Was your son a P in College Summer League, and how many innings did he pitch there? Also, how many did he pitch on College Team before he went to Summer team?
Just curious how they protect arms. Also, do these Summer teams have trainers if P start to have arm issues or are the players on their own to find help!
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Depends on the team (in all aspects). If he throws in the Northwoods, he's going to log serious innings most likely.
As for protecting them... it really depends on where you go. Some coaches are great. Some are not. Very few have trainers.
While my son didn't pitch in any of his summer league games, I did follow several teammates and former teammate of his who were pitchers as they pitched in the summer leagues. The number of innings pitched were pretty much the normal amount depending on if they were the starting pitcher, reliever or closer. So, there wasn't much difference between what they pitched in college and what they pitched on their college team. However, I did notice there were some pitchers who only stayed on the summer teams for a short time. For example, a pitcher pitched only for the first month of the summer league games and left their team to rest for the rest of the summer. The pitchers that did this sort of thing were usually either college starters who did a lot of pitching during their college season and/or those who were having a little or a lot of arm stress issues. And I don't recall observing any teams that had trainers (though there may be some that did). Typically, there's not "training" that goes on as all the players are there to play ball and it's up to them how they spend their non-game time time.
As I understood it from various sources, doesn't the kid's college coach have a lot of input on the workload? Especially in the better leagues where the college coaches have a relationship with a league or a particular team, don't the kids get "allowed" a certain workload and nothing more unless cleared by college coach? Have not read anything specific about a pitcher staying in contact with his college coach, but assumed there was certainly some regular updates going on. Perhaps I overestimated the amount of oversight - maybe there is little to no oversight at some of the lower ranks?
Typically, the college HC will be in touch with the summer team coach to coordinate the maximum innings each pitcher should throw in summer ball.
S pitched 55 innings - all in relief - for a Northwoods team. He had thrown about 30 innings during the season. Northwoods has some pretty strict pitching limits (back then); for example, a 35 pitch inning meant the pitcher was done, 100 pitches meant five days rest, etc.
Both in Northwoods and well as the Cape, any arm issues were dealt with - anything more than simple muscle fatigue generally meant the player was sent home. It's in no one's interest to run pitchers into the ground during the summer.
Summer: Son pitched 35 innings year 1 and 24 IP year 2. College: Freshman year pitched 20 IP, and zero (RS) year 2. HC/PC lets summer team know what they want innings wise. Summer team usually stays within those requests as they want players again next year. Sons summer team had trainer and was very proactive regarding arm health.
Sons first college year he pitched 70 innings. It was decided that with that count he would take the summer off. That was a discussion and decision that he had with his college PC.
Going into his junior (draft year) summer, a starter, relieved and as I remember not as many innings. Usually they reverse, a college closer may get in as a starter, vice versa. Mine went to the cape and there was communication between the program and pcoach, as it should be.
When he returned for junior fall, due to expected work load, he didn't pitch in the fall but did have instruction (which is continuous).
Teams have team doctors so if there is an issue they will see the him.
