As a pitcher over the years, I have noticed a significant difference in the mentality of different coaches regarding pitchers, especially during bullpens. This year, I finially picked up on something I had never noticed before; a bullpen routine that seemed more harmful than anything. His bullpen plan included limited time to get loose and mound ready, and then threw pitchers into a rigorous routine. 10 fastballs, 10 change ups, 10 curveballs/3rd pitch, and then one live batter. ALL of the set pitch was thrown in sets of 10, not giving the arm a chance to adjust from subtle differences in arm speed/slot. And add to this no allowance for cooldown afterwards, in February.
In contrast to this method, I have seen coaches who do a good job of keeping pitches mixed together as a pitcher might do in a game, and allow for a cooldown time to protect the arm of the pitcher.
And then I thought about bullpens in contrast to games. How many coaches allow for a cooldown period after a game? As far as I have seen, no coaches allow for thier players to cooldown with catch, but insist that they run their long distances to clear their bodies of lactic acid.
Finally, after reading the "Kids do not Throw Enough" thread, I connected the coldown idea to not throwing enough. How many kids at the end of their season shut it down for an extended period of time? I know I was one of those kids, and feel as though I am paying for it now, in putting too heavy a workload on myself after shutting down abruptly. My question/idea is should pitchers taper down their throwing workload from the end of their season down to a short period of rest (1-2 months), before picking back up with a light workload to prepare for the coming season? It's too late for myself to experiment with (senior not going on to play college ball), but could this possibly be yet another way to save kids' arms?
Input would be greatly appreciated, as I would love to go on as a coach someday, and want to bring as much knowledge to the table as I possibly can. Thank you all in advance!
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