Japan Junior High School Baseball Council revised “Unified Guidelines” in January this year
Local tournaments are currently starting in various parts of Japan with the aim of participating in the “103rd National High School Baseball Championship” scheduled to start on August 9. Speaking of summer Koshien, “the number of balls” is always a hot topic. The Japan High School Baseball Federation (Takano Ren) has set a pitching limit in 2019, and the number of pitches that one pitcher can throw during the tournament is set to 500 in a week. This rule will be applied at this tournament as well, but there is no end to the debate about the large number and small number.
It is clear that the excessive load of practice and games is one of the causes of high school baseball children’s shoulder and elbow injuries. However, as Dr. Kozo Furushima, the authority of Tommy John’s surgery (medial elbow collateral ligament reconstruction) in Japan and the director of the Sports Medicine Center of Keiyu Orthopedic Hospital, has pointed out, high school students develop shoulder and elbow injuries. Many of the players have a medical history when they were in elementary and junior high school. In other words, measures before entering high school are also an important point.
Then, what kind of measures are each group involved in junior high school baseball taking?
The Japan Softball Baseball Association revised the limit on the number of pitches for junior high school students (boys’ club) in February 2020 and introduced it in March. Until then, the number of pitches was set to “up to 7 innings a day”, but it was replaced with a specific number of pitches, “the number of pitches per day during the tournament is 100, and the number of pitches per week is 350”.
Japan Junior High School Baseball Association (Boys League), Japan Little Senior Junior High School Baseball Association, Japan Pony Baseball Association, All Japan Youth Baseball Federation (Young League), Kyushu Youth Baseball Association (Fresh League) The Baseball Council revised the “Unified Pitching Restriction Guidelines for Junior High School Pitchers”, which has been fully applied since 2015, in January this year. Again, in the game so far, the pitching limit set by the number of pitches, such as “7 innings or less per day, 10 innings or less in 2 consecutive days”, is “maximum 80 pitches per day, 120 pitches in 2 consecutive days”. The number of pitches was changed to “within the range”. The following are the specific rules.
[About pitching in the game]
1. Maximum 80 balls per day, 120 balls or less in 2 consecutive days. If the number of pitches exceeds 80 in two consecutive days, pitching is prohibited on the third day.
2.3 In case of continuous pitching (3 games in 3 consecutive days), the daily pitching limit is 40 pitches or less. 4 consecutive throws (4 games in 4 consecutive days) are prohibited.
3. During the tournament, after throwing 80 pitches a day, if you take a break from pitching the next day, you can pitch 80 pitches on the third day.
The basic principle is 4.1 to 3, but if the number of hits reaches a limit during the turn at bat, pitching is permitted until the batter’s turn at bat ends. The number of balls that exceed the limit is not counted in the number of pitches.
5. A pitcher who has pitched more than 80 pitches in two consecutive days and a pitcher who has pitched three times in a row cannot participate as a catcher on the final day of pitching and the next day.
6. Balk is not the number of pitches.
7. Matches that are no games due to rain etc. are counted in the number of pitches.
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