Scientific study on pitching in tournament

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Mar 23, 2011
492
18
Noblseville, IN
I can never figure out "why" everyone is so worried about reasonable limits on pitchers. Baseball has been limiting the innings for pitchers for more than 100 years, and it seems to have done quite well.
Is there an epidemic or increasing trend (beyond the rise of popularity of the sport) that I am not aware of? Where's the data on the injury rate with the participation rate factored out? This all sounds more like a solution looking for a problem to solve.

As to the "good mechanics"...you guys are *really* kidding yourself. The point of good mechanics is to maximize the amount of energy transferred to the ball. The whole point of IR/BI/leg drive is to generate as much energy as possible and channel that energy into the pitching hand.
Mechanics is everything. All athletes try and maximize energy transfer to the ball, but if you do it with the wrong mechanics, you will break something much more quickly. A study without considering mechanics is incomplete. It's comparing apples to oranges.

Yes, pitch counts could reduce the number of shoulder injuries for some athletes. But this reduction will come at a price that top athletes will pay. Who's to say that Monica, Jennie, Sarah, etc would have reached the same level of success later in their careers had they pitched half as many innings as a youth? My kid has been a late developer, if she doesn't get major reps out of this season, she might not have enough experience to make a college team if she should so desire.

So there you go, I do agree that on the front end pitch limits will save some atheltes (mostly those with bad mechanics) from damage, but it will have an affect on the back end. You might lose a Monica or a Sarah here and there, but you will save a struggling pitcher's shoulder long enough to compete in a couple more seasons before washing out of the position.

I'm assuming baseball did the math and the risk/reward was worth it. It's a totally different equation for the underhand throw...
 
Jan 25, 2011
2,282
38
Ok, just an observation of my dd pitching, so not trying to say this study is right or wrong. Dd first year playing high school ball. She is a senior always only played TB. TB team carries 4 pitchers and coaches pretty much stays to 2 innings a piece for his pitchers a game thru out the weekend, not saying on Sunday that if a pitcher has a hot hand he might stay with that pitcher in a game. My dd pitches better in TB then she does in HS ball. HS team has 2 pitchers, my dd and a freshman pitcher, she loses speed and spin on two days in a row with the HS team and says she is sore. 14 innings in 2 days compared to maybe 14 innings in 3 days makes a difference to her.
 
Nov 25, 2012
1,437
83
USA
It would be interesting for there to be a study in this regard comparing pitchers who pitch with the mechanics advocated here versus pitchers who have (by DFP standards) poor mechanics. I'll just bet the results would be quite different than this study.

agree with Doug on this one
 
Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
It is no secret that poor mechanics can lead to arm, elbow, shoulder, hip and back issues, but I really have to question how "scientific" a study is that simply asks players to rate how they feel on a scale of 1-10...

I've been front tossing to 2 different teams 6 days a week for 3 weeks now (HE mechanics from behind a screen...) my shoulder and elbow are killing me. But when I actually pitch to them, with good mechanics....nothing. No pain, just general soreness from getting older.
 

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