With the amount of elbow injuries across Major League Baseball increasing by the year, there is a growing belieif that young athletes are putting too much strain on their arms while they are still developing. Perhaps we should be concerned for Dylan Fosnacht of Rochester (Wash.) High School, who threw 194 pitches and 14 innings on Tuesday.
Rochester coach Jerry Striegel chose to let Fosnacht rack up the mind-boggling pitch count during an eventual 1-0, 17-inning victory. Assistant coach Kyle Sprague told Max Preps that he made the decision to pull Fosnacht in the top of the 15th when he allowed two baserunners with nobody out.
Dustin Wilson took over and eventually got the win. Rochester had two games on Tuesday, and Wilson also pitched all seven innings of the second game. Despite the massive workloads, Sprague insists there is no concern over the condition of either player’s arm.
“I have never seen two guys take the mound and dominate like that for that long,” he said. “I have both of those guys in class, and they both said that their arms were fine today.”
Fosnacht embraced the challenge and opportunity to compete. He also said critics should relax because he’s primarily a middle infielder and not a pitcher.
Some people think it's awesome, some people think it's ridiculous. I personally loved every minute of it and it's a great memory to have
— Dylan Fosnacht (@DFosnacht5) May 15, 2014
So I won't be able to pitch in 5 years? Well it's a good thing I'm a pretty solid middle infielder which is where I play 90 % of the time
— Dylan Fosnacht (@DFosnacht5) May 15, 2014
People just don't understand. I'm not a ace pitcher, I'm a infielder who pitches every now and then. Not a prospect ruining there career
— Dylan Fosnacht (@DFosnacht5) May 15, 2014
People need to chill
— Dylan Fosnacht (@DFosnacht5) May 15, 2014
Striegel later told Big League Stew that he regrets allowing Fosnacht to throw so many pitches.
"I realize that it was way too many pitches," he said Thursday morning. "I can understand everybody's concern about it. And I would tell you too that I am concerned also. I probably would change the decision today."
We're not saying Fosnacht is guaranteed to throw out his arm, and it does make the story a bit different that he is not primarily a pitcher. Still, there should be some sort of cap. I hate the obsession on sticking to 100 pitches in the big leagues, but kids who are still developing need their coaches to limit their work in some fashion. 194 pitches in 14 innings seems absurd.
H/T Eye on Baseball
