, too. Last month, the Idaho Statesman reported that 35 percent of games involving Treasure Valley teams did not include complete pitchcount data. Even if that figure were zero, the pitch limits would not account for other areas of pitching like warm-ups, practices, Legion ball and fall ball. Not even the state tournament is enforced. The IDHSAA sanctions baseball only in the regular season, Jones said, so teams are not required to follow the pitchcount rules at state. Pitch limits affect small schools more than large schools. 4A and 5A programs have enough students and enough baseball players
13-16 years old
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Twin Falls pitcher Aaron Brann, left, talks to head coach Tim Stadelmeir and catcher Anthony Scholes during game one against Minico on April 15 at Rupert’s Warburton Field. A head coach’s visit to the mound often ends with the pitcher exiting the game, but this time it was just a discussion. to build large stables of arms. 2A and many 3A programs don’t have that luxury, but they can no longer rely on two or three pitchers to get them through a season. “Everybody who comes into a program, you’re a pitcher until you prove otherwise,” Declo High coach Doug Meyer said. Aces like Coronado were used to pitching until they became too tired or too ineffective. This year, they are increasingly subjected to their least favorite sight: the head coach walking out of the dugout,
approaching the mound and asking for the ball. High school pitchers aren’t the only ones being pulled from no-hitters. Last April, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Ross Stripling was pulled from his major league debut after reaching 100 pitches, despite throwing 7 1/3 no-hit innings. But for every Braden Coronado, there’s a Lars Christiansen. Christiansen was disappointed when he couldn’t preserve Coronado’s no-hitter on March 18. But
inning, he had allowed only one base runner and no hits. His pitch count hadn’t even reached 80. Efficient work. Christiansen struck out the first two batters of the seventh, leaving him one out away from a feat Coronado never had the chance to accomplish. The third batter of the inning, Brandon Long, lined a single to right field on the first pitch. “I’m a Cubs fan,” Christiansen said, “so I’m used to dealing with curses.” Olsen didn’t visit the mound after that hit, and he stayed in the dugout after Christiansen allowed his second straight single. Christiansen’s pitch count was still no concern. Two batters after he lost the no-hitter, he forced a popout to end the game. His final pitch count: 87. Two shy of the count that ended Coronado’s bid a month earlier.
he wasn’t discouraged. Christiansen hardly saw the mound last season as a sophomore. This year, the right-hander made eight appearances by April 25, including five starts. He likely would have pitched more this season even without pitch counts, but they’ve contributed to his increased workload. “Pitching,” Christiansen said, “is my favorite thing.” Christiansen was the starting pitcher against American Falls Sports Editor Alex Valentine on April 17. Entering the seventh contributed to this story.
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