IHSA may restrict how much young pitchers can throw

It was the third inning of a summer baseball tournament game in Georgia, and Ryan Hodgett was on the mound, feeling loose and well-rested.

Then, in the middle of a pitch, the right-hander from West Chicago heard a pop in his throwing arm and he knew something was wrong.

He tried to fight through the pain, but couldn't. He threw only one more pitch before he left the game.

That was two years ago, but the memory is still fresh.

Just 16 at the time and entering his junior year of high school, Ryan had completely torn the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery - named for a former major league pitcher - to reconstruct it.

His story is not unusual - it plays out countless times each year as arm problems haunt young baseball pitchers.

In an effort to reduce such throwing-related injuries, the Illinois High School Association is looking at several options to protect young arms, including creating a mandatory pitch count.

"It's time we have something in place that mandates our schools stay within certain limits," said Craig Anderson, executive director of the IHSA. "It's all about player safety."

On Tuesday, the association's baseball advisory committee will consider the issue.

The panel eventually will make a recommendation that will be vetted before going to the IHSA's board of directors, which gets the final say on what regulations will be implemented for the spring baseball season.

<h3 class="breakHead">Long overdue</h3>

Doctors, trainers and coaches advocating for a pitch count limit say it's time for high school teams to better protect their players.

"It's a shame that we're asking young kids to do things that we don't expect grown men to do," said Tony Garofalo, an athletic trainer from West Dundee and a former head trainer for the Chicago Cubs. "Maybe it's because of the money they have invested in them, but major league teams put players on a strict pitch count. For high school kids, it's just like, 'Whatever.'"

As a result, many young players are breaking down with shoulder and elbow problems caused by overuse.

A recent study conducted by physicians at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush found those 15 to 19 years old are the fastest-growing age group facing Tommy John surgery.

The surgery is a procedure in which a healthy tendon removed from an arm - or sometimes a leg - is used to replace a torn ligament in the elbow.

"This is a condition that is almost uniquely seen in adolescent and young adult baseball pitchers," said Dr. Mark Cohen, a hand, wrist and elbow surgeon at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush. "We see it once in a while in gymnasts. We see it once in a while in a javelin thrower. But pretty much this is an overhead throwing condition that occurs with a 9-inch baseball."

<h3 class="breakHead">Always playing</h3>

One key factor in the increasing number of injuries is that more and more young pitchers are throwing year round, with little time for rest and recovery. That's especially true, Anderson said, of players who abandon the idea of being multisport athletes so they can focus on just one - often with an eye toward winning a college scholarship.

For pitchers, that means they're not going spend two or three months playing another sport and resting their throwing arms.

"When there's specialization, they're spending 10, 11 months out of the year throwing," Anderson said. "The body just can't maintain that."

Ryan Hodgett stopped playing basketball and focused on pitching when he started his freshman year at St. Francis High School in Wheaton.

"We were bummed about that because we liked that multisport dynamic," said Debbie Hodgett, Ryan's mother.

But because Ryan loved baseball so much, his parents let him play fall ball, high school ball, and on traveling teams during the summer. He even was able to throw indoors during the winter.

"It was the perfect storm," Debbie Hodgett said.

Ryan was playing for a travel team in July 2014 when he injured his arm.

Looking back, Debbie Hodgett says there were signs during the two months leading up to the game that Ryan's ulnar collateral ligament was weakening.

"We had noticed that he wasn't throwing as hard or as fast as he used to," she said. At the time, though, no one realized what was causing it.

She says she's happy the issue of overuse is getting more attention and that parents are learning about the risks.

"Even when Ryan was 12, 11 years old, we didn't know any better," Hodgett said. "If you're winning the game, you keep him in."

<h3 class="breakHead">There will be limits</h3>

The IHSA has talked about pitch counts in the past, but never settled on a specific limit. This time, though, the National Federation of State High School Associations, which writes the rules for most high school sports in the country, has decreed state associations must develop such regulations.

The question is how to get there. Right now, IHSA rules only say that a pitcher can't throw more than nine innings in one day. High school games are seven innings.

"Anything at this point is on the table," Anderson said, adding that a pitch count seems certain.

Further, officials are considering whether to regulate how many days of rest a pitcher must have between games.

There's also likely to be discussion of creating a database to track how many pitches a player makes during each outing. It also would indicate when that pitcher could throw again.

Once the IHSA adopts its rules, the hope is that travel teams and fall ball leagues will follow suit.

Ryan Hodgett, who is now 18 and fully recovered from his surgery, is still playing baseball on a scholarship at Bradley University. He says he hopes the proposed changes will not only protect young pitchers, but empower them.

"I think it's more about the player actually knowing himself - knowing how much his arm can handle - and having the confidence to go to his coach and say, 'Hey, I can't throw anymore,'" he said.