Prime9,
He is 15 and is a sophomore in high school. It would appear that there were a couple of things that lead to the breakdown of the UCL. Testing of his left shoulder (he is a LHP) revealed that it was extremely weak. This likely lead to his arm tiring quickly and a breakdown in his mechanics (dropping his elbow). The second contributing factor was that he had a 7mph jump in his velocity of the prior year. He worked with a pitching coach over the winter which greatly improved his mechanics along with a 2-3" growth spurt. (went from throwing mid 70's (75 - 76) to low to mid 80's (82 -83)) He also threw max velocity often trying to impress the coaches etc... One thing it likely wasn't was overuse. His innings were monitored and rarely threw 7 innings or more in a week. Pitch counts were below 100 as well, usually well below. So basically it was a very weak shoulder and big growth spurt that lead to the carnage..lol.
We will likely work with a pitching coach when he gets to that point to confirm that his mechanics are sound. He will definitely be doing exercises like the throwers 10 for the rest of his pitching days. He took his physical gifts for granted and didn't put in the extra work needed as a pitcher, figuring that having come out of basketball season and working with the pitching coach was enough. He didn't put in the effort with warming up properly either so we will create a routine with the physical therapist for the future.
My only thoughts are first and foremost that it sucks that it happened in the first place but if it had to happen occurring in the summer of his freshman year was probably the best timing for a high school pitcher. He established himself in the coaches eyes as a freshman, will miss his sophomore year but should be good to go for his junior and senior years. He will also be able to participate in the summer of his junior year for travel teams and hopefully get on the recruitment trail. Will be a long 15 months till he pitches to a batter competitively again though!!