Continue with high school ball?

wow..first i would let the doc decide that ,,then i would re evaluate playing for that coach..if you are not college bound what does high school ball mean to you? is it a place for the coach to abuse your arm??? either voice up with the high school coach and tell him immediately like after 75 BP pitches that you arm hurts...you have to speak up..otherwise dont worry ,,have fun with the legion team this summer before you head out to college..to learn

NW,
I read your past posts and it appears that you have had arm issues in the past.
You might want to at this point and depending upon what the doctor says, decide which might be more meaningful for you, if you play HS ball you may not make it to play in Legion.

Best of luck.

truthfully how bad are the arm issues?

I have voiced my limits with the coaches, but it only goes so far with him. Last year at this time, I was recovering from another arm injury, and they kept me on to build my arm strength back up, and to be part of the team for this year. Later he said that I would throw BP, or be cut this year.

My stance on college ball is not one that I have no desire to play at the next level, but I am looking at colleges that do not have teams. I would absolutely love to walk on somewhere.

I have had arm issues in the past, and went in to get it corrected. Threw all summer without a hitch, and it just popped back up again a couple weeks ago. Last time I had a limited range of motion extending my arm, but this time its both extending and contracting. With that said, I went in today for an initial evaluation, with x-rays coming back negative. They are having me come in on Thursday for an MRI, and PT for sure once they establish no surgery. Unfortunately, there is also a possibility for some structural damage requiring surgery.

I will be sure to get back to you as soon as I know more about my situation.

Thanks for filling us in, I would wait until your MRI comes back and course of action the doc wants to take.
Sounds like the current coaches only need you to throw BP, which they should be doing themselves.

I am not sure that at this point, I would want my son to put his arm health in jeopardy for BP.

JMO.

As far as what my coach said when he cleared me to throw, he said I most likely had a minor strain due to weakened muscles surrounding the elbow joint. Taking time off would only weaken these muscles further, so he advised that I continue to throw as long as it didn't hurt at all.

I am by nature, a competitive individual, and if throwing BP was going to get me a shot at playing I would do it within reason. As a senior, BP is not going to cut it for me, and if thats what the coaches want out of me, then I would most likely quit the team and set my focus solely on Legion ball.

quote:

Originally posted by NW Knights07:
As far as what my coach said when he cleared me to throw, he said I most likely had a minor strain due to weakened muscles surrounding the elbow joint. Taking time off would only weaken these muscles further, so he advised that I continue to throw as long as it didn't hurt at all.

I am by nature, a competitive individual, and if throwing BP was going to get me a shot at playing I would do it within reason. As a senior, BP is not going to cut it for me, and if thats what the coaches want out of me, then I would most likely quit the team and set my focus solely on Legion ball.

Look I'm not a doctor, I don't play one on TV and I haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in a while so I may be completely wrong and someone much smarter than me will come on here and correct me but that sounds like the worst medical advice I've ever heard in my life. First you would need rest to get over any problems and then start a rehab program to help build the muscles around the elbow. Once you do that then you could return to pitching / throwing. To tell someone with elbow pain that stopping throwing will essentially make the matters worse so keep throwing is horrible advice IMO. Stop everything you're doing and go get a second opinion from another ortho doctor.

That's a great attitude that you want to get on the field even if it means throwing BP but like Swampboy said - it won't make you better and will just put more unnecessary wear and tear on your arm.

NW Knights:

I'm located in Seattle. We can take a look at your mechanics using high-speed video (including breaking ball release) at 420+ frames per second. We can also do a shoulder and elbow physical therapy assessment.

My email is kyle@drivelinebaseball.com. Shoot me an email, and you can check out all the free content on our website about pitching injuries at drivelinebaseball.com.

UPDATE:

Finally got my MRI results back, turns out it's just a sprained UCL, no damage to the ligament. Going in to get a cortisone shot to take down the inflammation. Sounds like I will have another week of being shut down, but after that will be able to get back on a throwing program, and be back before the season ends.

It's obvious I will be needed on the team this year, considering the 10 walks as a team in 6 innings of our first game. Getting on a mound for this coach still concerns me, and my plan is to tell him I will NOT throw more than 2 breaking balls in a row until I am 100% comfortable doing so.

Any outside observations would be much appreciated, thank you all for your support.

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:
Look I'm not a doctor, I don't play one on TV and I haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in a while so I may be completely wrong and someone much smarter than me will come on here and correct me but that sounds like the worst medical advice I've ever heard in my life. First you would need rest to get over any problems and then start a rehab program to help build the muscles around the elbow. Once you do that then you could return to pitching / throwing. To tell someone with elbow pain that stopping throwing will essentially make the matters worse so keep throwing is horrible advice IMO. Stop everything you're doing and go get a second opinion from another ortho doctor. …

I sure hope he follows your advice!

I’m going to try to use his post to connect to another point. I hope you don’t mind being used as an example.

coach2709 and NW Knights07’s posts show very clearly why there are pitching limitations in the rules for most HS and below venues. I’m sure Knight’s coach means well, and since he’s a HS coach (I think), obviously someone else believes he’s qualified to be a coach. But when you put him alongside a coach like coach2709, he doesn’t show up very well, at least about pitching and pitching issues, does he?

He’s exactly the kind of coach pitch counts are intended to protect kids from. I realize that this situation isn’t at all about pitch counts, but I think the mindset is there that appears to be at best, reckless. I think its safe to say, that even as rare as it is for a pitcher in a game to tell the coach he’s experiencing arm pain of any kind, if one did tell Knight’s coach that, its unlikely he’d be taken out, while coach2709 in the same situation, would at minimum be extremely cautious about allowing the pitcher to continue.

And it doesn’t have to be arm pain or discomfort. I think its reasonable to assume that the same thing would happen if a pitcher told both coaches he was feeling ill or fatigued.