Recommended proposal would alter the way pitchers are used.

Every high school baseball coach has a story about a young pitcher throwing as if he’s immune from risking Tommy John surgery.

Tomball Memorial coach Monte Huggins knows one well in Arlington Martin’s Todd Van Poppel, a 1990 first-round pick who declined later in his career.

“He had pitched himself out,” Huggins said. “It was just too many pitches. That guy was pitching like every Tuesday and Friday.”

Similar stories echo through the sport, but the University Interscholastic League is on the cusp of doing something about it as it pertains to high school baseball in Texas.

The UIL medical advisory committee Sunday recommended a proposal to limit pitch counts and require a specific number of days’ rest for pitchers between outings. The legislative council could adopt it in June, although the measure likely is more than a year away from being implemented if it gets approved.

Alabama has a plan

The maximum number of pitches recommended in a day is 95 for pitchers ages 14-16 and 110 for those 17-19. The proposal also allows a pitcher to be back on the mound the next day if he threw 30 or fewer pitches. A day’s rest would be required after 31-45 pitches, two days after 46-65, three days after 66-85 and four days after 86-110.

It might sound like a radical change compared with the current rule, which says only that a pitcher can’t throw more than 10 innings if he pitches in more than one game in a day. But for coaches conscious of their pitchers’ arm health, it’s largely status quo.

“To be honest, it’s not really going to change that much for what 99 percent of coaches already do,” Huggins said.

Huggins believes most coaches would be in favor of the limit. The biggest questions are how to keep track of pitch counts statewide, who does it, and what would happen if a player goes over the limit.

The blueprint might reside three states to the east, where the Alabama High School Athletic Association is implementing a limit for next season.

Alabama is setting a 120-pitch max per day for varsity players, 100 for JV and 85 for middle school. There also are required days’ rest between outings at each level.

AHSAA assistant athletic director Greg Brewer said the state aims to use a computer application to monitor pitch counts via phone, iPad or whatever works easiest for coaches. Three people keep track at each game — the home and visiting bookkeepers and a neutral third-party “pitch count recorder,” and all have access to the application. At the end of each inning, the three meet and make sure they’re in agreement on the pitch count. If one is off, the majority rules. If all three differ, the neutral party’s total is the official number.

If a pitch limit is exceeded, the penalty is simple: The game is forfeited, and a $250 fine is assessed against the violating school.

Alabama is acting as a guinea pig. Can the policing of pitch limits work in a state as big as Texas?

“Why not,” Brewer said, “as long as the UIL will have a database tracking everything. That’s going to be the expense they’ll have to incur if they choose to do it the way we’re doing it.”

Then there’s select ball

Is it the perfect solution? Nothing is, according to Langham Creek coach Armando Sedeno. But his take with players is direct.

“I hate saying it this way — they want to play baseball too much,” Sedeno said.

Sedeno said players don’t take time to recover anymore because of select ball, among other things. During the select ball season, players feel like they have to impress college scouts, sometimes leading to a 140-pitch outing.

Ray De Leon, founder of the famed Banditos select baseball club, said his players don’t even get the opportunity for 80-pitch outings, much less 100. His 17-and-under team has 10 players who do nothing but pitch, and they have to divvy up time on the mound, naturally leading to low pitch counts.

“Our kids throw 60 pitches a week, and that’s it,” De Leon said. “If that, because we have so many arms.”

On the other hand, it’s not like that with every select club, so maybe there isn’t a perfect solution. But with a few blueprints out there, making pitch limits a reality seems more possible than ever.