Coaches weigh in on Dylan Fosnacht's 194-pitch outing

As a knee-jerk reaction, the country probably thinks Jerry Striegel is something of a jerk.

The Rochester (Wash.) baseball coach let his starting pitcher Dylan Fosnacht throw 194 pitches in 14 innings of his team's 1-0 17-inning loss to LaCenter on Tuesday.

Since MaxPreps senior writer Stephen Spiewak reached out to Fosnacht and the Rochester staff, and broke out with a blog on Wednesday, much of the country's sporting community — even Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption — has weighed in on the ultra-sensitive topic.

Like concussions and heat-exhaustion injuries in football, arm injuries in the baseball world seem to be occurring at an alarming rate and coaches are under constant scrutiny for over-use. Especially with the growing number of Tommy John surgeries occurring at younger ages.

So, considering 100-pitch limits seem to be the game exit rate from the Major Leagues on down, doubling up that number has made Striegel an easy and quick target.

"My first reaction for sure was just, ‘This is ludicrous,' " said St. Francis (Mountain View, Calif.) coach Mike Oakland, whose team is No. 22 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings. "Really, I thought it was a joke or just not true. How can anyone allow that to happen? How could a mom or dad not come out of the stands and get their son out of the game?"

But as more information came out, revealing that the 5-foot-7 Fosnacht is not a college player, that he was just trying with all his heart, soul and rubber arm to win a 1A playoff game, opinions softened.

Even, admittedly, from Oakland.

"If you have no baseball future, then I suppose it's up to him and his coach," Oakland said.

And under virtually all reviews, Stiegel is no jerk. Fosnacht defended him to the bone and ulnar collateral ligament, noting that Stiegel checked with him every extra inning and that he cares profusely about his players.

"People just don't understand," he tweeted. "I'm not an ace pitcher, I'm a infielder who pitches every now and then. (I'm) not a prospect ruining (my) career."

Despite that, Stiegel second-guessed himself Wednesday, telling Big League Stew "I realize that it was way too many pitches. I can understand everybody's concern about it. And I would tell you that I am concerned also. I probably would change the decision today."

But Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) coach Bill Hutton, who has coached against St. Francis in the West Catholic Athletic League for 32 seasons, said after review he at least understood Stiegel's position. He and other coaches seemed to agree that there are gray areas on pitch counts, that there are a number of other factors when considering arm safety for young pitchers.

"My first reaction, was ‘Oh my God, you have to be kidding?' " Hutton said. "But after reading more about the kid and the game, I realized there is a gray area here. Nobody knows the right number for every person. There's no research that says ‘here's the magic number.'

"I have some kids who could throw every day and not feel a thing. I have others who are very tender the next day after an outing. In Japan, kids throw a ton — 200 pitches in games. But they raise them throwing every day. It's their culture. Talk to old-timers and they think we're being overly-sensitive with these pitch counts.

"Honestly, I don't think anyone really knows. Some kids simply have rubber arms. It's still an inexact science."

Hutton has read research from renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews, who said that every kid who throws more than 100 innings in a calendar year is three times more likely to require Tommy John surgery by the age of 20.

"My kids never throw more than 60 in a season," Hutton said. "But then there's summer league and fall ball. It gets dangerous."

Sammy Blalock, coach of the nation's No. 9 team Rancho Bernardo (San Diego), said he doesn't go by pitch count per se.

"We just watch the kid and see how he's doing physically," he said. "We start building them up early in the season and watch and monitor them every step. Some kids throw 70 pitches and their arms are dead. Others go 100 and show no signs of being tired.

"I don't think there's a magic number. We just watch them closely."

California is mandated by a 10-inning per week rule. The three California coaches we talked to said they've rarely, if ever, approach that limit. 

Blalock said he never lets a pitcher go twice a week.

"None of us want our kids to get hurt obviously," Hutton said. "And as coaches, we don't want to be the guy being responsible for hurting any player. I think we all err on the side of caution so we can say it doesn't happen on our watch."