quote:Originally posted by TPM:
Overuse just means used to much and that includes when a pitcher begins.
My son began, at 8, if he had started a bit later maybe at 12, that is 4 less years of non use on the mound.
We were very careful with son in his youth years, much more than most because he threw hard, yet IMO he was overused by starting on the mound too early .
Not sure why you keep arguing that point.
I dont agree with defining overuse as starting young. When my son started pitching at 9 he threw 4-5 innings a week over the coarae of about 3-4 months. That was all he pitched that first year. He didnt didnt start playing travel ball until he was 10 and that was over by July of that year. He had the next 8 months off from pitching in games. There is absolutely no way anyone could call that " overuse".
It wasnt until his next year that he played travel ball and they threw him quite a bit that year and we changed teams the next year.
Overuse is thus not defined by when a pitcher starts throwing but rather how much they throw in a given period of time.