BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

BayStars slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo becomes advocate of pitch-count limits for youth

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, seen earlier this month in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, believes Japan's youth baseball authorities should do more to protect players from injuries and stress. | KYODO

By Jason Coskrey
Staff Writer

Jan 25, 2019

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo was struck by a strange thought while playing for Samurai Japan during the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

There were pitch limits in effect during that tournament, which features professional players, adults from MLB, NPB and other leagues. Meanwhile at the high school level in Japan, children were being asked to throw with no such limits and seemingly little regard their bodies.

"The kids weren't being protected," Tsutsugo said on Friday morning at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. "I remember thinking that was strange."

BayStars slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo becomes advocate of pitch-count limits for youth

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