quote:Originally posted by Gingerbread Man:
I am pretty sure that pretty much every Dad out there knew what their kid threw velocity wise when they first started throwing. If they didn't, they had a pretty good idea....
...Parents and kids know this and so the endless drive in youth baseball players to gain velocity will continue. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not! Should we never gun little 10 year old Johnny? Good luck on that happening- kids and/or parents will always find a gun and the comparisons will always be the battleground for gaining velocity.
I never knew the velocity of my son's pitch until someone put a gun on him and I watched the results. This was about age 14 when a coach wanted to determine if he wanted him on his 16u team. I did not get concerned about the velocity numbers because I was catching my son in the back yard and at the park and knew how much my hand hurt. I did not need to see the numbers, I knew he was throwing hard.
I do believe, as you point out, that the drive to throw harder at younger ages is why you see more kids at younger ages getting elbow and shoulder surgeries. Even when kids can throw harder I do not believe they should keep pushing that aspect of their abilities until their growth plates have fused to the bone. IMHO this is the point that kids should start "trying" to throw harder.