RICHMOND, Va. -- The National Federation of State High School Associations has directed its members to regulate the number of pitches a high school player can throw in a game amid growing concerns about overworking young arms.The federation did not proscribe a specific number, but a limit must be established by next season, said Elliot Hopkins, the NFHS director of sports and student services. The limits will go into effect in the spring of 2017.All 50 states plus the District of Columbia are federation members, Hopkins said Tuesday. Each state except Michigan has its own sports medicine advisory committee that will likely be involved in settling on a specific number.I think theyre better suited to determine what the number is, Hopkins said, noting the number in warmer climates, where baseball season starts earlier, might be higher.Some states such as Texas have already established their limit at 125 pitches, and Alabama, Colorado and Kentucky have said that will be their number, too, Hopkins said. Minnesota will use 105 during the season and 115 or 120 in playoffs.Anecdotal evidence suggested it was time to make the change. As a member of the USA Baseball sports medicine advisory committee, Hopkins said he sits between well-known sports surgeon Dr. James Andrews and former major league pitcher Tommy John at meetings. Andrews in 1974 pioneered a surgery, first performed on and then named for Tommy John, that reconstructs the ulnar collateral ligament in a pitchers elbow, allowing pitchers to resume their careers after rehabilitation.During those meetings, Dr. Andrews always expressed how more and more of his service, and his surgeries, revolved around younger kids, Hopkins said.USA Baseball, the national governing body for amateur baseball, in 2014 launched the program Pitch Smart, which sets age-appropriate guidelines for the number of pitches a pitcher as young as 7 can throw and the amount of rest pitchers should get between pitching appearances. Most amateur baseball leagues have adopted the guidelines, which set 120 pitches as the maximum recommended for pitchers ages 19-22. The guidelines then also require they receive four days of rest.One impact Hopkins hopes will come from the rule change will be the involvement of more players.You have maybe three or four pitchers in your bullpen typically, he said. Now, well get some kids who really cant throw five innings, cant give you five innings, but they can give you a solid two, and now youve got a bullpen and you get more kids involved.The federation will no longer require its member associations to require a certain amount of rest between appearances by a pitcher.Virginia coach Brian OConnor, whose team won the national championship in 2015, called the changes a step in the right direction but was not sure a single pitch count number will have the desired effect.Somebody could throw 75 pitches three different times in a week, he said.Its not a be all, end all, said Sean Ryan, a high school coach in Richmond whose team at Benedictine plays in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association and will not be subjected to the federation rules. He noted that a young pitcher often moves to another position during a game, or in the teams next game, where he continues throwing in between innings and in the game.Like other sports, youth baseball has a cottage industry offering year-round, specialized instruction. OConnor said he is a big believer in athletes playing several sports, not just baseball.It has everything to do with, I think, other sports creating better athleticism in players and I think its important that they stay competitive year round, he said. I would rather see them on a basketball court working together as a team and staying physically active and competing to win. Cheap Air Max 90 Leather . First off, the fans ripped the Cubbies introduction of a fuzzy new kid-friendly mascot named "Clark". Cheap Air Max 90 Essential Womens . 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MOSCOW -- Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko, who has come under scrutiny in Russias doping scandal and was banned from attending the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, was promoted to a deputy prime minister on Wednesday.President Vladimir Putin approved a proposal by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to appoint Mutko to a deputy premiership in charge of sport, tourism and youth policies, in a decision shown by state TV.Mutkos longtime deputy minister, Pavel Kolobkov, a former gold medal-winning Olympic fencer who has represented Russia at the World Anti-Doping Agency, moves up to become the new sports minister.Mutkos elevation comes despite him having been personally accused by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren of ordering the cover-up of a failed drug test by a foreign soccer player.Mutko was also denied accreditation to the Rio Olympics in August by the IOC after being named in the McLaren report. He has denied wrongdoing and suggested the report was biased against Russia.Mutkos anti-doping adviser, Nataliya Zhelanova, and one of his deputies at the sports ministry, Yuri Nagornykh, have been suspended on Putins orders since July, when McLaren accused them of helping to orchestrate cover-ups of hundreds of drug tests.Mutko becomes one of nine deputy prime ministers in Russia, a title which adds to the wide array of other posts he holds. In addition to his governmental duties, Mutko is a member of the ruling council of world soccer governing body FIFA, chairman of the local organizing committee for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and president of the Russian soccer federattion.ddddddddddddAs well as the increase in rank, Mutkos new role reportedly gives him back powers over youth affairs and tourism, which were previously under his control when they were separated from the sports ministry by Putin in a government shake-up in 2012.There have been sporadic signs of discontent among some Russian sports figures over Mutkos leadership. Last month, he survived a leadership challenge as head of the soccer federation, a non-governmental organization. Mutkos main rival accused him of using the sports ministrys authority to coerce voters at the federations conference and suggested some had been threatened with losing their jobs for failing to back Mutko.Mutko personally intervened to cover up a doping case of at least one foreign (soccer player) in the Russian League, according to email evidence obtained by the WADA inquiry led by McLaren.The report alleged an additional 11 positive tests of Russian soccer players were made to disappear in a state-sponsored doping program from late 2011 to 2015.WADAs executive board called on FIFAs independent ethics court to act against Mutko, who has been a member of the scandal-scarred soccer bodys ruling panel since 2009.Among seven key demands, WADA leaders urged FIFA leaders to look into allegations concerning football (soccer) and the role played by a member of its executive committee, Minister Vitaly Mutko.---AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth in Minsk, Belarus, contributed to this report. 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