The APBA pitching grade advancement mechanism can be a huge blessing for grade D pitchers. On the opposite of the spectrum, the grade reductions is a bane for well, any of the higher grades.
Let’s get into the official APBA rule:
Grade reduction
If a pitcher allows five earned runs in three or fewer consecutive innings, reduce his grade by one letter immediately after the fifth earned run scores. If he remains in the game, reduce his grade one additional letter for every five earned runs he allows within three consecutive innings.
Grade A&B pitchers are first reduced to A&C, and A&C pitchers are first reduced to A.
Grade advancement
If a D pitcher allows no EARNED runs in any 5 consecutive innings, his grade is advanced to C.
If a C pitcher allows no EARNED runs in any 6 consecutive innings, his grade is advanced to B.
If a B pitcher allows no EARNED runs in any 7 consecutive innings, his grade is advanced to A.
If an A pitcher allows no EARNED runs in any 8 consecutive innings, he will NOT THEN be affected in subsequent innings by the grade-reducing factor described above. He cannot, however, advance his grade beyond A. Likewise, A&C and A&B pitchers cannot advance their grades.
As mentioned, the grade advancements are cumulative. That is, a grade D can advance to C after five innings the to a B the next inning and so on. Pitchers cannot advance to grade A&C or grade A&B.
The same goes for grade reductions. If a pitcher is reduced then goes on to give up another five earned runs in three innings, he is reduced yet again.
None of the pitching grade advancement or reduction rules carry over into the next game.
Some considerations
As denoted in all caps in the rules, only earned runs apply in these situations, not unearned runs. If your starter has given up five runs in the span of three innings but one of those runs was unearned, his grade is intact.
For that matter, if your D starter has given up five runs in the first five innings but they are all unearned, he will still advance.
So, brush up on the earned run rule a little. I know at our league functions, at least one time, someone is shouting out, ‘hey, here’s the situation. Do you all count it as an earned run?’.
This next question came up years ago at an APBA Convention tournament in Lancaster. For this rule, do we calculate the innings pitched down to thirds of an inning? Fortunately, we had APBA bigwig Skeet Carr on hand and he laid down the law.
Regarding the advancement and reduction rule, full completed innings are counted. You do not for example, count 1/3 of one inning and 2/3 of a later inning.
Honestly, it is easier that way anyway.
Strategy?
There isn’t a whole lot of strategy involved with the grade advancement and reduction rules on the game level. However if you are in a league that limits pitchers’ innings, there are decisions to make on a certain level.
If my D pitcher advances to an C and possibly higher, that makes me happy. I am keeping him in the game as long as I can. It’s like a highly graded pitcher for free.
Alternatively, if my B starter gets rocked and is now a C starter, I will probably take him out soon. I don’t ‘waste’ his precious B innings when he is actually a C grade. Sometimes, I will let him finish the inning then replace him.
I hope this helps someone. Officially, these pitching grade advancement and reduction rules are optional but most players use them or some modification of them.
Thank you Tom for posting this. The blessings given to a D can also turn into a punishment too. I have had many times in replays where a D advanced to a B, and suddenly the 9’s came up and shattered that pitchers dreams of advancing to an A.
I saw something at a tournament once, where a pitcher got reduced from a C to a D in the first, and the manager kept him in for some reason, anyway, the pitcher then got on a roll, was supported by his teams hitting and nursed a small lead and reeled off 5 straight shutout innings and there was a debate if he could advance to a C again.
Unfortunately, my next game had to start, so I never found out what the decision was, but what would your take be on it?