Tommy John Surgery/UCL Damage

[abpk2903]

I've seen a lot of articles the last few days on the epidemic that is facing baseball right now with Pitchers damaging their UCL and ultimately needing Tommy John Surgery. It is so unfortunate to see young stars or blooming stars have a large portion of their careers marred with injury. According to ESPN's recent article MLB has seen 20 pitchers go under the knife since the start of the season with elbow injuries. Many more pitchers are nursing elbow problems (Lee and Ventura lead this list). What do are bleachercoaches think is the contributing factor(s) to this epidemic?

Here are my first thoughts:

-arms are way overworked from 8-20 years old. It's time for each league to have pitch counts. 8-10 year olds should be limited to 40 pitches a game or 4 innings max per week, 11-12 year olds limited to 60 pitches a game or 6 innings max per week, 13-16 year olds (junior high) 80 pitches max per game or 8 innings per week, and 17-18 year olds 90 pitches max per game or 9 innings max per week. Once they are over 18 it's tough to limit pitching but be sensible. Little Leaguers shouldn't be throwing complete games, varsity pitchers shouldn't be starting Monday and Thursday every week. The worst for this is summer ball. When I coached a 7th & 8th grade league a few years ago I stuck firmly by a pitch count and probably lost a few games because of it. This one team we faced threw the same pitcher against both times (and from what I understand he started all but 2 of their games). He pitched a ton the first game and I decided to chart his pitches the next time around. 147 pitches later, they beat us 8-7. After the game I had several choice words with his coach (dad).

-baseball too much of the year. School ball, summer ball, fall ball, winter workouts, and so on. These arms don't get a break. The elbow doesn't care if it's the state playoffs or a February "bullpen session" it's getting worked either way. Good pitchers in our area are logging 8-10 starts in each of these seasons. It's insane!!!

-breaking pitches. My rule of thumb is no curve ball until junior high. Even then, maybe 2 per inning. Sliders are the devil and they should only be developed after 17 years old by a paid and experience pitching instructor. If the kid wants a mix of pitches, teach them a good 2-seamer or cutter, change up, or knuckleball. If it takes a curveball to be effective in little league, newsflash but your son isn't going to the big leagues. So just save his arm.

-Lack of strength training. Pitchers don't want go work on the forearm or shoulders but still want to throw fast. The result is all the strain goes to the elbow.

-Radar gun. A high school pitching prospect gets to college one way, by juicing up the gun baby. These scouts have gotten lazy and don't search for pitchers with mix of speeds and location. They just gun them up and offer them up. I know someone that was a great high school pitcher but was told by a good baseball school he had to hit 92 to get a scholarship offer. That wasn't his style but he spent his whole senior year trying to add 4 mph to his avg fastball velocity. The command went a away and soon after the arm. It's a shame.

[knowitall]

I have to think it is something physiological. Has the human arm evolved since the days when guys like Fergie Jenkins and Steve Carlton were throwing 300+ innings? I bet they threw a lot of innings as kids too. Travel ball and fall ball were not part of their childhood but the even more unregulated backyard ball was.

[abpk2903]

Great point!!!! I know when I was a kid I probably threw 10X as many pitches in my backyard with friends as I ever did during a game. At least in the game the coaches and parents can tell when a kid is dragging his arm back to the rubber between pitches.

It goes back to my final point...baseball has turned radar gun happy. Unless you can throw consistently in the 92-95 mph range, you probably won't ever fire one from a major league mound. Heck you better throw 90-93 to even sniff a college scholarship.

[Manfred]

I've seen a lot of articles the last few days on the epidemic that is facing baseball right now with Pitchers damaging their UCL and ultimately needing Tommy John Surgery. It is so unfortunate to see young stars or blooming stars have a large portion of their careers marred with injury. According to ESPN's recent article MLB has seen 20 pitchers go under the knife since the start of the season with elbow injuries. Many more pitchers are nursing elbow problems (Lee and Ventura lead this list). What do are bleachercoaches think is the contributing factor(s) to this epidemic?

Here are my first thoughts:

-arms are way overworked from 8-20 years old. It's time for each league to have pitch counts. 8-10 year olds should be limited to 40 pitches a game or 4 innings max per week, 11-12 year olds limited to 60 pitches a game or 6 innings max per week, 13-16 year olds (junior high) 80 pitches max per game or 8 innings per week, and 17-18 year olds 90 pitches max per game or 9 innings max per week. Once they are over 18 it's tough to limit pitching but be sensible. Little Leaguers shouldn't be throwing complete games, varsity pitchers shouldn't be starting Monday and Thursday every week. The worst for this is summer ball. When I coached a 7th & 8th grade league a few years ago I stuck firmly by a pitch count and probably lost a few games because of it. This one team we faced threw the same pitcher against both times (and from what I understand he started all but 2 of their games). He pitched a ton the first game and I decided to chart his pitches the next time around. 147 pitches later, they beat us 8-7. After the game I had several choice words with his coach (dad).

-baseball too much of the year. School ball, summer ball, fall ball, winter workouts, and so on. These arms don't get a break. The elbow doesn't care if it's the state playoffs or a February "bullpen session" it's getting worked either way. Good pitchers in our area are logging 8-10 starts in each of these seasons. It's insane!!!

-breaking pitches. My rule of thumb is no curve ball until junior high. Even then, maybe 2 per inning. Sliders are the devil and they should only be developed after 17 years old by a paid and experience pitching instructor. If the kid wants a mix of pitches, teach them a good 2-seamer or cutter, change up, or knuckleball. If it takes a curveball to be effective in little league, newsflash but your son isn't going to the big leagues. So just save his arm.

-Lack of strength training. Pitchers don't want go work on the forearm or shoulders but still want to throw fast. The result is all the strain goes to the elbow.

-Radar gun. A high school pitching prospect gets to college one way, by juicing up the gun baby. These scouts have gotten lazy and don't search for pitchers with mix of speeds and location. They just gun them up and offer them up. I know someone that was a great high school pitcher but was told by a good baseball school he had to hit 92 to get a scholarship offer. That wasn't his style but he spent his whole senior year trying to add 4 mph to his avg fastball velocity. The command went a away and soon after the arm. It's a shame.

I happen to agree with most of what you said, and your last couple of statements therein lies the problem as I see it. You limit pitch counts, the kid is still going to try to throw as hard as he can, because he knows eventually he's getting shut down on # of pitches. I don't have a suggestion about what to do about it.

[PLDragons24]

I have been seeing a lot of pitchers with bad form lately. Even in the majors you see people with some pretty bad form. A lot of people seem to be using a lot more arm and a lot less legs. Puts a lot more stress on the elbows.

[Manfred]

Can't agree more. Look at recordings of former major stars with long careers, like Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan. Watch their forms.

[say_oww]

Primary risk factors for young kids are curve balls and DNA, while primary risk factors for professionals (adults) are bad mechanics. As the body matures and gets stronger, the stress produced from bad mechanics increases and injuries occur. However, elbow injuries can be repaired and have much better prognosis than shoulder problems.

In regards to kids the more you throw the stronger your arm will get. Also, what enough kids don't do enough of in this baseball lesson, x-box world is run. Every kid that pitches, from 7 and up, should run after pitching and between starts. Exercising the legs after strenuous arm activity will help the kid get stronger and flush out waste products in the arm and shoulder muscles that lead to swelling and inflammation.

Kids shouldn't be throwing curveballs until their arms get stronger ( usually 15) because the curveball is not a natural motion and places large amounts of stress on the arm and shoulder girdle. Teaching kids to throw changeups is the best route to go as pronation of the wrist is a natural motion. Bet hey, guys are idiots and just want to win games even at the youngest levels so they will do whatever it takes to win.

[say_oww]

What do you guys mean by "bad form"? Arm action or stride?

[theoneandonly]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10975 ... n-magazine

Decent read that goes along with this topic somewhat.