New York City public school baseball pitchers will have to do more with less this spring.
Through Department of Education spokeswoman Margie Feinberg, the PSAL announced it will hold a press conference Thursday morning at Long Island City High School in Queens at 11 a.m. to “make an announcement about high school baseball games.”
The announcement, several sources told The Post, will be regarding pitch-count restrictions designed to ensure the health of pitchers.
In an e-mail obtained by The Post, sent from the DOE to City Councilman Oliver Koppell, the rules are as follows:
* Pitchers will have a cap of 105 total pitches for one game.
* Players will be able to pitch the next day if they throw 25 or fewer pitches.
* A player will have to rest a day if he throws 26-53 pitches, two days if he throws 50-70 pitches, three days if he throws 70-90, and four days for anything over 90 pitches.
Feinberg said: “We will have information available at the press conference.”
Koppell and fellow Councilman Lewis Fidler pushed a bill in the Committee on Youth Services last February asking for pitch-count limits in all baseball leagues across the city. Since the PSAL has opted to have its own rules, the councilmen, Koppell said, have decided to hold back on the bill. They are hopeful the Catholic league and various private school leagues across the city will follow the PSAL, though CHSAA baseball commissioner Wally Stampfel said his league doesn’t plan to institute pitch-count rules.
“I think we forced the public schools to do something they should’ve done a long time ago and I’m gratified about that,” Koppell said. “It will protect hundreds of kids over the years. I’m pleased they are instituting a regulation.”
Several local coaches, however, aren’t. They feel they are being told how to do their jobs and that the league knows more about their players than they do. Additionally, it could change the game, coaches advising their players to take extra pitches to get an opposing pitcher out of the game.
“It’s kind of ridiculous,” George Washington coach Steve Mandl said. “I don’t want anybody telling me what I should do because I feel like I know what I’m doing.”
Mandl did say he understands the need for such a rule in certain situations. In years past, he has seen certain coaches abuse a pitcher’s arm, using them repeatedly during the regular season and playoffs. The PSAL asked all coaches to put up pitch counts last spring and noticed pitchers routinely went over 100 pitches.
“I don’t need it, but a lot of people do,” Mandl said.
There also is the question of the accuracy of it all. Both coaches at a game will be required to count pitches for their respective pitchers and transfer it onto the league’s website with the box score. One coach, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was unsure what happens if the two coaches have different numbers, and doubted coaches would post accurate numbers.
Francis Lewis coach Ian Millman, a former professional pitcher, lauded the PSAL for the preventative measure, saying it would limit injuries to pitchers and force coaches to develop a deep pitching staff instead of relying upon one or two arms. He said he does expect it to change the way PSAL baseball is played.
“I understand why they’re doing it, but what they have just done is handicap coaches who know what they are looking at and understand the appropriate way to use a pitcher,” Millman said. “This is going to tremendously help weaker teams when it comes to playing stronger teams if a coach can work a quality strategy that will coincide with the new pitch-count rules.”
