Injuries and fatigue

[Rocketech1]

Let's see a summary of what your research came up with. Curious what your research revealed regards to limiting "the number of pitches thrown" and the recommended rest/recovery period prior to taking the circle again.

Real world data. When my DD pitched 3 games in a day including a 9 inning ITB her bicep and shoulder was sore for 3 days. I don't need any research data to tell me that she exceeded her limit that day.

IME, 2 games and less than 200 pitches is probably about right.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Real world data. When my DD pitched 3 games in a day including a 9 inning ITB her bicep and shoulder was sore for 3 days. I don't need any research data to tell me that she exceeded her limit that day.

IME, 2 games and less than 200 pitches is probably about right.

Relax, RandomDad has performed the research ..... simply requesting that he share what he learned.

Sometimes we get folks wishing to see a pitching limit because their daughter isn't very good ... and the subsidy helps get their DD in the circle. It's easy for some to believe that pitching should be limited and that there should be a pitching rotation.

Then we get others that don't have a DD in that situation, and many of them wish to see the better pitchers in the circle.

Then we get those that actually perform research .... and when they do, their sharing of the data they collected is welcome.

 

[dbronstein]

I recently did a master's project on youth sports injuries. There isn't nearly as much research on softball pitch counts as there is on baseball. Stop Sports Injuries, which is backed by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Athletic Trainers' Association, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, SAFE Kids USA, the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, and the Sports Physical Therapy Section, provides these recommendations: Softball Injuries | Softball Injury Prevention & Treatment

 

[RandomDad]

Let's see a summary of what your research came up with. Curious what your research revealed regards to limiting "the number of pitches thrown" and the recommended rest/recovery period prior to taking the circle again.

I read some articles that made it sound like the wear and tear is comparable to baseball and that limits should be in place. The different articles varied in pitch counts but around 700 per week seemed to be the normal.

Let's see a summary of what your research came up with. Curious what your research revealed regards to limiting "the number of pitches thrown" and the recommended rest/recovery period prior to taking the circle again.

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[quincy]

I think you are always going to need to use your best judgment as far as pitch counts go. I trust bat sizing charts a lot more then maximum pitch counts. Every pitcher is different.

Also pay attention to how much they are warming up. We had a P on the Team this year that had to throw 1000 pitches warming up, she ran out of gas in games which I never understood.

If DD knows she is pitching she does limited overhand throws followed by her pitching warm up. She doesn’t P to just pitch, she just tries to get the feeling of the whole thing down then stops.

Amy started a post a little while ago about throwing warmup pitches between innings, I was surprised how many said 1 for the throw down to 2nd, I am ready let’s get going.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I keep a strict pitch count when I watch my students pitch. One game is plenty for 12U. I try to tell them, that they don't need 5 warm ups between innings, but they are just girls and they don't want to tell the coach.

Staying under 100 pitches per game is a goal that I strive for. A girl that is asked to throw 140 pitches, is probably playing on a team that is making fielding errors. She should be getting through a game at about 75 pitches.

One year when U of AZ. won the WCWS, there one pitcher threw a tremendous amount of pitches (that week.) By the time the championship game was played all she had left was CUs. She won, but personally I thought that she wasn't as effective the next year, nor in the pros.

Pitch calling has to get better in the youth leagues. Here in Tucson I am not seeing much of it. The girls throw and hope that it doesn't get hit.

 

[Rocketech1]

One thing to keep in mind is most games never go 7 innings because of time limits. I would think the average innings pitched per game throughout the year is 5 innings for 12u travel ball including scrimmages, friendlies, qualifiers and tournaments. At 18 pitches per inning average x 5 innings = 90 pitches. You pitch a doubleheader and you are at 180 pitches. Probably the upper end of a reasonable amount of pitches you should throw especially if you add in pregame warm-ups and in between innings throws.

 

[slingnit]

My kid has been on both sides, only pitcher and 3 girl rotation. When the kids are 9 to about 13/14 it seems many parents want them to be the ONE on the team. It's cool to see your kid throw 3 or 4 games on a Sunday and win a tournament. But they are young and you have no idea of how their bodies will hold up to that over time. Some could do that every weekend without any problem and other could have a rag arm in a couple of years. By 14 or 15 some of those parents realize that being the ONE is more of an ego for themselves and actually support a rotation. I actually like a 2 girls rotation with a third that may be a couple of years younger. The third will take some pool games and blowouts but is getting experience playing older girls in better tournaments. But to answer your question, it is both. you will see successful teams that throw a rotation but you will see some that have an Ace and maybe one or two to take a few innings here and there. When the rotation isn't working it is usually due to unhappy parents.

As far as helping reduce injuries by limiting pitches. We never really worried about pitch counts through the week/end but if her shoulder, bicep, elbow or knees were hurting from something other than soreness we shut her down until we found out what the problem was. One thing I did do with my dd was taking off from late Oct to March, never touch a ball. That's 10,000+/- pitches a year her arm never seen. We started doing this when she was about 14 or so, when she really started getting stronger. When we would start back up after winter you could tell a big difference with speed and movement. The only exception was the winter of her sophomore year, that was THE year she was preparing herself for exposure to college recruiters.

 

[RandomDad]

Thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate it!

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[Rocketech1]

One thing I did do with my dd was taking off from late Oct to March, never touch a ball. That's 10,000+/- pitches a year her arm never seen. We started doing this when she was about 14 or so, when she really started getting stronger. When we would start back up after winter you could tell a big difference with speed and movement. The only exception was the winter of her sophomore year, that was THE year she was preparing herself for exposure to college recruiters.

Hah! If my DD took 5 months off each year she would miss half her travel ball season!