Keeping Young Pitchers Healthy

One important thing that I am surprised no one has brought up in this discussion is pitches per inning. I also track pitch counts during a game and will pull a pitcher at or near a certain count. But, I will also pull one pretty quick if he has had high pitch counts in a couple of innings. You can easily throw 35-40 pitches in an inning and not give up a run, but wear the arm out pretty quick.

 

I do keep in mind pitches per inning, we count and track by inning, so I am careful to monitor that because of the tiring effects that high counts per innings has. I get concerned when we get over 25 and pay particular attention.

 

I'm teaching my 6 yo to be ambidextrious. When he's tired of throwing right handed...boom...and when he faces a LH...boom. The boy is going to be awesome, I tell ya. Now, if I can only get him to forget about s***er.

 

I see where you got that idea Braves .....

 

LOOK!!!!!!!

"no hands"!

 

another very good thread

 

another thing that young pitchers should be encouraged to do is lift small weights. 1-3 lb dumbells is all they need and do exercises to strengthen the ligaments in the elbow and shoulder. I did not become a pitcher until my junior year of high school, and never did exercises. Since then I have had two arm surgeries, one done by Dr. James Andrews. He told me that lifting small weights is absolutely crucial to strengthen the ligaments in the arm.

I also coached camps this summer and it was amazing to me how many young kids told me, "My daddy said that I could throw a breaking ball." These kids were 9,10,11....none at the age of 15 or over. This is TERRIBLE advice for these kids. I think that a kid has got to be 16 or older before he starts to turn that wrist and break anything off. Try a cut fastball.....safe alternative to a slider.

 

Whats wong with learning to spot your fastball, learn to throw and spot a change-up (same mechanics, except grip). If you must have movement, then play with the seams on the ball but not the throwing mechanics...??

 

DO OVER? OOPS, TOO LATE!

Ther are alot of things that I wish I could go back and do over in raising a baseball player.
But one major thing comes back to mind reading this thread. My son was 13 and playing USSA ball and league ball at the same time. He pitched alot for the travel team but the coach for the league team was a friend of mine and he agreed to not pitch my son if he had pitched the weekend before of was to pitch the upcoming weekend. Of coarse the competitive nature takes over in the kids, parents and coaches and we did some dumb things. We wanted to win the league real bad and so my son pitched some in the "BIG" games. Then one weekend he was playing a USSSA tournament in Hickory and we were playing a real good team, I think it was Columbia Braves, at that time they were ranked no. 1 in SC and 4th in the country, so we wanted to win bad again. He started the game and pitched one of the best games of his life against a really good team. My son was small but had a cannon and alot of movement and the other team was really ticked off at him for mowing them down and started talking trash. Well that just made us want to beat them even more so my sone didn't want to come off the mound. He's hardheaded like his Mama. In the last inning with the temp around 100 degrees the coach finally went out and pulled him off the mound. He was so exausted that he collapsed on the bench and couldn't even go play the field for the last inning.

We won that "BIG" game and we were so proud and thought everything was great. Well the next week we went to Florida for a USSSA World Series and in the 2nd inning my son felt a pop in his elbow. It was a growth plate that was moving as he was growing. It had lined up with the tendon that moves the wrist through when you throw. He didn't pitch for a couple of days and we had another "BIG" game with a team from Florida, The Dragons, so he wanted to pitch and he did because we all wanted to win the "BIG" game. When we got back home ALL Stars was starting for our league and he had played with them every year so he had to again. The 1st time he tried to pitch he didn't make it past the 2nd inning, he pitched great and gave up no hits but his elbow was hurting.

The next week we were in the SE Regionals and made it to the championship game and Nick wanted to pitch, so he did and pitched 4 no-hit innings and we won and went on to the Babe Ruth World Series in Louisanna. In the 1st game in about the 3rd inning Nick threw a kid out at home from right field and after he let go of the ball he hit the ground in pain. He had to come out of the game. He played the rest of the World Series but could not throw 1 pitch. When he got to what really could have been a big game for him he couldn't pitch. You never know what might have been but we ran out of pitching and finished 5th. The boys to this day say "if Nick could have pitched we would have won the World Series".

This is a long post but I wanted to give a little detail about some of those games that I labeled as "BIG GAMES". At the time we though they were big. Don't think you have to let your son pitch too much because it's a big game. Those games only exist in my memory now, they weren't big at all.

The next year Nick was all healed up and played varsity as a freshman but he played outfield and didn't pitch much mainly because he was so young and they didn't need him to pitch. In the summer though he played All Stars again and returned to his pitching form. He was 14 now and had gotten stronger and his HS coach had taught him a curve ball. He was pitching great and pitched 7 games before he gave up an earned run. He told me his elbow was hurting in another spot and it didn't hurt him to pitch but it hurt to touch the tip of his elbow. I told him as long as it didn't hurt to pitch to keep on. Looking back now I know that my ego was feeding so much off of his pitching success that I was almost addicted to him pitching, Does that make sense? That is the only way to describe it.

He ended up having to have surgery. They put a 3 inch screw in my son's arm and it is still there today. He still plays baseball starting his 2nd year of college now but he doesn't pitch anymore. He was a great pitcher with alot of potential that will never be realized because of the so called big games he had to pitch as a 13 and 14 year-old kid.

Have you ever seen an x-ray of a 13 year old's elbow? If you have a kid that is a young pitcher you need to find a picture of a 13 year-old elbow and compare it to an exray of a 19 year-olds elbow. They look like they come from 2 different animals. A 13 year-old's elboy has small bones held on by growth plates that will eventually attach themselves to the main arm bones that will form the elbow joint. If these small bones are tugged and pushed they will not line up where they are supposed to and will attach in the wrong place on the arm and the elbow will be deformed. My son's elbow has a funny not on the point. His arm doesn't hurt him and he throws fine and I thank God for that but I can't help but think about what could have been.

We have people asking on TBR about what they can do to get their son noticed by the college and when to start trying to get looked at. Please, Please don't push your kid's to pitch too much. Some coaches will question the kid's toughness if the parents want to limit the pitch count. Some high school coaches will pitch a kid to death and tell the parents not to tell them what to do with "their team". They forget they are still your kid so don't back down. My son was pushed to pitch again too soon in high school after his surgery and when I approached the coach about it he started yelling at me. Looking back I wish I had taken more drastic measures instead I just let the coach keep on. I know some parents get too involved and want to control more but when it comes to the safety of your child don't back down.

 

Awesome Post

Thank you for sharing that story.