WildRoseCoach wrote:Great topic. I'm running into this same thing this year. Last year I was head coach in another organization we had 3 pitchers. At the end of the Season all 3 of the pitchers were within 10 innings of each other. This year we moved to another organization and I'm assisting. So far after 3 Tournaments, #1 pitcher = 50 innings, #2 = 17 innings, #3 = 12 innings. I asked the Head Coach about this same topic and his response was, "I'm a firm believer in riding the horse until it gets too tired".
Either I'll take the head coach next year at 14U or we'll go somewhere else if this guy is going to be the head coach.
This may seem unfair, but I could forsee 50 short innings, 17 medium long innings, and 12 really long innings being reasonably equitable in pitch count. We were rotating pitchers religiously two years ago based on innings and found that out #1 was pitching much less than #2 and #3 because she was pitching much shorter innings due to her ability. It's more about rotating kids and keeping the workload per day reasonable. I agree with Moefoes, I wouldn't let my daughter get overworked at catcher either. I think catching a game is more of an overall physical grind than pitching a game. It doesn't entail the same specific repetitive stress that pitching does, but the crouching, the gear, being the defensive captain, take a different type of toll. I like to DP my catcher on their off games so they get a physical break on multiple game days.