As we first got wind of the controversy over limited warm-up pitches at the Elite 32 tournament, WebBall asked for feedback from baseball insiders, both in writing and verbally. Not all are absolute supporters of the magic number of 8, by the way, but all believe Ron is the right guy to spearhead this battle.

That's just wrong. Pitchers need their 8 throws and if they can't get them on the mound, they need to get it somehow. In any offensive inning for us that goes 8-10 minutes, I'll have my pitcher get up and do tubing or sideline throws to stay loose, before heading to the mound for 8. If they want to speed up innings, get players to hustle on and off.
- Dave Empey, premier-level coach and on-going consultant to select major league pitchers

Glad you are looking into this... Ron is a friend of mine and I think it's a shame. First of all, not a lot of science for you....but for me, there should be an 8 pitch warm up period every inning, at every level, PERIOD. If a pitcher wants less, he can take less. It's as simple as that. This is the safest thing to do... there's nothing even debatable as far as I'm concerned.
- Alan Jaeger, Jaeger Sports, creator of the Thrive on Throwing program

I think 8 is fair and as many as needed coming from the field
- Paul Reddick, 90mphClub.com where he has also had some recent video blogs on why he is no fan of constant tournament play

Don't throw 8 because you get 8. If 5 is fine, fine. I don't want ALL of them hard. Keep it below 75% effort, 75% is where the pitches "count."
- Will Carroll, Baseball Prospectus and author of "Saving the Pitcher: Preventing Pitcher Injuries in Modern Baseball"

Note: When questioned on the 75% effort statement with this rebuttal: "the 8th should be at best effort, so you role right over the first batter faced"; his reply was "I would not argue with that."

It seems obvious the warm-up limit was an attempt to speed up each game in moving from 24 teams to 32 - by maybe a minute per inning, at a risk to the players. Ill-advised, as fewer warm ups could mean under-prepared pitchers and therefore LONGER innings (longer pitch counts, more walks, more hits).
- Richard Todd, WebBall head coach

I do not know of any research that counts and studies warm-up pitches and their correlation with performance/safety. We did not monitor warm-up pitches before game nor before innings in any of our pitch count studies (Lyman et al, etc.). While there would have been value in collecting warm-up pitch counts, it wasn't feasible as it was asking enough to have the parents/coaches count game pitches for the voluntary study.
- Glenn S. Fleisig, Ph.D., Director of Research, American Sports Medicine Institute

Based on this absence of scientific data as noted above, WebBall has resolved to step in and ask for coach/parent support in monitoring - we will announce our reporting requirements soon.


Now it's your turn...

We hope and expect you'll review the comments above and the other pages in this section explaining the USSSA and Wolforth positions. 

In the first 24 hrs of the polling we received comments from over half the voters. It's obvious people want to speak out, so we no longer need to include samples here to prime the pump. Please complete the Pitch Limit Poll and add your comments there.

(On pages like this one which allow reader comments, please keep it civil at the risk of having your membership suspended - no, we're not the U-Trip, we like different opinions, but not personal attacks.)