Little League pitch counts and required rest
Verified against Little League's own rules · 16 September 2026
Read this first
These rules change, and your local league may amend them. This page is guidance, not the rulebook. Little League publishes the rules; we quote them and link to them. If your league’s officials say something different, they are right and we are not.
Only Little League Baseball is covered here. USSSA, Perfect Game and other bodies set their own limits, and we would rather publish nothing about them than publish a number we have not sourced. Little League Softball is not on this page either: its Minors and Majors divisions are governed by innings pitched rather than by a pitch count, so these tables do not apply to it.
Daily maximum pitches, by league age
| League age | Maximum pitches in a day |
|---|---|
| 6–8 | 50 |
| 9–10 | 75 |
| 11–12 | 85 |
| 13–16 | 95 |
A pitcher who reaches the daily maximum while facing a batter may keep pitching until one of three things happens: the batter reaches base, the batter is put out, or the third out completes the half-inning. Source: Little League regular-season pitching rules.
Required days of rest
Rest is counted in calendar days, and it is decided by how many pitches were thrown in the day — not by innings, and not by how the outing went.
The brackets here do not line up with the daily maximums above. League age 13–16 shares a single daily maximum, but rest splits at 14 and under versus 15–16.
League age 14 and under
| Pitches thrown in a day | Calendar days of rest |
|---|---|
| 66 or more | 4 |
| 51–65 | 3 |
| 36–50 | 2 |
| 21–35 | 1 |
| 1–20 | None |
League age 15–16
| Pitches thrown in a day | Calendar days of rest |
|---|---|
| 76 or more | 4 |
| 61–75 | 3 |
| 46–60 | 2 |
| 31–45 | 1 |
| 1–30 | None |
And one rule that overrides the arithmetic: “Under no circumstance shall a player pitch in three (3) consecutive days.” A pitcher can be under the limit two days running and still be ineligible on the third. Sources: regular-season pitching rules and Little League pitcher rest requirements.
Common questions
How many pitches can a 12 year old throw in Little League?
In Little League Baseball, a pitcher of league age 11–12 may throw a maximum of 85 pitches in a day. A pitcher who reaches the limit while facing a batter may keep pitching until the batter reaches base, the batter is put out, or the third out completes the half-inning.
How many pitches can a 10 year old throw in Little League?
League age 9–10 is capped at 75 pitches in a day. League age 6–8 is capped at 50, and league age 11–12 at 85.
How many days rest does a Little League pitcher need?
For league age 14 and under: 66 or more pitches requires 4 calendar days of rest, 51–65 requires 3, 36–50 requires 2, 21–35 requires 1, and 1–20 requires none. Under no circumstance shall a player pitch in three (3) consecutive days.
Can a Little League pitcher pitch on back-to-back days?
Yes, but only if the first day's pitch count was low enough to require no rest — 20 or fewer pitches for league age 14 and under, 30 or fewer for league age 15–16. Under no circumstance shall a player pitch in three (3) consecutive days.
Counting it during the game
We wrote this page because we built the thing that enforces it. DugoutOps counts every pitch as the game is scored and warns before a pitcher passes the limit — including the rest a previous outing already owes, which is the part a scorebook cannot see.
- Scoring and pitch counts are free, on every plan
- Rest days are tracked across games, not just the one in front of you
- Limits follow the league you pick, so the number on screen is your league's
See what DugoutOps costs — scoring and pitch counts are free, and always have been. Arm safety is not something to put behind a paywall.