DEAD Arm, any experience

What does he do, throw 6 innings ine day and then play SS the next??? This can lead up to a tired arm.

My son, who is 17, has always pitched and played third base...we found that toward the middle to end of the summer season, he would start losing velocity..plain and simple, his arm was tired...when you are playing 3rd or ss on your off days...you are also practicing at those positions during the week..think of how many extra throws these kids are making each day/week/month..My son will be graduating this year and pitching next year in college..and the work out his college coach sent him for this year involves only pitching - during games...during practices - everything is geared toward protecting and strengthening his arm - he DHs for the other pitchers on his off days...but he seems pretty resigned to think of himself as just a pitcher from now on.

Blackheart, yes that is pretty much it he pitches 1 time a week and plays 3rd base. I know how he got tired arm or dead arm I guess my question is how does it get better or what to do.

JKR59, Same thing for us my son is going to play in college next year and they say they are going to look at him as a Dh or 1st base along with pitching but I know everything they say is they will not let anything get in the way of pitching.

I searched the topic and came up with an article with the Cincinatti Reds and their pitchers say they just throw threw and it gets better. Any one have any thoughts?

"Tired arms" happen often with HS players who pitch and play a field position--- we see many players come to us in August after HS and legion who have "tired arms"--- we make it work for them--perhaps play the right side of the infield where shorter throws are needed; DH the day after or second day after pitching; play 1B where they will make minimal throws--- there are ways of combating "tired arms" but at the HSD level they may not have, or do not think they have, players to availible to ease the pitchers situation the day after pitching a complete game

By the way we see it with players who ONLY position players who have played just a few too many games during the HS and summer seasons-- they get to us in August and the arm is "dead".

HS kids think they are invincible but they are not---not by any means

There is really no way around it. The only suggestion I have is to see if he can back off on most of his practice throwing. By varsity year at the HS where I coach, pitchers are mostly just pitchers (at least the top 4-5) or pitcher DH's. But, in the rare case where we have a top pitcher who also is a regualr position player, we almost eliminate all throwing for him during practice. He doesn't have to eliminate position work, just reduce the throwing load as much as possible.

Thanks K13, my son came home from practice yesterday and told me he did no throwing at all he took infield and dropped them in a bucket and basically that is going to be the plan from now on. I hope it works and the life in his arm comes back.

Your welcome. It may take a few days to a week, but things should start to return. He can do very light throwing (like 60%), but it is a good idea to give it a complete rest every couple of days. He also should make sure that as long as he pitches and plays a position, he save as many of his throws for pitching as possible. There is alot of unnecessary throwing that goes on at practice. Just think how many throws he cut out just by dropping balls in a bucket (which is what most of our IF'ers do anyway) instead of throwing them into a catcher. If a SS takes 50-75 groundballs during fielding work, that's 50-75 throws saved. Multiply that by the number of times in a week that they take fielding practice--and, well--you get the picture. As long as his arm is not sore or overly tired, things should return to normal in time. Just have him do everything he can to reduce the throwing load--even when he is throwing stronger again.

And, as an aside, I read your comment about the Reds pitchers. It is true you can sometimes just throw through it. However, when your throwing 92-93 and you lose 3-4 mph off your FB for a short time, it is alot different then when you are throwing 75-85 and lose that velocity.

PS...would love to hear the outcome...feel free to email me at pkosin2595@aol.com.

Some very good advice here. We just back off of all the throwing. Our pitchers who play posistions are pitchers first. If they throw on Monday they light toss on Tuesday only. If we have a game they sit or dh. On Weds they do a little long toss along with alot of running. If we have a game maybe 1b or dh. By Thursday they are throwing a light bull pen and run alot and still only 1b or dh. On Friday they can play another posistion. When they take ground balls we use a bucket and they just put it in the bucket with no throws. Dead arm comes from overuse and the arm and body is just tired.

What if you're not a pitcher and just a position player, and experience this then what do you do?

Same thing. Just back off in practice (with the coaches permission).

Yea I made the mistake of thinking I was invincible and strained my rotator cuff and my arm was how you said "Tired" I did rotator cuffs daily played catcher and came home and iced about 4 times before bed. Next day Id do the same routine then I had a good 3 days rest due to a trip we were taking down south to play some ball. I got alot of rest with ice over those three days and my arm shored up real quick. I can now throw down without pain anymore and I was gunning kids out for the second time this season when my arm felt good.