Sports Product Review

In 2007, Little League Baseball made one of the most fundamental changes in history to their rules when they implemented the new pitch count regulations. Prior to last year, league rules stipulated that pitchers in Little League could pitch a maximum of six innings per week. Issues of concern for players’ safety arose when, within those six innings, kids would sometimes reach pitch counts of 100 pitches or more. Little League looked at the situation and determined that it would make more sense to limit the number of pitches a child could throw in a given day, rather than the number of innings. Thus the new pitch count rule went into effect, limiting pitchers ages 11-12 to a maximum of 85 pitches on one game. Days rest requirements were also added at 20, 40 and 60 pitches in a game.

So the obvious consequence of this rule change involves tracking each player’s pitches. Coaches need to know not only their own player’s pitch count, but the opponent’s as well. There have traditionally been several options available for this tracking. Many leagues ask a volunteer to act alongside the “Official Scorer” and keep track of both teams’ pitches with pencil and paper. While this has been somewhat successful in the first year of the new rule, there are downsides. Often, getting enough people to volunteer is a challenge. If a volunteer is found, both managers must then rely on this person to be accurate and diligent. In a community recreational baseball game it is very easy to get distracted by children, pets, neighbors coming by to say hello, and other diversions. It is not uncommon for the pitch count to be imprecise and inadvertently cause coaches to make player-personnel decisions based on faulty information. Plus, with this method, coaches must constantly stop the game and ask for a pitch count to determine how many more pitches a player has left.

Also available are manual, hand-held tally counters. While these are inexpensive, coaches must hold these counters in their hands, and must have two – one for their pitcher and for the opponent’s. Hand-held digital counters that track two distinct numbers are on the market, but again, must be held in the hand, which is cumbersome and means they are frequently lost or forgotten at home.

Now, there is a solution that everyone involved with baseball – and any sport where points are scored – will love. The PitchCount Watch (www.pitchcountwatch.com) combines a digital, dual tally-counter with a timepiece, a stopwatch and date/time/alarm function within a convenient and attractive sports watch, all for about the same price as the one-trick digital tally counters. Because this is a good-looking watch that you’d be happy to wear year-round, you won’t ever again show up at your game and realize you’ve forgotten or misplaced your pitch counting device. Because it chimes at 20, 40, 60 and 85, you’ll never risk passing an important rules threshold with your pitcher.

The PitchCount Watch is designed to be easy to use. Unlike many watches that offer confusing buttons and demand intricate sequences to maneuver, the PitchCount Watch was made so that the top two buttons, (corresponding with the pitch counts for Home and Visitor) are independent in their function of advancing or resetting the tally. Because the watch offers a stopwatch, a coach can use the watch at practice as well. And don’t just think of it for baseball. Anyone wishing to carry a mini-scoreboard on their wrist for basketball, soccer, golf or other sports will love the device.

Whether you’ve got a vested interest in keeping tabs on your player’s (or your opponent’s players) pitches, or just want a way to keep tabs on your partner’s shots on the links, the PitchCount watch is a handy tool to ensure that no matter where you go or what you do, you’ll always know what time it is and you’ll always know the score.

Source: PitchCount Watch