77 Friday (2/2)

Noah took off his baseball cap and readjusted it, looking nervously at Zeke, who was looking at everyone else. ”The team can accept me because I've been with them since school started in August. I've proved to be the best shortstop. You have great batting, we have to put you somewhere. But Jason replacing Chris at third is a slightly big deal. Chris started at third base every game last season.” He took a deep breath. ”But I think the biggest surprise is that Garret isn't starting at pitcher in a game that could be our only game this weekend. Usually in tournaments, you start with your strongest pitcher so you have a better chance of surviving to the finals. But it looks like we're gonna try and save him for later on.”

I frowned, whispering back. ”He can't pitch multiple games?”

Noah let out a laugh. ”No way. There are rules for pitchers. In high school, pitchers are only allowed three appearances a week and/or 30 outs, whatever comes first. But the real tricky part comes with pitching limitations. A varsity pitcher is only allowed 110 pitches, a game. But you also have to pay attention to rest days. If a pitcher throws less than 30 pitches in a game, he isn't required to rest. So for example, we could use Garret for 30 pitches tomorrow in the span of two games, and he could still pitch on Sunday. But if he did ten pitches in game one, twenty in game two, he could only choose one game for Sunday, because he'd be at the three game limit. But Monday's are like the reset button for a new week. But that doesn't affect days of rest that would be required.”

Ugh. I wish I had my notebook.

”31-50 pitches require one day rest. 51-75 requires two days. 76-110 requires three whole days. So say we use Garret like that and on Sunday in game three, he throws 100 pitches, we won't be able to use him in a game until Thursday. He would have to rest Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.” Noah continued.

I didn't know this much effort went into baseball. Coaches had a lot to keep track of just for the pitchers alone.

”That's why almost half the team has pitchers.” Noah didn't stop even though I could no longer keep up. ”There's about 25 games a season, excluding playoffs so it takes a lot of strategizing. We can only play two games during the week and one on Saturdays except for tournaments that require doubleheader's.”

I held out my hand to stop him. I was thoroughly lost. I just wanted to know what the big deal was. I glanced at Garret to see if he was upset with not starting, but he looked perfectly at ease. I showed Noah.

”Of course he doesn't mind. Coach and Zeke are basically telling him that they value him so much, that we can't waste him on a game one.” Noah's eyes sparkled. ”But it also says that they think we'll win game one, even against an old powerhouse school.”

I relaxed at the thought.