If you sidle up to any gaggle of baseball dads and bring up the topic of kids being overpitched, you’ll invariably hear tales about crazy coaches from other towns abusing their pitchers by having them throw over 100 in one game or well over 100 during a two-day tournament. Yet when your coach does the same thing, it’s often glossed over or forgotten.
In a July 2020 ABC News story about the “epidemic” of arm injuries in young pitchers, Dr. Christopher Ahmad, an orthopedic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian, states: “[t]he ligament [in the pitching elbow] is like a wire hanger and if you bend it enough times, it will finally break.”
In addition, an April 2016 Washington Post Article on pitching injuries reveals that out of all the “Tommy John” elbow surgeries performed from 2007-2011, more than half were done on teenaged pitchers. The piece also lets us know that kids who regularly pitched while fatigued, because, for example, they pitched for multiple teams, “were 36 times (!) as likely as other pitchers to undergo shoulder or elbow surgery.”
And you don’t really need to do extensive research to know that overpitching can cause long term problems. So many middle aged baseball guys I know have some lingering arm/shoulder issue that they think was caused by being overused as a kid.
Don’t Blindly Trust the Coach Not to Overpitch Your Kid
Most youth baseball coaches will give you an Indiana Jones “trust me” if you voice your concerns about your kid being overused.
And some coaches are great and they’ll make sure your kid is not overpitched. But as the old Ronald Reagan chestnut goes: “Trust but verify.”
A May 2012 Sports Health study quizzed 95 coaches about the applicable pitching guidelines. The results of the quiz were terrifying. More than half the coaches didn’t even know what the pitch count rules were. Further, some coaches also admitted that they pitched kids with sore and fatigued arms.
And note that this study interviewed Little League coaches. Imagine what the responses would be from uber-competitive travel coaches.
Also, any parent of a travel pitcher knows that while coaches might talk a good game about observing the pitch count rules, and protecting young arms, those rule often go out the window at the end of a close game when your kid staying in might mean the difference between winning and losing.
Make Sure Your Son is Playing in a League with Strict Pitch Count Rules
Pitch count rules are great, and often take the pressure off a parent to make sure their kid is not being overpitched. If the league has a strict pitch count limit, and teams are using GameChanger (which automatically counts pitches), then the opposing coach will usually call your coach out if he tries to pitch your kid over the maximum. Coaches are also less likely to overpitch a kid when the number is there for everyone to see in GameChanger.
Now if your son is on multiple teams, then these rules won’t prevent overuse if you’re allowing him to pitch for both teams.
Be Smart About When You Schedule Pitching Lesson
This seems like an obvious no no, but pitching coaches will tell you parents routinely bring their kids in for a lesson the morning before their kid is going to pitch or right after a kid has thrown 50 pitches in a game, often without telling the coach the situation. This is the equivalent of having your kid pitch in two straight games.
Good pitching coaches realize that you have no control over the team’s schedule and when your kid is going to be put in a game. They know about rainouts and how games are often rescheduled last minute. They’re also invested in your kid and his health. Thus, they’ll usually let you reschedule a lesson last minute when something comes up.
And always keep in mind, it’s better for your kid to skip his pitching lesson for a week or two–or three–than risk an arm injury from overuse.
It’s Okay to Limit Your Kid’s Pitches to Below the Pitch Count Rules
The Little League rules say a 13-year old can throw 95 pitches in a game. But I know a former Major League scout who’s told me it’s crazy to have a kid that young throw that many pitches. I think reasonable minds can disagree when it comes to what the proper amount of pitches a kid should throw. And ultimately it’s your kid and you totally have the right to set the pitch count to what you feel comfortable notwithstanding what the rules say.
The way to approach the coach about limiting pitch count is to say your son is all about the team but he’s still young and he can only do so much. If the coach aggressively pushes back or is dismissive of your concerns, then maybe you’re on the wrong team.
Trust Your Kid When He Says His Arm Hurts
We need to teach our kids to be able to recognize the difference between the regular aches and pains that come from all physical activity and the ones that might lead to long term injuries.
After my son got diagnosed with Little League elbow, my wife said she regularly saw him rubbing his elbow after coming off the mound. I myself had never seen this, probably because I was so enjoying watching him pitch well that I didn’t want to see it.
If my son had tried to tap out of one of our playoff games complaining of arm discomfort, I frankly might have encouraged him to push through it.
This is where both parents and kids and coaches have to be aware of the difference between the common muscle pain along the forearm and more serious elbow pain.
When a kid’s elbow hurts, he has to come out. I know there are kids out there who fake elbow injuries when they’re not doing well in a game, and it has lead to adults being skeptical of injuries. But you have to err on the side of caution.
Switch Teams if the Coach is Willing to Overpitch Your Kid
We live in a time where your kid has plenty of choices with respect to travel baseball teams. This is not 20 years ago when your only option was your town’s travel team. If you have an issue with your town’s coach, there are a plethora of club teams who will gladly take your son.
Back when my son was 9, he was the only kid on his town travel team who both threw hard and threw strikes. We had games almost every weekend, and the coach, a fellow dad, pitched him virtually every game and his pitch count was always really high.
When I finally confronted him about overpitching my kid, he didn’t really respond and shook his head like I was being annoyingly overprotective.
“Are you saving him for the Majors?” he asked.
In this guy’s mind, either I blindly trusted him with my son or I was being disloyal to the team.
Don’t put up with that bullshit. Like I said above, your kid has options when it comes to teams.
Consider Not Having Your Son Play on Multiple Teams
This is tough, because almost all the good players we know play on at least two teams and sometimes three or four. But at a time when you have a former Major League pitcher advocating for youth pitchers to take the summer off from playing at all and instead work on developing their craft, you have to wonder if we overload our kids with baseball activities (largely because it’s become the norm) and we’re going to look back at these decisions with regret especially if our kids wind up with overuse injuries.
Baseball is also a unique sport when it comes to the role of a pitcher and the limitations on throwing. In basketball, for example, a point guard can be on multiple teams and play the same position for all his squads without issue. Yet, the nature of throwing a baseball makes it so you often have to choose which team you kid can pitch for in a given week so as not overtax his arm.
Also, remember it’s not just pitching that puts your kid at risk of an arm injury. An orthopedic surgeon once told me that he had operated on the elbow of an outfielder who was on multiple teams and making too many long hard throws in both practices and games. So even when your son isn’t pitching for a second or third team, he’s still throwing and taxing his arm.
So a compelling argument can be made that you should avoid all the headaches that come with having to choose which team your kid can pitch for in a given week, and just have him play for a single competitive team. If he winds up not pitching for a couple weeks in a row, that’s probably a good thing in the long run. You can just have him throw bullpens to keep his arm ready for when he is put in a game.
Use Common Sense When It Comes to Your Kid’s Pitching
There are a bunch of things I can say here, but here are a few to go by:
- Don’t have your kid pitch much (if at all) when it’s April and windy and 15 degrees
- Likewise, when it’s August and 100 degrees, make sure your kid is well hydrated and pull him when he’s obviously exhausted and his mechanics are breaking down
- Don’t have your kid pitch and catch in the same game
- Don’t have your kid pitch on consecutive days (unless only threw handful of pitches on first day)
- Don’t have your kid throw 50 plus pitches warming up before the game starts (30 pitches is a reasonable number)
- A kid’s pitch count at the start of a season should be low and he should work up to the number you’re comfortable with (coaches often throw kids the max at the start of the season unless you say something)
- Don’t rush back after an injury
- Don’t bow to peer pressure (you’ll inevitably have coaches try to cajole you into breaking these rules to chase trophies)
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE ABOUT HOW NOT TO OVERUSE YOUNG PITCHERS? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.
For more information on pitching, see:
- What You Need to Know About Little League Elbow
- 4 Ways To Increase Your Kid’s Pitching Velocity
- Is the Circle Change Dangerous for Youth Pitchers?
- Why I Don’t Let My Son Pitch in Little League
- Pitching and Head Injuries: What You Need to Know
For information about the emotional side of baseball, see:
- How to Manage Your Kid’s Baseball Tantrums and Meltdowns
- 4 Ways to Respond to a Coach Playing Favorites
- How to Stop Being a Crazy Baseball Dad
- How to Be a Good Baseball Dad in the Backyard
- Is It Now Fashionable to Hate On Baseball Dads?
- Are Local Little Leagues Bad for Baseball?
For information on hitting, see:
- How to Get Out of a Hitting Slump
- 4 Best Baseball Batting Aids (No. 3 is Free)
- 4 Hitting Drills You Need to Do Before Every Game
- 4 Old School Baseball Drills You Need to Be Using
- 6 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Baseball Bat
For baseball speed drills, see: