Pitch Count

Coaches or managers have a difficult decision to make in every game: when to pull the starting pitcher and replace him with a reliever. Oftentimes, for this decision, the manager is skewered by the press and the public. To this day, Red Sox fans still debate Grady Little's decision to leave Pedro Martinez in the game late in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series.



http://images.dailyradar.com/media/uploads/ballhype/story_large/2009/03/09/pedro_martinez.jpg

So the question remains. At what point should a manager pull his starting pitcher? The school of thought today is between 100-110 pitches. Coaching youth baseball, I usually look at pulling the starter at somewhere betweeen 55-65 pitches.

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