My son is a 16 year old Jr. and has never pitched, until this year. He's is still not done developing and I expressed concern to his pitching coach, at his first lesson, about throwing curves. No problem. His coach has taught him 3 pitches and he throws them ALL the same way, just changes his grip. He's throwing a fastball, a change-up and a "cutter" that drops about a foot right at home plate. IF he can throw strikes, he's going to be nasty. And his arm won't be stressed.