Can pitching too fast too young make a kid more susceptible to injury?

[lostcreek1]

For the guys that have been doing this a long time. Have you ever seen or do you think it is possible for young kids to pitch too fast at a young age, causing them to be more susceptible to injuries. Let’s say you have two girls 9 years old. One throws high 30’s the other high 40’s does the one throwing harder have a greater chance of injury due to more stress and ligaments and tendons and such not fully developed.

 

[canyonjoe]

For the most part injuries are caused by overuse and bad mechanics.

 

[FP26]

It's an interesting question. I am not an expert so I will be curious to see what type of responses you receive.

I will say that most of the local coaches preach speed above everything else. While I understand the importance of speed, I question their processes. For example, most of these coaches do not spend much time on mechanics. They simply tell their players to throw faster and faster. I agree with @canyonjoe that bad mechanics are a leading cause of injury. Can telling someone with bad mechanics to throw "faster and faster" increase the possibility of injury? I'm not sure, but it sure seems like it could contribute.

My bigger issue with that coaching style was the effect on the pitcher's psyche. Generally speaking, young pitchers typically need to experience some success in order to be motivated to continue. I have witnessed young pitchers slowing down their pitch so that they could throw strikes, only to be scolded by the coach to "throw faster". Then they walk several hitters in a row and get pulled from the game. I have seen several of these players quit pitching before they really had an opportunity to gain any experience at all. Yes, speed is important, but what good does it do if you are throwing fast but never near the strikezone?

 

[_MIA_]

There are some that say that this is the reason why you see all these Tommy John surgeries in baseball pitchers these days. Not sure if there is truth to it or not

 

[CoachCeetar]

For the guys that have been doing this a long time. Have you ever seen or do you think it is possible for young kids to pitch too fast at a young age, causing them to be more susceptible to injuries. Let’s say you have two girls 9 years old. One throws high 30’s the other high 40’s does the one throwing harder have a greater chance of injury due to more stress and ligaments and tendons and such not fully developed.

I think it's more about max-effort than it is raw speed, though high 40s at 9 seems like it's probably an extreme outlier and also not sure anyone should be measuring at 9 anyway.

I doubt the sample of pitchers at 8, 9, 10 that are maximizing their effort/mechanics and getting that type of speed is large enough to draw meaningful conclusions from, even if you somehow got them all in a study. Especially considering everyone develops at different rates, and even if they're maxing out _right now_ in 3 months they'll have grown more and it won't be max, unless they constantly MPH chase. Plus you'd have to normalize for usage. The high 40s pitcher is (probably?) going to throw more pitches in general, is going to be used more, etc. Is probably practicing more. Is it the speed, or just the volume of usage?

But essentially, I'd put money on the one throwing high 40s just simply having better mechanics than the high 30s. And/or is just, physically, bigger.

And, any physical activity preformed at close to peak, or repetitively, is dangerous. People get repetitive strain injuries from typing, so of course high-effort usage of muscles comes with some risk.

 

[uncdrew]

I too think it's all about mechanics. The slower pitcher might get hurt more/sooner if her mechanics are worse than the fast pitcher.

 

[lostcreek1]

I think it's more about max-effort than it is raw speed, though high 40s at 9 seems like it's probably an extreme outlier and also not sure anyone should be measuring at 9 anyway.

I doubt the sample of pitchers at 8, 9, 10 that are maximizing their effort/mechanics and getting that type of speed is large enough to draw meaningful conclusions from, even if you somehow got them all in a study. Especially considering everyone develops at different rates, and even if they're maxing out _right now_ in 3 months they'll have grown more and it won't be max, unless they constantly MPH chase. Plus you'd have to normalize for usage. The high 40s pitcher is (probably?) going to throw more pitches in general, is going to be used more, etc. Is probably practicing more. Is it the speed, or just the volume of usage?

But essentially, I'd put money on the one throwing high 40s just simply having better mechanics than the high 30s. And/or is just, physically, bigger.

And, any physical activity preformed at close to peak, or repetitively, is dangerous. People get repetitive strain injuries from typing, so of course high-effort usage of muscles comes with some risk.

So do you or would you instruct your pitchers to not perform the motion with max effort. Opting for less than max effort in favor of longevity. Do think being physically bigger makes one less injury prone.

 

[CoachCeetar]

I'm not at the stage where anyone has good enough mechanics to be max effort. I'm not teaching the 9 year olds to throw as hard as they can, I'm looking for consistency of motion/delivery. Being physically bigger doesn't make you less injury prone, but it DOES probably make you throw/hit faster and harder than the average player for your age,

so if we're just looking at two similar players and one is throwing harder, I wouldn't necessarily infer that they're more prone to injury anymore than I'd say a 12 year old is more prone to injury than a 10 year old.

There's a lot that goes into it. Being aware of fatigue/strain/etc and making sure you have a culture that doesn't stigmatize telling the coach you're sore/hurt/tired/injured is probably more important than anything. There's some disturbing anecdotes in the weight training thread about coaches ignore and/or pushing players to push through it despite it all. that stuff probably contributes more to injuries than simply throwing real hard.

 

[lostcreek1]

I'm not at the stage where anyone has good enough mechanics to be max effort. I'm not teaching the 9 year olds to throw as hard as they can, I'm looking for consistency of motion/delivery.

So you are in the worry about accuracy and speed will come in time camp. I know quite a few are in the throw hard and accuracy will come in time camp.

 

[cvsoftball]

So you are in the worry about accuracy and speed will come in time camp. I know quite a few are in the throw hard and accuracy will come in time camp.

We always liked facing speed pitchers who walked a lot of our batters. we made sure it became a mental game.