Excellent post infielddad!
CAdad,
Since you asked here goes.
My son has never sustained a major injury and never had to miss any game until he became a professional, ah wait, except once in college when he rolled his ankle. FWIW, he has had several MRI, the first complete one only when he signed, and there was not even a slight tear found.
The "injury" that everyone talks about but deosn't know the real story unless I have told them was cortacoid impingement, causing tendinitous in the area slightly above his armpit, not his shoulder. He was scoped one year by the team doctor, to clean up some fraying, nothing of significance found but he was not looking for what was apparently the cause because it is a rare occurance. The problem was genetic (the bone to large for the space given), and last fall had to undergo another arthoscopic surgery to shave the bone. Also, because no one really knew what was really going on before it was discovered, they thought he had a loose capsule so he had to do specific excercises (before he saw this doctor that discovered his issue) for months to tighten the capsule, now the new doctor told them that now they had to do the reverse, as it had become too tight and he could lose his range of motion. It had to be done very carefully under supervision as not to over stretch, lose the integrity of the capsule and it's supporting muscles and ligaments. Also prescribed was a much more intense workout and conditioning for the lower body, even though son never threw with his "arm" this workout and a change in mechanics by professionals has releived all stress from his shoulder and arm, he has never felt better in his life.
So there is a very good example of working with professionals but in reality you cannot see inside, and if they missed some stuff, how can a non professional get it right? This doesn't mean that one day he will take the mound and somthing will happen, but the whole point is that he escaped youth injury, and we all know they abound today.
SofS, just because there are operations to repair doesn't mean that they will continue playing. It is so difficult for a 23-24 to go through 2 scope surgeries, it has got to be harder for youth players to go through major surgeries. Looking back on how hard it was for us to know the frustration he felt, we also knew that he was at a point where he would be given consideration and chances to move forward, that doesn't happen to young players. It's a lot less harder to swallow it all from an adult's perspective rather than a young players. Besides, think of all the "fun" that should be there is not happening.
IMO, it's all just a guessing game, and you know as well as I that genetics plays a HUGE part in it. As you know, son has the desired frame for a pitcher, lanky, long arms and long legs, so of course his path would be much different than others, that's also a big point, you can't make recommendations on what's best for another without knowing anything about them.
Of course one has to teach and train a pitcher to throw his hardest, but I firmly believe that this is not appropriate for young pitchers, we are talking about the 10-14 year old level here, not HS, not college, not pro ball. Show me where it is recommended that 10-14 year olds should throw every other day from a mound.
As far as why the emphasis on developing velocity so young it IS because youth baseball has become a big business, just because there are certain groups that offer what they do at showcases and camps does not mean that is what is necessarily what is right. If you are charging parents lots of money, you better believe you better do something to show for it. Yes, there are many that will benefit from it, but there are many who won't.
As much as we disagree on many things, TR's got it right, it is the parents pursuit of MLB that creates all of this, the dreams of getting lots of money to sign to play pro ball. Reality is you got to get there first, and when he does with what he's done, GBM can tell us what the answer is.
People in the business are going to do what is in demand and makes money for them, they wouldn't do half the things they do if no one wanted to pay for it. This is not a dig on anyone, but this is the way I and many see it. Business is business.
To me it doesn't matter at this point, youth baseball has lost it's way in many ways, again this is not a dig on any one organization is particular.
So here it is, son began pitching very young at age 8, never did much in the way of bullpens, never played year round baseball, never had a paid pitching lesson in his life, no complete games, didn't lift any heavy weights until 15, never used weighted balls, tossed a lot, didn't use the CB until he was 14-15 in games, not allowed to participate in those set ups where you throw to measure velocity, and the first time the radar gun was placed on him, with our permission, was at 15. Never once were we even curious as to WHAT he threw, (neither was he), because it didn't matter. But I never suggested that anyone model their players path after him, because we all know that all children and their genetics are different.
Who is more at risk, we all know that overuse and fatigue is, that's not the issue here. I am not arguing that GBM doesn't bring up some good points, but there are some I do not believe are healthy. Throwing frequently from the mound is one of them. Going home after your cool down and throwing hard to a wall is not one of them (or have we changed our opinion on that)
What is short frequent reps in bull pens anyway plus games? That's still pitching, how many pitches in a week does that add up to?
As far as being able to "repair", there is nothing more heart breaking than a young pitcher having to go through an operation (and there are risks to that) and then having to rehab intensly to get back, lost time in having the fun that youth sports brings (that's what it's all abut folks).
SofS, the things I say are in repsonse to what is posted, for example the comment about breeding pitchers. That right there gives you a hint as to the parents way of thinking.
When son was a junior he hit 90 the fall of his junior year, we were told by those very qualified to leave him alone the next jump would be after a growth spurt. It did the following year going into college he hit 93. There was NOTHING done. However, I can just see some of you out there with their son every other day throwing bull pens to increase their velocity, with the radar gun, when there was no need to, it got there on it's own.