Catcher's Obstruction: Hit or E2?

[andrewm]

Originally Posted by TwoBits

He's 8 playing on a 10 and under team. Pitched 5 innings, walked 5, struck out 13. Only kid that scored was the one who got reached on catcher's obstruction and scored on a fielder's choice.

I refer to him as "Dad's retirement plan".

Hmm. With that kind of pitch count at 8, you'll be lucky if he's still able to throw in high school.

Let's do the math:

13 Ks - min of 39 pitches (assume 3 pitches per K)
5 BB - min of 20 pitches (assume 4 pitches per BB)

That's a minimum of 59 pitches. Probably closer to 75 pitches, not including the E2 or FC. His actual pitch count was likely approaching 85-90 pitches, if not more.

When my son starting pitching at 9, all the research I did suggested pitch counts in the 30-40 range for that age.

My son is 12 now, and our BEST pitcher averages 15 pitches per inning. So that's 75 in 5 innings.

Just some FYI.