Posted by: Jon (jonwilliams@fuse.net) on Mon Apr 4 09:22:00 2005

Hey Ron,

I won't comment on the hitting since there are plenty of experts here. I will however give you a couple thoughts on the pitching. You didn't say how your son is being used...i.e. Does he have a pitch limit? If he has a really long inning does he come out earlier than normal? Does he rest between appearances? Etc.

If you're not following reasonable guidelines in these areas then his elbow pain could be from being over-used. But I'm going to guess that it's really a mechanical problem in his delivery. You said he's fast but somewhat wild. His arm hurts after 20 pitches. That sure sounds like mechanics to me.

My son could throw hard too but his elbow hurt after each throwing session. I took him to a former pro pitcher who worked out his mechanics over the winter of 2003-2004. His problem was that his front side flew open, his head and upper body tilted left (toward 1B side) and he sort of slung the ball 3/4 to the plate. This put a lot of torque on his elbow.

He now has even better velocity and he hasn't complained about his elbow in over a year. He gets a little arm angle on his pitches so his 2-seamer is by far his best pitch. It really dives down and in on RH batters...which gets lots of strikeouts and groundballs. He gets about a 6 to 1 ratio of groundballs to flyballs.

I would second Mike's Mom's recommendations on pitches. No breaking balls. He only needs a 4-seamer, a 2-seamer, and a change up. His change up should be about 8-10 mph slower than his fastball. And the speed difference should exist only because of an inefficient grip. He should not slow down his motion to create a change up.

I would suggest getting a book called "Saving the Pitcher". It's excellent reading on mechanics, rest, etc. Barnes and Noble carries it.

Best wishes.
Jon