My son plays 12U baseball and loves it. We joined a new team this season, and tried initially tried out as a catcher since that's his main position. When the coaches saw his arm at the tryout, they asked if he could pitch. I said yes, but I was very clear that he was not catching and pitching the same day. Our team is planning on playing around 10 tournaments in the spring. I have my own opinions, but I'm curious to see what other's think. How many pitches can a 12 year old throw in a single day, or on consecutive days in a tourney?

We are playing 12 tournaments this year at 13U. A good club will have enough kids on the roster to mange this effectively, 12 is a good starting number. Of the 12, I'd say that 10 should be pitchers and the other 2 catchers. We don't throw our catchers unless something drastic happens like injury or illness limits our roster. Even then it's a last resort.

I think at 12U, something like 6070 pitches and done in a normal two day tournament. Once you get over 40 or so I would not throw them on consecutive days.

I'd be very, very careful if your son catches and pitches, even on different days of the tournament. Maybe just one inning stint as a closer per weekend or something if he really wants to pitch.

Thanks for the input. I just wanted to make sure that the guidelines I gave to the coaches weren't unreasonable. I told them no more than 80 pitches in a weekend. He didn't pitch today, but he did catch two innings with about the pitchers throwing about 40-50 pitches in those two innings. He also threw to 2nd and 3rd a few times trying to throw out runners. I know he can't throw more than about 60-65 pitches in a day without getting too tired, and that's if he's fresh. I'm sure it will be less tomorrow since he was catching today. Our problem is that we don't have that many pitchers, even with 12 on the roster. Only 8 of our kids pitch, so it's really hard to get deep into tourneys. Saturday is basically win if you can, but don't burn our 2 best pitchers. I'm not even sure if our coach understands how to effectively coach a tourney, but I really can't worry about that now, I just have to take care of my son's arm. I don't want him to be another statistic with TJ surgery at 15. Best of luck to you guys this season.
Gig'em.
JR

I'm sure a lot will disagree with me, but at 12 I'm a hard 50 on any given day. No consecutive days unless it was 25 pitches or less outing previously.

My assumption is that every arm has a max number. I don't know what that number is so I'm sure not going to reach it in games that aren't important (like 12 year old baseball).

My son is pitching at a 5A high school now and we are truly blessed with a great pitching coach. Even though the UIL limit is 110, I don't think any of our pitchers have gone over 80 yet this season.

EVERY player on a 12 year old team should pitch, you never know.

Agree about every 12 year old being at least able