How To Protect Young Pitchers

3/14/2007

I was recently asked to list 3 things that I think would help to protect the arms of young pitchers. I thought y'all would be interested in this list.

1. No tournaments. No fall ball. Never pitch on less than 5 (or better yet 7) days of rest. Limit pitches thrown in an outing (e.g. 10U = 30, 11U = 35, 12U = 40). Teach everybody on the team how to pitch.

2. No curveballs or sliders until 16 or 17. Until then, only fastballs and change-ups. Learn to pronate both fastballs and change-ups (e.g. circle change).

3. Stick with "natural" arm action (what most people do instinctively). Once you break your hands, never take you elbows above the level of your shoulders (e.g. no "Inverted W" or "Making The M"). Do not show the ball to 2B/CF. Do not always keep your fingers one top of the ball. Do not break your hands thumbs down. Instead, after breaking the hands go thumbs up and show the ball to 3B.