But I also wonder if focus on pitch counts are overblown? Common sense tells me "no." Throwing overhand (as opposed to softball pitching style) is an unnatural motion that causes stress on the ligaments, tendons, muscles. It would follow that throwing 150 of these as hard as you can in one outing wouldn't be a really good thing either.
But like other muscles in your body, if you condition your arm to throw a lot wouldn't it also follow that you could throw a lot more than if you didn't...safely? Why do non-pitchers suffer arm injuries too? Single stress incident? Buildup? Does anyone know for sure? (I sure don't!)
I recently heard a discussion on ESPN Baseball Tonight with a former manager in the studio who said it seemed in recent years that when he went to the mound in the 7th inning and asked some MLB pitchers if they were tired they responded with a question to him, "Well how many pitches have I thrown?" He felt they were conditioned to measure "tired" based on pitch counts.
Everyone is different and can handle less or more. Hard to know at what point real damage might set in and I suppose thats different for each pitcher as well. Someday maybe they'll find the gene that has the coded "pitch limit" for each guy?
