We have noticed, though, over the course of our son's experience AND watching and knowing other pitchers, that it seems that the pitchers (especially in high school and travel ball) who have the "rubber arms", who can turn around on short rest and throw again, who are always willing to take the ball from the coach to help the team, eventually end up with arm problems either just before or just after their high school career is over. It seems unfortunate that their parents weren't "problem" enough to the coaches and continued to let it happen to the point that their sons' pitching days were ended before they should have been.
Our son has always been one who recovered slowly ... that is just him. He has made adjustments over his pitching career, however, that have helped his recovery ... heck, he's a junior in college and he told us just last night that he and his pitching coach are adjusting his work between starts to improve his arm flexibility, recovery, and hopefully bring his velocity back up to 'fall ball level".
So, I guess what I am saying is that there should be some kind of limit on pitch counts and frequency of throwing that takes into consideration the age and development of the pitcher, that there should be specific work between starts/appearances that helps the arm recover, AND that these are adjusted to the individual pitcher.
And finally, I am in agreement with how baseballs50 and her husband handled their son with regard to conversing with the AD and coach about what they felt was appropriate for THEIR son. After all ... the coaches are paid to win games, not necessarily develop players. (Would be nice if they did both at the high school level.) And we all know of coaches who will try to win at any cost ... so somebody who has a personal and vested interest in the individual player needs to step forward and protect the player's future.
JMHO ...
ShapsMa
