Posted by: thegibsta (jqpublican@yahoo.com) on Sat Apr 23 00:15:02 2005

> > Hi, my son is 15 yrs old on the varsity team at a small Christian high school in Illinois. He has been playing on Travel teams the past 4 years and has pitch very well against some top teams in the state. His high school coach is a firm believer in arm strengthing and has been working him very hard(no Problems with that) He has had 6 starts this spring already, with pitch counts of 85,91,74,89,112,115. Is this to much for a 15 year old?. Should I watch how he feels regarding tiredness or sorness? I really feel he has a future after High School. Please respond when you can.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Rick Palmer
>
> ...pitch count IMO is WAY overrated! How does he feel after a 115 outing...soreness in gerneral is fine, ice, get out and run for 20 minutes the next day, and throw light...sorness in the wrong spots should raise some concern...sharp pain anywhere, elbow, deep shoulder pain are not good...

Scott,

First off, I am no way an expert in this field and base this opinion on recent research that I have conducted in this exact area that your concerned with. Right off, IMO, several of your son's pitching starts seem to have exceeded the recommended number of pitches thrown that should be allowed for youth.

I currently am coaching a L.L. major division (10-12 yoa) and was concerned with pitch counts. Many coaches today base their opinions and coach predicated upon their "beliefs" that now appear antiquated with todays' scientific evidence/reseach/info that is so easily and readily available upon reseaching for it.

Several major, prominent, and nationally recognized organizations are now either debating this very issue or have posted documents in support of limiting youths with regards to number of pitches thrown. USA Baseball is one of these organizations, see their May 2004 posting on this very subject: http://www.usabaseball.com/med_position_statement.html

Also, I've been recently told that Little League International is currently reseacrhing into this and possibly considering changing their long held rules on number of innings pitched and changing to number of pitches thrown per game and week based on age.

The American Sports Medicine Institution along with The American Baseball Foundation did some recent research into this and see the results of this at: www.asmi.org then click on research tab and look for the article on pitch counts. Of note on this particular article they found that the incidence of injury to youth pitchers rose significantly once their count reached 75-99 pitches.

Their are many more articles and organizations reporting on this and it appears at this time that pitch counts matter more than innings pitched for youth pitchers. Heck, the Majors have an unestablished rule of 100 for pitches as you hear being reported during any pro game. These are recommended guidelines not rules cast in stone. But it is evidence that we should air on the side of safety for our children and other parents kids. I for one don't want to be the reason why a 10 year old kid injuries his shoulder/arm because of overuse.