Pitch Count Tracker

Enter the pitcher's name (optional, useful when you're tracking more than one), pick the league ruleset that applies to your game, and select the age group. During play, tap +1 strike or +1 ball after each pitch. The tracker shows total pitches, pitches remaining before the daily max, running strike percentage, and the required rest days based on the current count. USSSA leagues use innings caps instead of pitch counts, and the tracker switches to an innings reference when you pick that league.

The tracker resets when you reload the page. For multi-game season tracking, record each outing in a scorebook, spreadsheet, or a coaching platform that stores pitch logs across a full schedule.

MLB Pitch Smart is the age-based pitch count program run by Major League Baseball and USA Baseball. It publishes daily pitch maximums and required rest thresholds for every age group from 7 through 22. The guidelines are endorsed by the American Sports Medicine Institute and adopted (with minor variations) by every major youth league including Little League, Cal Ripken, Babe Ruth, and PONY.

Full Pitch Smart Chart

The table below shows the daily pitch maximum and the pitch count thresholds that trigger 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 days of required rest. Ages 7 and 8 have the tightest daily cap at 50 pitches, with 36 to 50 pitches requiring two days of rest before the next outing.

Source: MLB Pitch Smart pitching guidelines(opens in new tab). Rest days are counted in calendar days, not games. A pitcher who throws 52 pitches on Monday is eligible to pitch again on Thursday at the earliest (for ages 14 and under).

Rules That Apply Across All Ages

• Three consecutive days rule: No pitcher may appear as a pitcher in games on three consecutive calendar days, regardless of how few pitches they threw.
• Exception for mid-batter limits: If a pitcher reaches the daily max mid-batter, they may finish that batter. Most leagues interpret this as completing the plate appearance, not the inning.
• Breaking balls: Pitch Smart recommends pitchers under 13 throw only fastballs and change-ups. Breaking balls (curves, sliders) add strain that underdeveloped elbows aren't ready for.
• Annual innings caps: 60 innings in 12 months for ages 8 and under, 80 innings for 9 to 12, 100 innings for 13 to 14.

Little League Baseball adopted pitch count rules in 2007 and updated them in 2010, and its limits are slightly different from Pitch Smart at the younger and older brackets. Little League uses "league age" (the pitcher's age on August 31 of the current season) to determine which bracket applies.

Little League Daily Pitch Maximums

Rest Requirements by Pitch Count

Little League uses two different rest scales depending on the pitcher's league age. Ages 14 and under share one scale, and 15-16 share another.

Source: Little League regular season pitching rules(opens in new tab).

Little League's Catcher-Pitcher Rule

Little League enforces a specific restriction that Pitch Smart recommends but doesn't hard-code: any player who catches for four or more innings in a game may not pitch that same calendar day. If a player catches three innings or fewer and then pitches 21 pitches or more (31 or more for ages 15-16), they can't return to catcher that day. The rule exists because catching puts repetitive stress on the throwing arm, and pairing it with pitching stacks two high-load roles into one day.

Pitch Count Recorder Requirement

Every Little League game must have a designated pitch count recorder, usually the official scorekeeper. The recorder must provide the current count to either manager or umpire when asked. If a pitch count dispute happens during a game, the recorder's book is the official tiebreaker.

USSSA (United States Specialty Sports Association) runs a large portion of travel baseball tournaments in the US. Unlike Pitch Smart or Little League, USSSA regulates pitchers primarily through innings caps instead of pitch counts, though individual tournaments can require pitch count tracking with organizational approval.

USSSA Innings Limits

Source: USSSA Baseball rules and bylaws(opens in new tab). USSSA also enforces the "once removed, cannot return" rule for pitchers.

Why Innings Caps Can Mask Overuse

Innings caps alone don't capture workload the way pitch counts do. A pitcher who throws 35 pitches in a clean 2-inning appearance is doing different work than a pitcher who labors through 55 pitches in the same 2 innings. Many travel ball programs now track both innings and pitch counts as a best practice, even when only innings are required by tournament rules.

PONY Baseball follows the MLB Pitch Smart pitch count limits identically. That means the daily max numbers and rest day brackets in the Pitch Smart chart above apply to every PONY division from Shetland (ages 5-6) through Palomino (ages 17-18). PONY did not adopt some of the newer MLB rule changes: there is no pitch clock, and the MLB disengagement rule does not apply in PONY games.

PONY-Specific Notes

• Same chart as Pitch Smart: Daily max of 50 for ages 7-8, 75 for 9-10, 85 for 11-12, 95 for 13-16, 105 for 17-18. Rest brackets match the Pitch Smart table above.
• Mid-batter exception: A PONY pitcher who reaches the daily limit during an at-bat may finish that batter before being removed.
• Calendar-day rest: Rest is always counted in calendar days, regardless of game type (regular season, playoffs, exhibitions all count equally).
• No pitch clock: PONY published its 2024 rules(opens in new tab) confirming it would not adopt the MLB pitch clock or disengagement rule in youth play.

Practical impact: if your team plays in PONY, you can use the same pitch count logic as a Pitch Smart affiliate. The tracker above defaults to Pitch Smart, which will give you the correct limits for PONY divisions.

A pitch count tracker sheet is a printable chart where you tally marks for each pitch and write the rest day total at the end of the outing. Sheets work well for coaches who prefer paper scorekeeping or leagues that require a signed physical record. The format below matches what most official Little League pitch count recorders use.

Recommended Sheet Format

• Pitcher name and jersey number at the top so the sheet can be filed after the game
• Age bracket pre-printed next to the pitcher's name (determines the limit)
• Inning-by-inning tallies so you can spot high-pitch innings that signal fatigue
• Running total column updated after every half inning
• Rest days required box filled in at the end, signed by the scorekeeper
• Next eligible pitching date calculated from the calendar (today + rest days)

Handwritten sheets work for a single game but get unwieldy over a season. By the time a team plays 15 or 20 games, the folder of sheets becomes a sorting project. That's when coaches typically move to a digital tracker or spreadsheet that aggregates pitcher workload across the schedule. Striveon logs pitcher participation and workload per event automatically as part of attendance and practice tracking, so you can check cumulative counts without flipping through paper records.

Online trackers (like the one at the top of this page) and dedicated pitch counter apps both solve the same problem: count pitches, enforce rest days, keep records. They differ in what happens after the game ends.

When a Simple Online Tracker Is Enough

• You coach one team and track 3-5 pitchers per game
• Games are on school Wi-Fi or you have strong cell service at the field
• You want to avoid installing another app on a coaching phone
• You record the final numbers to a team roster or shared spreadsheet after the game

When a Dedicated App Makes Sense

• You track pitch types, locations, and outcomes (not just counts)
• Field locations have unreliable signal and you need offline tracking
• You manage multiple teams or ages across a long season
• You want automatic rest day rollover in a team calendar

Pitch Tracking Chart vs. Pitch Counter

A pitch counter (like this tool) records how many pitches a pitcher threw. A pitch tracking chart records what each pitch was: fastball, curve, change-up, location, result. Tracking charts are common in high school and travel programs that want to develop pitchers beyond basic workload management. The chart feeds into post-game reviews where coaches look at first-pitch strike percentage, swing-and-miss rates on off-speed pitches, and tendencies against specific lineups.

You can combine both by counting pitches live and charting pitches from video after the game. For a broader view of game-day stat recording beyond pitch counts, see our baseball scorecard guide, which covers traditional scoring notation and the pitcher columns that live alongside pitch counts.

According to ASMI research cited by MLB Pitch Smart, between 2000 and 2020 the injury rate for ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) tears in youth baseball grew at roughly 10 times the rate of 20 years earlier. In the 15-19 age group, Tommy John surgeries are climbing about 9 percent per year. None of those numbers are because young pitchers throw harder today. They throw more and start earlier, often without rest that matches the workload.

The Biggest Known Risk Factors

Research from the American Sports Medicine Institute followed 481 youth pitchers for 10 years and identified the workload patterns most strongly tied to injury:

Source: MLB Pitch Smart risk factors summary(opens in new tab) compiled from ASMI research.

Fatigue Is the Common Thread

Every risk factor on the list traces back to throwing while tired. Pitch counts and rest days exist because they're the most reliable proxy we have for "is this pitcher still fresh?" Velocity doesn't drop cleanly, young pitchers don't report pain until it's severe, and coaches can't always see mechanical breakdown from the dugout. The count on a tracker is what stops an outing before the arm does.

What the Guidelines Assume

Pitch Smart numbers assume a pitcher is well rested at the start of an outing, warmed up properly, and not layering multiple teams or positions. A 12-year-old who pitched 40 pitches in a Saturday game and then catches all of Sunday's game is not a 12-year-old who "only threw 40 pitches." Workload stacks. Tracking pitch counts is step one. Tracking bullpen throws, catching innings, and team overlap is the complete picture that prevents the kind of cumulative load that shows up as UCL damage years later.

A single-game tracker handles today's outing. Season tracking handles the question that actually drives injury: how much has this pitcher thrown over the last 30, 60, and 365 days?

What to Log Per Outing

• Date of the outing
• Pitcher and age bracket
• Game type (regular season, tournament, scrimmage, bullpen)
• Total pitches thrown
• Rest days required after
• Next eligible pitching date
• Notes on fatigue signs (mechanics breaking down, velocity drop, location issues)

Rolling Workload Windows to Watch

ASMI and Pitch Smart recommend tracking these rolling totals in addition to the daily max:

• Weekly: Stay under the weekly pitch recommendation for the age group (50 for 9-10, 75 for 11-12, 125 for 13-14).
• Monthly: No more than 30 innings per month for ages 9-14.
• Annual: Stay under the 12-month innings cap (60 for 8 and under, 80 for 9-12, 100 for 13-14).
• 4 months off: Take 4 months off from competitive throwing each year, with 2-3 months continuous.

For a running picture of pitcher workload, connect game pitches, bullpen work, and practice throws in one place. ERA, WHIP, and pitch counts all tell different pieces of the same story. For the stat that measures baserunner traffic, see our WHIP calculator and guide. For earned run average across different innings-per-game formats, see our ERA calculator. And for the per-start benchmark that pairs efficient pitch counts with run prevention, see our quality start guide. A quality start is six or more innings of three or fewer earned runs, which almost always lines up with a pitcher who stayed efficient within the daily pitch limit. Build pitcher development plans that track workload alongside performance with Striveon, so rest days and performance metrics live in one place instead of a folder of paper sheets and a group text.

Quick answers to the most searched pitch count tracker questions. For fuller context on Pitch Smart, Little League, and USSSA rules, work through the sections above.

What is the best free pitch count tracker?

"Best" depends on what you need after the game ends. For a quick, one-off game tracker you use from your phone browser with no install, the tracker at the top of this page covers Pitch Smart, Little League, USSSA, and PONY rules without a download. For tracking pitch types and locations (not just totals), a dedicated app such as Track-A-Pitch or the 6-4-3 Charts tool gives you more granular post-game breakdowns. For season-long pitcher workload across multiple games, a coaching platform with attendance and event logging handles the rolling totals automatically.

Is MLB pitch count tracking the same as Pitch Smart?

Pitch Smart is the program MLB and USA Baseball run for youth pitchers. MLB's professional teams use internal tracking tools that go beyond Pitch Smart, including pitch velocity, spin rate, and release height data from Statcast. For youth and amateur use, "MLB pitch count tracking" and "Pitch Smart" mean the same thing: the age-based chart shown earlier on this page.

How do you count pitches during a game?

Every delivery to a batter counts as one pitch, including balls, strikes, foul balls, and pitches that result in a hit-by-pitch. Intentional walk pitches count. Warm-up pitches between innings do not count toward the daily max, but Pitch Smart still recommends capping them at 8 per inning for young pitchers.

Do pitches in the bullpen count toward the daily max?

Game pitches are the ones that count toward the daily maximum. However, bullpen pitches and practice throws do add to the weekly and annual workload totals that Pitch Smart recommends tracking. A pitcher who throws 40 pitches in a game and then 30 in a bullpen session the next day has done 70 pitches of work that week, which matters when you're looking at cumulative load over a 12-month window.

What happens if a pitcher reaches the pitch limit mid-batter?

Both Pitch Smart and Little League allow the pitcher to finish the current batter. The pitcher must come out at the end of that plate appearance (either the batter reaches base, the batter is retired, or the third out is made). Pitches thrown during the finish still count toward the daily total.

Are Little League pitch counts different from Pitch Smart?

Little League adopted pitch count rules in 2007 with numbers aligned to Pitch Smart's youth brackets. The daily maximums match: 50 pitches for ages 7-8, 75 for 9-10, 85 for 11-12, 95 for 13-16. Little League adds the catcher-pitcher rule (catchers with four or more innings may not pitch that day) that Pitch Smart only recommends. Rest day brackets are identical.

Do softball pitchers follow pitch counts?

Youth softball pitchers use windmill mechanics, which put different stress on the arm than the overhand baseball motion. Softball's injury profile is different, and most softball organizations use innings-based rules instead of pitch counts. USA Softball and the Amateur Softball Association do not publish pitch count charts parallel to Pitch Smart. This tracker is designed for baseball pitchers and pitch count rules.