quote:Originally posted by Skylark:
Of the dozen or so pitchers I personally know who are pitching in college now or who did, pretty much all of them were good pitchers at the little league age level.
Probably they were.
Being a LL pitcher doesn't guarantee you still will be pitching in HS or college.
I live in a state where the sun shines almost 365 days a year. That means a lot more games perhaps where you come from. As you are aware many pitchers from here get drafted and drafted high. Most of the pitchers in my sons grad class are not pitching anymore or have had surgery in some form of another that have set them back. And it's not always the arm.
The bottom line from what I see is that most pitchers break down at some point in their career. Hopefully it should be later than sooner. When the pitcher establishes himself as a prospect or reaches the higher levels. My opinion is that parents and players should do everything they can to make sure that injury doesn't occur at crucial times, that would be during the recruiting phase or in college, or in the early stages of milb before the player reaches the big field, this eliminates chance of making it by a huge margin unless the team has put a significant amount in your bank accout. Unfortunetly once you lose your spot it's tough to find your way back (ask Brian Wilson), no matter how good you are. For those that get to the pro level (and you have spoken about how your son desires to play there some day) it's a long climb up the ladder before you get to where you want to go for at least 90% of those that show the ability to get there, and injury doesn't make it any easier.
I am not here to argue but just to give advice on what I beleive should be a safe journey for young pitchers. Lots of good medical stuff going on but the bottom line is often injury ends careers.
I don't disagree that overuse is most likely a very big cause for injury. There is a huge risk involved in being a pitcher, the whole idea is to minimize that risk level to level.
JMO