My wife was the one pushing swimming. She swam in college and wanted our kids to appreciate the sport. It was much later that I started to understand and realize the benefits to playing baseball, especially pitchers. I hear and read about swimming use of the same motion as throwing and how could that be a good thing. Then on the other hand others maintian kids don't throw enough. Hard to say really, and everyone is different and what works for one may not for another. IMHO, the strength a young person develops in the upper body from consistent swimming practices (not just getting in the pool and playing) serves the young athlete of most any sport. When you start considering the stress placed on the upper body as a pitcher (or any hard throw for that matter) accelerates to throw and then decelerates; how do the muscles compensate if one side is stronger than the other? I see great potential for strained ligaments and tendons under this scenario.