Im sure y'all (im in the south now living in GA) have been watching the LLWS. One of the first things that came to my mind was "wow it seems like every time they are in a jam its curveball, curveball, curveball" and it also seems like thats all they throw
I did camps for midwest baseball academy and when you would let the younger kids throw off the mound at the end...everything was curveball curveball curveball! Look at Kyle Farnsworth...he has a 95 plus fastball and everytime he is in a jam he throws breaking stuff
A year or so ago HBO had a special on little league kids who were having Tommy John surgery at the ages of 12 and 13.
I wanted to see what everyone thought about this, its almost getting out of hand. shouldnt the coaches be responsable? Not only is it not healthy for a 12 year old to be throwing like that its also the fact that when you get in the habit of throwing all curveballs...you slow your arm down then all of a sudden your older and you have no velocity. Many coaches preach fastball change-up, im a firm believer of thats all you need at that level. There was an article online with someone quoted saying "dont throw curveballs until you know how to shave"
I know most coaches dont care what happens to players after they leave the program. In high school 3 years in a row our number 1 had TJ surgery after their sr year. Because it was curveball, curveball, curveball, it was throwing 90 pitches and then going to the OF, even throwing 90 pitches, going to the OF and coming back into pitch. No kid in their right mind will ever say no....but do you think maybe they should?
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