I’ve done a lot of coaching over the years, from Little League through NCAA D-1. I know it’s a hard job, whether you’re paid or a volunteer. So don’t think I don’t commiserate with all of you coaches out there.

     But the stuff I’m seeing on TV is shocking to me. Is anyone taking the time to teach pitching mechanics? Clearly, no. You can tell in two ways: 1) The obviously poor mechanics, and 2) The huge number of “curveballs” these kids are throwing. At this age level, curves are a mirage. Sure, in the short term, they retire batters. But at what cost for the long term? And you can bet that if proper mechanics are not being taught, there’s no way that age-appropriate strength and conditioning is being done, either.

     Now there is talk that LL may adopt pitch count limitations, as opposed to the current practice of limiting the number of innings pitched. Well, it’s about time! The information has only been out there for ten years now! But, I do applaud this move. Parents, regardless of the age of your pitcher, you have to take control. Most coaches think their main job is to win games, so, generally speaking, they’ll ride their best arms as far as they can take them.  If you want your young pitcher to safely make the progress he’s capable of, you must dictate the terms for his use, both in games and practice. And here’s Secret #1:

If his coach balks at your “interference,” find
another team. If your boy is good enough, trust me, there’s a team for him somewhere. No one ever 
has enough pitching!

     I might point out that if any coach reading this is offended, then perhaps you’re one of these abusive coaches I’m referring to. I hear from fathers of young pitchers ALL THE TIME who have been abused to the point they are injured and considering quitting the game. There is NO excuse for this. While youth coaches may not have all of the knowledge and experience necessary to refine a pitcher’s mechanics, information on pitch counts is readily available.

     Click here for the American Sports Medicine Institute’s pitch count guidelines. And there are a number of training programs and clinics that most any coach can avail themselves of. Click here to learn more about this one associated with Baseball America. Note: I disagree with their teaching a curve to 13-14 year olds. But, I applaud their efforts overall. This is where improvement in the area of teaching proper mechanics can start.

     And it’s not just at the LL level - this type of abuse occurs at least through high school ball. Even more important than pitch count limits, however, are the number of days of rest a pitcher gets between extended outings. While a 12 year old might safely throw 70 pitches or so in an appearance, if they’re on the mound again in just 2 or 3 days, they very likely are not getting enough rest. ASMI provides some guidance in this regard as well.

     And if he’s good enough to play another position between starts, you must monitor how his arm and body in general feel. Soreness from pitching a full game should dissipate within 24-48 hours. During this post-pitching recovery time, put him in right field or let him DH. He should throw enough to work out the kinks, but he does not need to play a position that requires a number of full effort throws, such as shortstop. I KNOW this can be a coaching headache to manage, but what’s the alternative? That you ruin a youngster’s career simply to make your life easier?

      The problems here are many. A lot of young arms will throw 70 pitches in as few as 3-4 innings, but LL rules allow such a pitcher another two innings in that same week. A further problem is high numbers of pitches thrown in a single inning. An article in USA TODAY (8/18/06) featured a LL pitcher from Oregon who threw 288 pitches in three games over 10 days during their regional tournament.

     So let’s break this down and compare it to what a multi-million dollar MLB pitcher might face in the same time frame. I’m averaging the pitch counts over the three appearances, and assuming that the three appearances were spread out equally over the 10 days:  

LL Pitcher:

Day 1 - 96 pitches 
Day 5/6 - 96 pitches 
Day 10 - 96 pitches

ML Pitcher:

Day 1 - 100-120 pitches 
Day 6 - 100-120 pitches
Day 11 - 100-120 pitches

     So, this 12 year-old did roughly the equivalent of what is expected of a mature adult pitcher. Most MLB teams limit their minor league pitchers to 90 pitches/game. Am I the only one who thinks using LL pitchers in this way is crazy?

     Another key issue is the number of pitches thrown in an inning. How many times have you watched a youngster struggle to throw strikes, throwing as many as 30 pitches or more in an inning? This kind of extended exertion can ruin a young arm regardless of the overall pitch count. The cumulative damage imposed by this heavy workload is not simply countered by a low pitch inning. When a young pitcher reaches 20-25 pitches in an inning, it’s time for a reliever.

     Might this rule cause you to run out of pitchers? Then develop more pitchers! At the youth level, every kid who wants to should be provided proper training and allowed to pitch.  

The Morons at ESPN

     To make matters worse, I often hear the ESPN talking heads extol the virtues of the curveballs these young pitchers are throwing. Their discussion includes how well some of them throw the pitch, and how tough it is for the hitters to hit. Gee, do ya think?

    At one point in a game, the announcer talked about an “overpowering” performance being put on by the pitcher on the mound. The kid had just struck out a batter on four pitches, all curves that were thrown in the mid 50s. What’s overpowering about this?

     During the time I’ve been watching, I haven't heard any mention of the arm problems young pitchers are having because of the curveball. But comments like "nice little curveball" were regularly made. This lack of discussion on the problems with curves is no doubt money driven. Gloom and doom discussions make advertisers harder to attract, and the “glamour” of the whole LLWS dog and pony show dims as well.

     So, what are the parents and coaches watching this display to think? That their kid better learn how to throw a curve, and fast!

     But the thing about a curve or slider is this: not only do these pitches move differently from a fastball, they are also slower than a fastball. Breaking pitches are off-speed pitches, and this velocity change is as much responsible for its effectiveness as its movement. The problem, of course, is that the flat, one-plane curves thrown by these young arms subject the developing bones (growth plates) ligaments and tendons of both the elbow and shoulder to extreme torsion stress. The twisting motion used to impart the curving spin of these pitches is brutal on the elbow in particular.

     This is less of a problem for a mature arm, where growth plates are closed and there is stronger musculature that greatly helps the arm structures hold up under the stress of throwing these pitches. Further, most coaches at any level of ball don’t know the first thing about how to properly and safely throw a real curve. How can they properly teach it to their young pitchers?

     So what’s a real curve? It’s a pitch that used to be referred to as a “drop ball,” a pitch that breaks straight down. It invokes two planes, the vertical and horizontal. Some pitchers, because of their arm slot, get more of “slurve” effect, where the ball breaks down and across the plate. A slider moves similarly to a slurve, but the break is shorter and quicker. All three pitches can be very difficult to hit. Properly thrown by a conditioned, mature arm, they are not particularly damaging or injurious. Yet how many 12 year old pitchers qualify under this criteria – physically mature and properly conditioned?

     So why not teach young pitchers to throw an equally effective off-speed pitch, the change-up? A pitch that is much less stressful than a breaking pitch, easier to learn, and easier to throw for strikes! I don’t see any downside here.

     Finally, throwing curves ends up being a crutch for many young pitchers. Because it’s easy to retire batters with, they throw it too much, to the detriment of the development of their fastball. Anyone notice how few of these young studs ever pitch in college or professionally?

Nine Year Old Players & 90 Game Schedules

     I recently spoke with the father of a 9 year old who was concerned that his son’s team had 90 games scheduled for their season. More insanity. The father was wondering if this might be a bit much for a 9 year old. His instincts were correct. I suggested he pull his son out after 30 or so games and just let him be a kid for the rest of the summer. So here’s Secret #2:

Your young player doesn’t have to be on a bunch of travel teams and play a huge number of games to have a future as a college of professional player!

     If your player makes it to high school ball, that’s the time to expand things some more.

     An example from my own day, which I rarely offer, helps to make this point. I first played organized baseball when I was ten years old, although I had been playing for several years with my neighborhood friends. In my Little League there were two brothers, Gary and Ron Roenicke. In the ensuing years, I played with and against both brothers. Our schedules consisted of 25-30 games, depending on how far we advanced playing for our traveling All-Star team.

     You may have heard of the Roenicke brothers. Gary was the 1973 1^st Round pick of the Montreal Expos. He went on to have a fine MLB career, playing 12 seasons with several teams. His best year was in 1979, when he hit 25 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles, who lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

     His younger brother, Ron, played 8 seasons with several teams. He’s currently the bench coach for the Anaheim Angels.

     My point in bringing all of this up is that none of us played a 90 game schedule, and we managed to move on to the next level. The three of us attended a Southern California high school with a population of about 2500 students. The quality of baseball there was, and is, very competitive. Ron, myself, and another teammate, Brian Menasco, were the only players that went on to play college ball from our school that year, 1974. I attended BYU, Roenicke went to a JC (and later, UCLA) and Menasco moved on to play for U. C. Riverside.

     Since my playing days qualify as ancient history, you’re no doubt thinking, “Things have changed a little since that time.” So here's a more recent example. Perhaps you’ve heard of a fellow named Drew Henson, currently the Dallas Cowboys backup quarterback.

     I lived In Michigan and was coaching high school ball during his high school career in the mid to late 90s. I was able to see him play a number of times. At 6’4” and 230 lbs, it was like watching a man amongst boys. He threw a 95 mph fastball and set the national high school home run and rbi records. He was a high school All-American in baseball.

     He was also a high school All-American in football, and All-State in basketball. In the midst of all this athletic accomplishment, he maintained a 4.0 GPA.  His main athletic goal was to be the quarterback for Michigan, and he told MLB to not bother drafting him. He would easily have been a 1^st round pick, maybe #1 overall.

     Well, George Steinbrenner decided they would take a flier on Henson, and drafted him in the 3^rd round. They cut a deal – the Yankees would let him play football, and Henson would play baseball in the summer. To help him make up his mind, they gave him a signing bonus of $3.5 million. Henson was considered to be the Yankees 3B of the future, and got a few big league at bats before deciding to quit baseball and give the NFL a try.

     Henson didn’t play 90 game baseball schedules – he didn’t have time! True, this guy is a genetic freak – almost too good to be true, but he was doing other things than playing baseball year round. And this is my point – you don’t have to start your child while s/he is in diapers and have them play 90 game schedules every year! So parents, consider the following ideas:

·    Have your player (especially pitchers) play a reasonable number of games; depending on their age, maybe 30-40 or so/year.  Let them have a real off-season, either to play another sport or to do off-season conditioning and skill work. No competitive games.

·   Insist that your son’s coach apply the ASMI pitch count guidelines when your son pitches.

·   If your son’s coach isn’t able to teach proper pitching mechanics, find someone who can. Pay for private lessons.

·   Teach your son how to throw a 4 seam fastball, 2 seam fastball, and a change-up. No curves until age 15-16. Be sure he is properly taught how to throw this pitch. Not only is this a great way for youngsters to learn how to pitch, they reduce their chances of arm injury. And the changeup can be a devastating pitch.

·   Teach your pitcher how to take care of their arm. This includes, at minimum, rotator cuff and forearm strength and flexibility work

·    If the arm is sore, no pitching until it is pain-free

     And here are five changes that are needed, but will not happen in the short term, if ever:

• Outlaw all breaking pitches until age 15 in all youth baseball leagues. The first time one is thrown, it is a ball. The second time it is thrown, the batter takes first base. The third time, the pitcher is kicked out of the game. All such calls are at the discretion of the home plate umpire.

• If you think this a bit extreme, consider the number of wood bat leagues springing up at all levels of baseball. This is being done to help hitters learn how to hit with wood, prior to their possibly doing so later on as professionals. At a minimum, it improves their metal bat hitting. So why not have leagues with no breaking pitches? The benefits would be many for young arms. 

• We make lighter bats for young players - why not use lighter baseballs? Football has pee-wee size footballs for Pop Warner and other youth football leagues. They do not use the same size of ball used in the NFL! Create a youth-size baseball for players up to age 13 which is lighter (4 oz) with a slightly smaller circumference. This will help them learn and properly throw a changeup. 

• Yes, this will make hitting slightly more difficult, but it will also have the effect of improving the eye-hand coordination of batters. Imagine how big the 5 oz ball will look to hitters when they get to that point as 14 year olds!

• At age 13-14, implement a pitching mound distance of 54 feet, not the same 60' 6" of MLB!

• At age 14, they go to a regular 5 oz ball with the 54 foot mound.  

• Age 15 and above, 5 oz ball and 60' 6" mound.  Breaking pitches now allowed.

     Finally, click here to download and print out a pitching chart to help track your son’s or your pitching staff's pitches.