Little League Baseball is about to wrap up another season.
This year, there was a major rule change that limited the number of pitches a pitcher can throw in a game, and in a week.
It's called Pitch Count.
And while the league put it in place to protect the kids, not everyone likes the changes.
NHPR corespondent Brian Early reports.
At Central Little League in inner city Manchester, young players compete every weekday evening at Gill Harris Park.
The park holds five baseball diamonds of various sizes, each filled with little leaguers engrossed in their games.
Mention the word Pitch count, and you’re bound to get some opinions.
Sally Dreckman, is President of Central Little League.
SD 10 secs: This is my first year doing pitch count and we have had two arm injuries so far this season, and this is my eighth year as president, I've never had an arm injury seven years prior.
The pitch-count is a new rule instituted by Little League Baseball, a national non-profit that organizes local children's baseball games.
It’s an attempt to limit the number of times a pitcher pitches the ball.
Steve Keener, president of the National Little League says the organization came up with the new rules because of a national increase of arm injuries in young players.
SK 29 secs: There were number of medical professionals and orthopedic surgeons that were seeing kids coming in with elbow and shoulder injures that they were normally seeing in players who had been pitching in their late twenties or early thirties. And they were seeing more and more of these kids and wondering what was causing this. It became very clear that a lot of these kids were pitching for multiple teams and throwing way too many pitches without that proper rest.
So the league decided to limit the number of pitches any one pitcher could pitch.
Ages ten and under can throw a maximum of seventy-five pitches per game.
Eleven and twelve year olds get to throw eighty-five.
If they reach that number, they can’t pitch again for three days.
Last year the rules were voluntary.
And while many districts in New Hampshire complied, Central Little League was not one of them.
That's not to say that the coaches didn't care about their kids’ arms.
In fact, some coaches argue that players had more rest with the old rules that were based on innings instead of pitch counts.
If a pitcher threw for two innings, he or she couldn't pitch the next game.
Now, if a pitcher throws twenty pitches or fewer, he or she can pitch the very next game.
BF 1 sec: I don't think it's made any difference.
That's Butch Field, known as Coach Butch to his nine and ten year old players
BF 19 secs: We went back with our book and checked the pitch count, what kids pitched last year and if you do innings verses the pitch count, it didn't make much of a difference. It's just how coaches use their kids. You give them plenty of rest.
And Coach Butch says the rules are strict…even if a pitcher throws just one pitch over the limit.
BF 2 secs: We found out already. It's a forfeit.
SH 8 secs: I think it's great. It makes it easier to manage and doesn't hurt the kids arms and it allows the managers more flexibility.
That's Shawn O'Hagan, coach of eleven and twelve year olds.
Total: 20 secs
SH:If you play by the rules and you want to call them the loop rules, yeah, but use them to your advantage than good
(me): But do you find that kids are pitching more than they were last year with the pitch count?
No. They may be more pitching more in a week, but they're not pitching any more than one day, and that's where they getting hurt, by pitching too much in a day than not too much in a week. And you can pitch a kids per more in a week now and but with the pitch count your limiting the arm use per day, which I think is better.
O'Hagan's son, Corey, who is twelve, is mixed on the new rules.
Total 30 secs:
CH: I like it better last year because we could actually pitch a whole game but this year you couldn't because you only have 85 pitches.
(me) With an 85 pitches, you can't pitch a whole game?
CH: Sometimes you can, but it's wicked hard to.
(me) What about your arm? Do you find feel any difference with your arm strength.
CH: yeah. I pitch better this year than last year.
Rules are rules, and whatever changes there are to the game are not going to stop children from playing baseball.
While some in Central Little League wish to go back to the old days, none are optimistic that they will, and pitch count will be the norm.
It just takes time to get used to the change.
For NHPR News, I'm Brian Early in Manchester.
