I threw a curveball once when I was 11, my dad came behind me and smacked me in the head. Needless to say, I opted for the palmball for another 2 years...
Anybody see that kid from Alabama blow out his shoulder a couple of days ago, on his 84th pitch of the game, after an earlier shoulder injury this season?
Just thought I'd throw out that the team from Billings, MT who is the first team to make the LLWS from Montana is 1 win away from playing for the championship. They beat California 1-0 in extra innings. Have to say I'm pulling for those guys. You usually don't see teams like this from states with such a small population winning this many games once they get to Williamsport.
I saw about 8 seconds of the game where the kid threw the no-hitter. He threw a curveball for a K to end the inning. I almost threw up and shut it off. To have kids throwing offspeed garbage at that age is disgusting. For the organizations that run these contests, for the coaches that encourage the use of those pitches, and especially for the parents who can't see past glory right now into the future for these kids. While I'm usually the first to say it's a parent's job to make sure their children are safe, in this case, the responsibility rests with the organizers of the game. As long as they allow the use of off-speed pitches, teams will use them, and have little choice, given that if you don't, you've given the competition an advantage. Everything except fastballs and knuckleballs should be banned from the tournaments.
I thought this was a thread for Toddlers and Tiaras (much more disgusting), but I guess that is not only child abuse, but pedophilia. My bad.
Really? So a kid throwing fastballs, trying to locate them, is the same as a pitching machine putting them right over the middle? GTFOH. I love when people with no kids spout off about things like this.
Studies have shown (UNC, Dr. James Andrews among others) that curveballs don't cause injury. The reason kids get hurt isn't breaking pitches it is that they are allowed to throw too much.
I've been saying for years that this is exactly why there is a major issue with pitchers staying healthy now in the majors. If athletes have gotten better with better equipment, better treatment fopr injuries and better coaching yet guys like Bob Gibson or Steve Carlton could easily throw close to 300 innings a year in a 4 man rotation without injury. The most innings Verlander has thrown to date was 240 which was last season. Look at Strasburg or Wainwright, both young guys and both with TJ surgery in the last season. I have said it many times but there is a connection between the amount of young MLB and Minor pitchers suffering these severe injuries. I had a coach in little league that if any kid threw a curveball he took them out. He did it in the playoffs and the kids parents flipped. He said you'll thank me when he can lift his arm in 20 years.
Well instead of pussifying the game how about doing something like teaching proper pitching techniques and limit the pitch counts to a lower amount like forcing the starter out after 3 innings or just 50 pitches. If you just going to limit what the kids can pitch you might as well set-up a pitching machine and let the kid aim it since it wouldn't make much of a difference. Why would I need to have a kid to know about the fact that people with kids aren't smart enough to limit use of said pitches and how to throw them properly. If you don't want them to throw, then they can always play soccer. Nowadays pitchers don't pitch as many innings since most teams if not all use 5 guys in a rotation and use a bullpen unlike previous generations. Back then the star pitcher played every third game and was expected to pitch all 9 innings, there was no pitch count back then. Later they split games more evenly amongst the starters and then finally comes the middle inning relief specialist who would pitch the 6th,7th, & 8th innings if needed which came after they realized maybe our starter shouldn't be pitching 150+ pitches a game.
http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=29042 http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/dish/201108/study-curveballs-dont-lead-little-league-elbow-problems There is no evidence that breaking pitches cause injury, it is a myth. What causes injury is kids throwing too many pitches, fastballs actually put more stress on a kids arm at that age because 95% of them have shitty mechanics. Edit- there is some evidence that when the arm is already severely overworked Sliders have a slightly higher risk of catastrophic injury than fastballs, but that is in extreme cases. Like the 12 yo andrews gave Tommy John who had thrown 90 something pitches, the last 30 in a row slider/curves and completely tore his tendon. Though I'm sure he was throwing a ton, all them time.
There's little doubt in my mind that sheer volume of pitches is worse than throwing off-speed. I'm actually thankful that my son's competitive league requires pitch counts and the umpire is responsible for pulling kids at their limit, and recording/reporting pitch counts to the league. My son's other teams also voluntarily record pitch counts and don't let kids overpitch. Those are voluntary though, and we can see not every other team follows the example. As said above, our coaches follow the "You'll thank me when he can still throw a ball in 20 years" mindframe. As for conflicting evidence regarding non-fastballs, there is also conflicting evidence regarding global warming/climate change. Tell that to Irene. (Yes, I know climate change =/= to weather, but they're related.) Anyway, whatever way you look at it, the kids in the LLWS are being abused for glory today. Whether it's ridiculous pitch counts or types of pitches thrown, it's bad for them. I'm curious to know how many of the kids who pitch not merely play for these LLWS tournament teams actually go on to MLB careers at any position, much less pitching.
But that's just it, very few of these kids will end up playing professional baseball, so why not get a little bit of glory while you're a kid? Most of these kids at age 20 will be boozing in college and their LL days will be a distant memory. Do you honestly think these kids want to be limited? No, they want to win. So if throwing curveballs and having your best pitchers pitch as much as they feel they can gives them a better chance at winning why not let them do it?
Interesting comment from you guys. A few years back I watched a little league game up at the old yanks stadium and the quality of the players was amazing. On one innings the ref called strike 3 and yelled at the kid pitcher- "that was a slider boy", I applauded thinking nice throw and the ref glowered at me. I didn't realise this is frowned upon at little league. I have enjoyed the LL championships a lot but some of the pitchers I reckon could suit up next year for the MLB.
