Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Sports columnist Aaron McFarling: New rules needed to save prep arms
Aaron McFarling
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After every inning, he heard the same question: You OK?
"I feel good," he'd say. "I feel good."
Only he didn't. Truth is, Chastin Akers hadn't felt good since the moment he picked up a baseball to begin his warm-up tosses. After a long regular season -- and three days after throwing 121 pitches in an elimination game against George Wythe -- his arm hurt every time he threw.
By the third inning, the pain disappeared, but not in a good way. Akers could no longer feel his left arm. Yet the Narrows ace believed he had a responsibility to his depth-shy team and himself.
So he lied.
"I feel good, Coach. I feel good."
On to the sixth inning he battled. Then the eighth. After the 10th, with the score tied at 1, the opposing coaches asked the umpire if Akers had to come out of the game. Isn't there a Virginia High School League rule that says no more than 10 innings per pitcher in two days?
Not if he starts the game, the umpire correctly noted. Then he can go as long as the game does.
Unfortunately for Narrows -- but fortunately for Akers -- the game ended in the bottom of the 11th. Glenvar scored on a throwing error moments after Akers made his 179th pitch of the day and 300th of the week.
"I look back at it now, and that was really stupid," Akers says a year after the memorable Region C semifinal loss. "I risked my college career and everything, just for that one game."
This week, as baseball teams vie for state championships, a pitcher might find himself in the same situation Akers was in last season. Akers' advice? Be smarter than he was.
"I didn't want to take myself out," he says. "But I should have."
Or his coach should have done it for him.
The VHSL has made a good-faith effort to protect the arms of pitchers without contributing to the wussification of America. The rule -- no more than 10 innings in two consecutive calendar days -- seems a reasonable limit. But there is no provision for prudent judgment, and that is what's required this time of year.
All innings are not created equal. An inning could feature three pitches or 50. Some situations might require a pitcher to reach back for extra zip more often than others, causing additional strain on the arm.
Meanwhile, the rules exception that Akers used -- if you start a playoff game that goes extra innings, you can finish the game regardless of how long it goes -- gives players and coaches flexibility but also a weighty responsibility.
Brian Bowles likes the exception. The former Glenvar right-hander opposed Akers that day and matched him inning for inning.
"I'm just really competitive, and I told my coach don't pull me out of the game because I want to finish this myself," said Bowles, now the closer at Ferrum College. "He had trust in me. He knew I could get it done and I knew I could get it done."
Sound familiar? But the difference there was that Bowles' arm felt fine throughout. That's what makes the coaches' jobs so difficult: two players in the same game, both telling their coaches the same thing but feeling entirely different.
There is no foolproof method to prevent overuse, but Little League Baseball took a step in the right direction this season, scrapping innings limits in favor of pitch limits. For the 17- to 18-year-old leagues, Little League allows up to 105 pitches per day. If a pitcher throws 76 pitches or more in a day, he must take three days off before he can pitch again.
The organization used pitch limits in some leagues last season on a trial basis and reported positive results -- fewer injuries and stronger arms at the end of the season. The VHSL would be wise to look into something similar, although a beefier limit of 125 pitches seems fair for high schoolers.
Ultimately, pitchers need to be honest with themselves, coaches need to remember that competitors sometimes lie, and athletes need to keep the potential consequences in mind.
Akers didn't think about the consequences until the morning after his 179-pitch day, when he awoke and wondered when -- or even if -- he'd be able to throw again.
"It took everything I could just to move," he said. "I was so sore."
Fortunately, nothing was seriously injured. He took a few weeks off and was back pitching for his American Legion team in preparation for his first season at Concord College.
Today, he says he feels good, and you can believe him.
He also feels lucky.
