Little League Baseball formalized its pitch-count rule (Regulation VI(d)) more than a decade ago because the youth arm injury data finally caught up with how teams were using young pitchers. The rule is simple in spirit and unforgiving in practice: a pitcher of a given age gets a per-day pitch cap, and crossing certain thresholds triggers mandatory rest days before they can pitch again.
If you are a coach, an admin, or a parent of a Little League pitcher, this guide is the reference, the official caps by age, the rest-day math, the common mistakes that get a pitcher ruled ineligible, and how to track it without a clipboard.
Little League pitch counts by age (2026 official)
Per Little League Baseball Regulation VI(d), the maximum pitches per day are:
- Ages 7-8: 50 pitches per day
- Ages 9-10: 75 pitches per day
- Ages 11-12: 85 pitches per day
- Ages 13-16: 95 pitches per day
- Ages 17-18: 105 pitches per day
One key detail: a pitcher who reaches the cap mid-batter can finish that batter. They do not have to be pulled mid-at-bat the second they hit the number.
Rest-day requirements (this is where leagues get tripped up)
Pitch counts are the easy part. The mandatory rest days based on pitches thrown are where the real compliance work lives:
Ages 14 and under
- 1-20 pitches: 0 days of rest
- 21-35 pitches: 1 day
- 36-50 pitches: 2 days
- 51-65 pitches: 3 days
- 66+ pitches: 4 days
Ages 15-18
- 1-30 pitches: 0 days of rest
- 31-45 pitches: 1 day
- 46-60 pitches: 2 days
- 61-75 pitches: 3 days
- 76+ pitches: 4 days
A "day of rest" means a calendar day with no pitching at all. Catching is permitted on rest days (though many local leagues layer additional limits).
The catching restriction (under-talked, equally enforced)
A player who throws 41 or more pitches in a day cannot catch the remainder of that day. And a catcher who has caught four or more innings in a day cannot then pitch on the same day. The rule recognizes that the throwing demand on a catcher is also cumulative arm load.
Why this matters beyond paperwork
Youth pitcher elbow and shoulder injuries (Tommy John surgery in teenagers, growth-plate damage in 12-year-olds) have measurably declined in the leagues that enforce pitch counts strictly. Most of the damage is from cumulative high-pitch outings without recovery, exactly what the rest-day table is built to prevent.
The rule is also enforceable: a pitcher who appears in a game without the required rest is an ineligible player, and the opposing manager can protest the game. Tournament play takes this seriously, regular-season play often does not, until it matters.
How to actually track it (without a clipboard)
The minimum: someone manually counts every pitch and writes it on a card. This works until it does not, the moment a coach forgets to log an inning or a sub appears, the count breaks.
The better answer is software that:
- Tracks pitches per game per pitcher in the score entry flow, not as a separate step.
- Warns the scorer when a pitcher hits the amber zone (85% of their cap) so they can plan the substitution.
- Blocks score entry past the cap unless the scorer acknowledges the rule (some leagues allow exceeding to finish the batter, the system has to know that).
- Surfaces, league-wide, which pitchers are on rest and not available to pitch in upcoming games.
Go LeagueReady ships pitch-count tracking by default for any league on a baseball or softball sport setting, with the amber/red thresholds wired to the Little League division (Tee Ball, Minors, Majors, Juniors, Seniors). The rest-day calculation is a backend job that runs after every score entry and updates pitcher availability for the next 1-4 calendar days. We wrote about how this fits into the wider Little League software landscape in Little League software for volunteer admins. You can open the live demo to see the score entry flow.
USA Baseball Pitch Smart (the wider standard)
Pitch Smart is USA Baseball's guidelines for the broader youth baseball ecosystem (not just Little League International). It mirrors most of Little League's limits but is the reference travel-ball, school, and AAU leagues often cite. If your league plays teams outside Little League charter, the Pitch Smart numbers are the right floor to enforce. They are published at mlb.com/pitch-smart.
The bottom line
Pitch counts and rest days are not bureaucratic overhead, they are the cheapest injury prevention you can buy. Every league that has switched from "trust the coach to manage it" to "system enforces it" has reported fewer mid-season arm complaints. The cost of compliance is one click in the score entry flow. The cost of non-compliance is the high school season a 12-year-old never gets.
If your current setup is a clipboard, start a 14-day free trial and have pitch counts auto-tracked by your next game.