If you decide to take some time to look over this, let me explain why this is so important to me.
First, YES, I am on the conservative side. Why? Because young baseball players these days play twice, if not three times, as many games as we did back in the 80’s and 90’s.
Second, baseball is, and has been, my life and career, especially pitching, for the last 20 years. After pitching over 1,500 professional innings and then coaching it for three seasons, I feel I have a good understanding and feel for what it takes, both physically and mentally, to survive long term.
You can take my opinion for what it’s worth. I don’t care about hearing about youth programs win-loss records nor does it matter to me how many tournaments they have won or where they rank on some national ranking list. I want to know how they are taking care of their players. How they are developing them. How they are preparing them for High School baseball. How are they teaching them the mental game and how are they at developing character.
When I first broke into professional baseball in the late 90’s, it was a big thing when someone went down with a major arm injury. As it moved on into the 2000’s, it started to become more and more wide spread. Flash forward to 2012-2014 when I was coaching, I was blown away at the number of players we drafted who already had a zipper on their elbow (Tommy John Surgery Scar).
For some reason, many seem to ignore the facts and truth, that this is all a direct cause of year round baseball, competitive pitching in the winter months when they should be resting or building up for the upcoming season, too much baseball over a 2-3 days span in some tournament, pitching without proper rest, pitching too many pitches when their arm is not conditioned for it, pitching too many pitches with poor mechanics, etc.
I understand that there are not many real pitching coaches out there. And to add to that, most coaches were not pitchers themselves growing up, so the true understanding of what it takes to throw strikes, what it feels like to battle through a long inning, what dead arm (fatigue) feels like, what proper mechanics look like and how to teach them, how to handle a pitching staff and what they need to be rested and ready for their next outing, the knowledge and experience is just not there.
The good ones will go out of their way to seek information. They will have a desire to educate themselves because they know how important that position that sits in the middle of the field on a small mountain, really is.
Bottom line, what you see on this document, is all about the kids. It is a real issue, so big that even MLB has put out their stance on it. Parents, you have to take matters into your hands if your Dude is not being handled correctly. For the sake of your kids health and development, you HAVE to find the right coach(es) and program. They get one shot at living out their dream as far as their talent will take them. You don’t want it to be an injury of over usage that puts an end to it.
**See these numbers as a guideline. You need to have “feel” for the moment. What are stressful pitches and what are efficient pitches. A pitchers ability, stamina and mental toughness should all play a factor in how they are dealt with in game action.
Click here to view, download and print the PDF file of our Pitch Count Chart
Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.
