Good ideas help the world move forward. Strokes of genius have brought us the automobile, computers, space travel and Pokemon Go.

Sometimes, though, what appears to be a good idea is really just a solution in search of a problem. Take, for example, this week’s decision by the National Federation of State High School Associations to create a limit for pitch limit for high school baseball pitchers.

The MHSAA and Mississippi’s baseball coaches will meet next Wednesday to hammer out our state’s rules. If they follow the example of other states, it’ll probably be about 125 pitches per game.

On the surface, it’s an idea whose time has come. If you’ve spent any time around the game, you’ve heard stories about “heroic” pitching performances in which players threw 130, 140, even 150 pitches or more. Not coincidentally, you’re also likely to hear about them having elbow surgery soon after.

Those stories are cautionary tales, but they’re also far from the norm. Most modern coaches are well-schooled in how to manage a pitching staff. They might push their pitchers late in the season to win a playoff game, but it’s not in anyone’s interest to run a guy out there twice a week in March.

Ninety-nine times out of 100, coaches pull a pitcher by the 100-pitch mark. Coaches who regularly exceed the industry standard are often viewed with contempt by their peers.

Given that, the guidelines set down by the NFHS to protect pitchers are really meaningless. Coaches already do a pretty good job of policing it themselves. The solution, in fact, might create more problems than it fixes.

Who is going to keep track of pitch counts? It might require an extra umpire added to the crew, and good umpires are already in short supply.

What happens if a pitcher hits the limit in the middle of an at-bat? How does an opposing coach challenge it?

How will the MHSAA monitor and account for players participating in showcase or travel ball tournaments? Will those count toward the limit for high school games?

“I hope they’ve done their homework,” Warren Central coach Conner Douglas said, “or it’s going to be a fiasco.”

It’s hard not to agree.

•

Ernest Bowker is a sports writer for The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com