Rules Make Coaches Use Full Deck, Not Just Aces : Athletics: Teams are developing new sources of pitching because there are limits on innings.

Bob Canary was in a bind. Dana Hills’ baseball team had to play six games in seven days--four in the West Anaheim Lions Tournament and two crucial South Coast League games.

Rules, not to mention his conscience, forbade the Dolphins’ coach from taxing his top two starters. They had to be saved for league games.

So just where in the name of Cy Young was he going to find the arms?

His problem was not unusual to high school baseball these days. The game has changed. Coaches who once handed their ace the ball game-in and game-out with the instructions, “Bring it back and don’t get it dirty,” are now more adept at handling pitchers. They realize that those strong arms are also delicate limbs.

So Canary had to prioritize and do some juggling. Anyone who could lob a ball 60 feet 6 inches was a potential pitcher.

“You may see every one of our infielders throw an inning or two,” Canary said before the tournament final.

Things didn’t get quite that desperate, but Canary did do some finagling. He spotted a guy here, tried a guy there. He even called on his third baseman, who hadn’t pitched in a game in nearly two years.

When the week was done, Dana Hills had won five of the six games--including both in league--and finished second in the tournament. Canary had handled his “pitching staff” to perfection.

“The days of having one pitcher get you through a season are long gone,” Canary said. “You have to count on a group of pitchers. We try to carry five. We usually only use three, but we may need the others.”

There is safety in those numbers.

Pitchers are limited to no more than 30 outs or three appearances per week. And coaches are more aware of the dangers of overuse. The combination has been beneficial.

“There were guys who would pitch 85% of their team’s games,” Fullerton College Coach Nick Fuscardo said. “A coach would ride that horse through a season, sometimes to a championship. I’ve seen a big change. I think (high school) coaches are taking better care of pitchers.”

They have to these days.

The number of innings a young pitcher piles up has been among the most controversial issues in high school sports and probably always will be.

“Baseball, more than any other sport, can be impacted by one player, and that’s the pitcher,” Marina Coach Paul Renfrow said. “And that causes a lot of stress on young arms.”

Too much, sometimes.

The American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement on youth baseball Monday that said restricting how long children pitch can prevent permanent elbow injuries.

The Southern Section began limiting the innings a player could pitch in 1990 after a state rule was put into effect. The rule followed a directive from the National Federation of High School Athletic Assns.

Each week, pitchers are allowed the equivalent of 10 innings or three games in which he throws at least one pitch. Games that start but are rained out count toward limit. A team isn’t penalized if a double- or triple-play pushes a pitcher over the limit. Any violation of the rule is an automatic forfeit.

The rule was necessary because a few coaches had abused pitchers.

“There were guys out there who didn’t know how to use pitchers,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “They weren’t in the majority. But if one guy abuses a pitcher, then it’s wrong.”

It was more than one guy.

The section does not keep records on innings pitched, but the constant use of certain pitchers wasn’t exactly a secret.

“You’re talking about human beings, and they make mistakes,” said Gary Johnson, a scout with the Kansas City Royals. “The rule prevents human mistakes.”

Many coaches say some colleagues seemed to over-use their pitchers, throwing their best pitcher as often as possible. Those players may have been eager to carry that heavy workload, but eventually they suffered the consequences.

Jim Peterson pitched in 47 games for Sonora from 1971-73. He won 40. He pitched nine innings of one playoff game--striking out 22--then came back three days later to pitch in relief.

There was a price to be paid. Peterson had one good season at Arizona State, then went downhill rapidly.

Roger Salkeld was a pack mule for Saugus High in 1989. He pitched 32 1/3 of his team’s 36 1/3 playoff innings, bringing his high school career total to 264. Salkeld, a first-round pick of the Seattle Mariners, missed the 1992 season because of a sore right shoulder.

Paul Claes went 14-2 for Fullerton in 1982 and pitched in 33 of 36 innings in the playoffs; the three innings he missed came after he was hit by a line drive. Claes went to San Diego State but never pitched for the Aztecs. He ended up at Rancho Santiago and was all but finished.

“He just wasn’t the same pitcher,” said Fuscardo, who previously coached at Troy High School. “A kid may not be affected today, but it has an effect down the road.”

Said La Quinta Coach Dave Demarest: “There are only so many pitches in an arm and when they’re used up, they’re used up.”

The rules have had an effect.

“It’s nice to know that when you draft a kid he doesn’t have a ton of innings on his arm already,” said Ken Compton, West Coast supervisor in the Mariners’ scouting and player development department.

Coaches now are more apt to protect a prospect than waste him.

Katella’s Jaret Wright is ranked as the nation’s fourth-best high school prospect by Baseball America, but he has hardly been burdened this season. He has pitched 39 innings, roughly one-third of the Knights’ innings.

“When you have a kid of this caliber, you are really careful,” Katella Coach Tim McMenamin said. “He has a tremendous future. If he doesn’t feel right, we don’t even let him take infield at first base.”

Katella will use two or three pitchers a week during league play, much like other teams. It spreads the innings out and keeps the pitchers fresh.

La Quinta’s Jim Livernois was The Times Orange County player of the year in 1993, but he has not been a workhorse this season.

Livernois, 13-3 a year ago, is 6-3 this season. But he has pitched in only 38 innings. Teammates Joe Garcia and Steve Combs have pitched in almost as many: Garcia has 34 2/3, Combs 33 1/3.

Said Demarest: “We don’t chart the types of pitches or the location. We just chart the number of pitches. When a kid reaches a certain number, and he doesn’t look sharp, we pull him.”

Garcia took a 3-2 lead into the seventh inning against Lakewood last week. He was yanked with one out, and La Quinta ended up losing, 4-3.

“Joe walked a batter, and it wasn’t even close,” Demarest said. “I knew he was tired. He said he was tired. He had to come out. What it gets down to is you may have to lose a nonleague game to protect a pitcher.”

The biggest benefit, coaches say, has been the competitiveness. No longer can a team be carried to a championship by one arm.

In 1987, Lakewood beat previously undefeated Esperanza in the Southern Section Division 4-A championship game. Mike McNary pitched all 37 innings in the playoffs for the Lancers, including nine in the title game.

“You now get a truer champion,” Esperanza’s Curran said.

To get through the season and to that championship, you might need more arms. Teams that used to depend on a maximum of two starters are now putting together staffs that include as many as six pitchers.

“The rule gives other kids a chance to pitch,” Dana Hills’ Canary said. “As a coach, you have to develop more pitchers. It’s that simple.”

And to develop arms, coaches have turned to pitching coaches.

High school baseball has traditionally been the highest level that did not have a coach specifically working with pitchers. Now, that’s changing.

El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti runs practice and works with the team while Ira Novick works with the pitchers.

Said Gullotti: “Our pitchers worked for two hours during practice the other day. If I didn’t have Ira, I would have to work with the pitchers either before or after practice.”

Kids are benefiting from the specialized instruction and supervision, learning to care for their arms while they develop theirskills.

“It’s been a really great addition to the high school game,” Fuscardo said. “You have someone up in the bullpen to make sure things are done properly. There are a lot of good pitching coaches out there.”

Still, coaches don’t kid themselves. Pitchers still are being abused, if not during the high school season, then after.

There are more opportunities for kids to pitch--and thus to be overused--than ever before. With summer, winter and scout leagues, some kids will play year round for two or three teams with no pitch-limit rules.

It increases the risk.

Capistrano Valley’s Pete Zamora, considered a top prospect, pitched seven innings for the Cougar summer-league team. The next night, he played in another league in Los Angeles.

“That coach asked him how his arm felt, and Pete said fine,” said Cougar Coach Bob Zamora, Pete’s father. “So he went another seven innings. I found out a few days later and couldn’t believe it.”

Zamora has been sidelined with an elbow injury the last two weeks.

Kids, coaches say, have to learn to just say no, especially during the summer.

Zamora, who is also a first baseman, played in five summer leagues two years ago. Every coach wanted him to pitch, according to Bob Zamora, who tried to make sure that didn’t happen.

Many times, these teams are run by coaches who lack expertise in handling pitchers or stretch the limits in an effort to win.

In 1988, Esperanza’s Roger Weems pitched the first game of a doubleheader in a Mickey Mantle League regional final. His coach had him warming up for the second game when Curran intervened.

“I definitely see a problem with all these leagues,” Curran said. “I’ll send a position player to play without batting an eye. But I’m real leery about sending a pitcher to one of these teams.”

But the overkill isn’t limited to the off-season. Some pitchers are still being overworked by high school coaches.

The most common problem is at the start of the season, when kids have had only two weeks of practice.

“The 30-out rule has worked, but it can be misleading,” Demarest said. “I’m just amazed at the number of kids who go seven innings in that first game. They think that winning that nonleague game is more important than the kid’s arm.”

Demarest said that coaches sometimes will count innings but don’t take into account the number of pitches a kid will throw. If a player pitches twice in a week, it means he has warmed up in the bullpen twice.

The rule also doesn’t take into the number of pitches thrown in a game.

“What’s an inning anyway?,” Demarest said. “It can be a four-pitch inning or a 30-pitch inning.”

Said Renfrow: “We have an obligation to use common sense. Coaches get caught up in the moment and try to win. Instead of playing to win, we need to be responsible to the kids.”

Which, Renfrow said, is what they are hired to do.

“We share only a short time with these kids,” Renfrow said. “We need to protect them.”