When should a pitcher learn the curve ball

There is a lot of controversy about this....your thoughts?

 

Only after they learn and are able to throw a change up with confidence and good results. Being able to locate your fastball in & out, up & down, and throe effective change ups let you learn how to pitch. Most young players don't throw inside enough, which makes the middle-out pitch that much better.

In todays environment of WIN Now, I really believe too many kids that could be great at the 15+ age group never reach their potential because they always got "young" guy's out with the CB.
On smaller fields from 46 - 54 feet a good CB is really tough. But when you go 54 -60 feet and from 60 to 90 foot bases many if not most young CB pitchers ball starts getting flatter and usually pounded. There have been exceptions, but in my 12-15 years of experience most dominate "young" pitchers get caught with, if their out pitch has always been a CB.

Now to your question: what age? for me it's 15-16. The other alternative is to be working with a knowledgable coach in workouts, and to possibly throw 1 - 3 per game.

 

I agree with sugarjet, 15-16 is probaly the best age to let your son learn to throw a curve ball. I'm about to enter my first year of college baseball and I didnt actually attempt to learn how to throw a curve ball until this past December and even then i was tought by someone who knew what they were talking about. Thats also something you have to think about is who are you going to have work with him on it. But you also have to be aware of how physically fit you are because it puts a lot of stress on your arm and to much can put you down for awhile. I would definately get a throwing program to strengthen his arm before you try to throw curves.

 

I always heard it was never good for young kids to be throwing curve balls because their arms are not fully developed yet. I remember a lot of kids who hurt their arms at a young age from throwing too many curves. Seriously, is it that important in little league and Babe Ruth to hurt your arm? I don't think so. I pitched from age 9-14 and never threw one curve off the mound, and I did well enough. What you have to also take into perspective is that a lot of pitchers in little league and Babe Ruth will never touch a mound in high school. So my advice to young players: stick with the fastball and change, and if you do pitch in high school, develop the curve.

 

curveballs don't hurt your arm. I would say if a kid can throw fastballs for strikes in Little League, then he can begin throwing curves (3 per inning)...only if he can throw fastballs for strikes first. The problem is who is teaching them. Some dope dad can injure a kid, but if they are throwing it correct, they should be fine. Change ups are good to learn, but not until they get full grown hands are kids throwing a true circle change. most changeups in youth league are just kids slowing their arms down. A 10 year old can't grip a circle change and control it.

 

How does one throw it correctly...and doesn't it put undue stress on the elbow of a young arm...really don't know...that's why I'm asking

 

I would say when world famous pitching coaches like Tom House advise waiting until high school to start throwing breaking balls (curves and sliders) that is pretty good advice. A properly thrown fastball or offspeed will have sufficient movement up to that point. The problem is a lack of knowledge/ability in being able to teach someone how to throw a breaking ball. My son learned how to throw a breaking ball from two ex-pitchers who now coach and teach.

 

Tom House is a complete clown. Why do you think nobody wants him? He is full of gimmicks. He made a name for himself attaching himself to Nolan Ryan (after he was already a hall of famer). I lived with Reid (Nolan's son) one summer, and the crap he did to himself was silly and didn't work. He was always trying to get me into Tom House stuff. btw, Reid topped out at about 84. Tom House told him to do about 400 sit ups a day to increase velocity.

Sliders are bad on young arms, but strait curves are fine on any arm.

a curveball is not complicated. you have to figure a way to make the ball have hard topspin, yet you can't change your arm motion. the last 1/3 of your delivery, you have to get your fingers on the front side of the ball so you can pull it down like a window shade (long fingers help).

 

Metro:

The next time you're talking with Mark Prior, Randy Johnson, and Barry Zito, all of whom go to Tom House regularly, make sure you tell them what a "clown" he is.

Sometimes the comments we make regarding others say more about ourselves.

 

prepster, I did not insult you so calm down with the flames on me. I have an opinion on House and you should respect that. I would wager I've done a hell of alot more than you on a mound. All the guys you mention above are physical studs. Tom House didn't make any of them great. For every player you try to point out that advocates Tom House, there are 3x that dislike his gimmicks. Why can't Tom House get a pitching coach job? Tom House has some great ideas, but for every 2 good ideas, he has 4 bad ones.