6 Pitching Overuse Prevention Tips for Baseball Parents

[@goofyscott8082]

Thank you for posting this

[@dalessiocw]

Thank you Dan for making these videos. I really appreciate all the help with my son on his pitching journey.

[@DanBlewett]

Glad to help thanks for the kind words!

[@jeremyharris5176]

Thanks for the great information!

[@armstrong2008]

great and generous advice. thank you Dan

[@johnscudder1526]

Love your content Dan

[@Thomas-cc4dt]

Holy crap! We went to high school together at Bel Air! Love what you're doing!

[@DanBlewett]

pretty random, huh? The ol' Bobcats

[@johnalexander9757]

You talk about a quota on number of times throwing from a mound. What about throwing from flat ground (our kids don’t throw from a mound here until older age). Thoughts on how often to simulate pitching from flat ground?

[@jbwa]

Helpful. Thanks.

[@DanBlewett]

You're welcome!

[@steveshannon7922]

4:19 Add other activities Amen!

[@stephenbell4937]

I second your comments on fall baseball. There is nothing that a 12 year old is going to learn in 15 games of fall baseball that they aren't learning in the spring/summer season. You have all of these overbearing parents that never played baseball that think it is going to help their son get some type of 'edge' on the competition. Playing light catch or hitting once per week would do more to help their skills during the fall period. Maybe have them work on their changeup grip during this time.

[@Midwest-FieldOps]

Good video. My son is the team's primary catcher and also their closing pitcher. How much of an impact does catching for a full game and then closing the next game on a tournament weekend have on his arm? How much impact does catching for 4 innings, resting and inning, and pitching the 6th inning have on his arm?

[@DanBlewett]

both of those scenarios are not good for his arm. Don't have a way of quantifying it, but neither are good.

[@Midwest-FieldOps]

@Coach Dan Blewett does it help that he hasn't thrown more than twenty pitches in a game? His average right now is 11 per inning. Problem is the 100 pitches he threw back as catcher before that. Also at what age should they be deciding to play one position or the other? He is 11 right now.

[@DanBlewett]

he doesnt need to choose one position, they just need to give him a full day of not catching between pitching outings. Catches on Friday, doesnt pitch til Sunday, plays a different position on Saturday or sits.

[@Midwest-FieldOps]

@@DanBlewett Thank you sir!

[@user-zm8sf9bx7c]

Thank you for this video. If we do notice Coach is overusing - what is the best approach in handling this situation? We ran into this 2 years ago when coach asked our son to pitch the very next day after he pitched 100 pitches the day before. I was not happy that he waited till 100 pitches before he took him out the day before and then he asked him to pitch very next day. We simply just quit the team since I didn't feel safe with that coach - but I have a feeling this situation might happen again.

[@DanBlewett]

Just have to have the hard conversations - upfront and certainly after they happen.

[@natsfan2399]

As a parent, I find this to be very helpful guidance. But I think it’s a mistake to focus it so entirely on parents, rather than addressing it expressly to the players as well. Usually you’re very good about emphasizing the need for players, especially by high school to take charge. That applies in this area as well, although parents should do your best to help influence.

[@DanBlewett]

i make lots of videos. some i make aimed at parents, some aimed at players. it happens.

[@natsfan2399]

@@DanBlewett you do make lots of videos. Thank you. In my experience as a parent, it really helps to get the parents and player on the same page. All the information in this video is something both the parents and the player should mutually understand and implement together. But that’s my view as a parent.

[@davidjacobson6538]

For the season in socal, Fall ball in my opinion is SAFER than every other option. Our spring season has already started, and ends in May. Fall ball starts in September and ends in November. That gives them 3 months of break over summer, then 3 months of break over winter. The travel ball teams who play Spring, then play ALL summer long have the most burnouts and injured arms. The same doctors who created the pitch count guide also advocate less than 600 pitches per season (age 9-12 I believe). My 9 year old hit 418 pitches in Fall over 15 games. How many pitches does a 9 yr old who plays Spring Pony/All-stars/travel ball (sometimes at the same time) from March until August throw in his "season." Yikes.

[@DanBlewett]

i guess that makes sense if you dont play in the summer. My statements are based on players playing a typical march-August

[@davidjacobson6538]

@@DanBlewett What are your thoughts on that Dan? Especially for younger players. Is it more than coincidence that TJ surgery and other injuries have increased for younger pitchers parallel with the push for kids to play travel ball and longer seasons? How long should a season be for 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 yr old players? Should they get part of their summer to do other things besides baseball? Obviously as kids get older two months is not long enough, but is six too much for the little guys?

[@DanBlewett]

People tend to forget that just like in a marriage or relationship, time apart helps the heart grow fonder. Having kids play year-round doesnt make them love the game more. It's good to long for baseball sometimes. Anyway - they just need two seasons off, and hopefully one of them is playing another sport. So whether it's summer off and fall is a primary season, that's fine. Or spring + summer + off in the fall and winter. That's the real point - 9 months of competitive baseball is bad for the body and it's a cause of burnout, in my opinion. As far as games, I don't really know - kids don't practice as much as they used to so there's a case to be made that if they dont play more games (than in my childhood, for example) then they'll hardly be playing at all. its complicated.

[@stevel6220]

Agree with this. We play little league in spring and fall, take summer off, and play basketball in winter. The year-round travel ball circuit is what trashes arms.

[@brentdhedrick]

Tournament kids dont have the ability to follow #2, they play full speed Saturday and Sunday. Some will throw an inning, maybe two on Saturday, and then start on Sunday. We watch weekend pitch count. I agree with the fall ball statement. Mine has the misfortune of tournament ball, rec ball, then all stars , so baseball from march till July, then qb for his football team in fall. He throws a lot throughout the year, so arm care is a priority for us.

[@DanBlewett]

No. It's choice to pitch in relief on Saturday then start on Sunday. Coaches are choosing to do put kids through that and parents are allowing it. Be prepared to live with the consequences one day of being okay with your kid's coaches running him out there on back to back days. Relieving and starting on back to back days is NOT okay.

[@brentdhedrick]

@@DanBlewett i think I may have forgotten to add context. I am talking about travel teams under 12. Pretty sure as the kids weed themselves out around that age, there are fewer and fewer kids who cant pitch on a team. If you follow strict USSSA guidelines, your kid would throw his arm out in a hurry because they can rack up a ton of pitches in a weekend. The coach on my sons 11u team is pretty in tune with our kids. My son throws the ball hard and as he has gotten older and stronger, his days of two day pitching are fewer, however he still gets put in the mix for it on occasion since he is our first baseman and his ingame throws are at a minimum. He is also a slow starter so he doesnt get thrown into relief situations very often. Usually only a Sunday starter (not bragging, just saying he takes a bit to dial in on the mound and isnt a good resource to go to when you need to stop the bleeding). The most my son has thrown in a weekend was 80 pitches. 20 on a Saturday and 60 on a Sunday. He has thrown a complete game w 72 pitches but that was his only pitching appearance that weekend. My original statement was targeted at pretty much every single texas and louisiana team we have played that will start their best kids two days in a row and just make sure they dont go over 3 innings on Saturday so they can hammer a full 3 or 4 innings out of them on Sunday.

[@DanBlewett]

okay, understood - thanks for clarifying. That's still not good for those LA/TX teams - multiple innings two days in a row is not great.

[@davidyielding8539]

How do you feel about pitchers who aren't pitching that day but are playing catcher and pitching the next game?

[@DanBlewett]

It’s pretty not great

[@mozzartV]

Canada prevents fall baseball pretty well lol

[@DanBlewett]

Yetis would never allow baseball played on their turf in the winter

[@toyotaecw]

Don’t play fall ball *plays QB on football team*

[@DanBlewett]

agreeeeeeeeeeeee

[@jeffmilroy9345]

Never sign your kid up for multiple leagues in the same season. For example, it really ticks off a little league coach when your kid has to miss practices and shows up to pitch only against teams with top talent. The results can be really, really fun to watch. BUT DO NOT DO IT!