Reply to "Curveballs"

quote:

Although ASMI has tried to prove that the curveball is more dangerous than the fastball for youth pitchers, we have not been able to prove this. My personal opinion is that we will never prove the curveball to be more dangerous than the fastball. That being said, I think we all agree that the youngest pitchers should get their fastball going first ("master it", "dominate", whatever term you want to use).

quote:

Correct. That is why it is valuable to have both biomechanical studies and clinical outcome studies. In addition to the biomechanical study linked above, I also suggest reading this retrospective outcome study:
http://ajs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/full/34/6/905
This study compared 16-20 year olds who are healthy pitchers vs. an age-matched group who had surgery. There was a big difference in overuse, but no difference in when they started throwing curveballs. Check it out.

quote:

ASMI's epidemiologic research has shown again and again that the young pitchers who pitch too much in competition are the ones who end up on the surgery table before they are old enough to buy a beer. "Too much" includes pitches per game, pitches per season, months per year, and multiple leagues.

Somewhat surprisingly, biomechanical research has shown the curveball produces similar, or slightly less, load on the elbow than the fastball does - even for youth. For more details, read this scientific article:
Dun S, Loftice J, Fleisig GS, Kingsley D, Andrews JR. A Biomechanical Comparison of Youth Baseball Pitches: Is the Curveball Potentially Harmful? Am J Sports Med 36(4):686-692, 2008.