Is this normal

Captain Hook,

 

Is it normal, NO. Is it unusual, NO.

 

So much depends on the situation, its hard even to say why you’re seeing what you’re seeing.

 

For the most part, my guess is most of the things you’re seeing aren’t at all serious and come from bodies being asked to do things they haven’t done in a while. A better measure would be to see what’s going on 2 weeks from now after everyone’s had an opportunity to get back in some kind of decent baseball condition.

 

As for whether or not you boy will be the “next soldier down”, that’s gonna depend a lot on how physically and mentally prepared he is. If he’s taken off for a couple months or hasn’t played a whole lot of ball and goes from nothing to full speed, chances are he’s gonna have a problem. But if he’s not trying to get to full speed right out of the box, is supplementing what he’s doing at practice with some other things away from practices to help him prepare, is eating and sleeping normally, and isn’t under a lot of pressure because of classes or a situation at home, he’s not in much danger.

Might not be this coaches fault. Maybe the boys  threw too much over Summer. iMO developing pitchers can be tricky. It's up the the parents and various coaches to be on the same page. 

Good luck

I think it depends on how much your son has thrown in the off season.  When we start fall practice we only throw 2 days a week for the first couple of week and the gradually raise it to the point that we are throwing 5 days a week.  If we jumped in, like you mentioned, we would experience the same problem.  Although most kids play through the summer they are not using bands and long tossing every day, like they are in season.

The ice bags aren't normal.  The sore arms are, however,  unfortunately normal for HS baseball.

Realistically, most of the kids don't condition their arms on their own.  Despite what you read on the internet.

The coaches are psyched to get going and overthrow their infielders arms.

 

 

sounds like they haven't been throwing enough and now are going all out everyday.  If your son has been on a good throwing program including long toss he should be fine.  

I have to question the need for high school teams to have "fall practice." Let's START there for why the injuries we are seeing are coming about.

iMO fall practice is better than fall teams who play in 20 plus more games on top of the many played over the Summer. Fall practice should be to work on hitting, defense drills, and light pitching before conditioning starts later indoors. U need to use the good weathet and get out there while u can. 

Or play multiple sports and be a well-rounded athlete. And avoid overuse injuries.

Bingo.   Yahtzee!

       
       

My 1st thought as well when this first came up.

Multi sports is great when they younger but not always a good choice for every HS Athlete. 

We ve already had 4 guys w concussions on football team this yr.   No  way my son who has only real passion for baseball is getting involved w that. Also football requires ALOT of practice hrs which takes away from academics.  Just because they r not playing on another school team does not mean they r not out doing intramurals or playing  golf or other conditioning activities.  My son likes to run occas to stay in shape. iMO problems begin to show up w players who do not take things seriously- they either do too much without proper rest/training schedule or are out of shape because they do too little. Tough to find right balance.

 

There's a nice strayman's argument. You apparently haven't been paying attention to MLB this year. Oh wait, that's because MLB continues to do a HORRIBLE job with concussions.

But I digress. I still believe that there is no need for fall baseball..

If my son is going to get injured then it will be in the one sport he loves. Our best pitcher this yr could not play due to football injury. PS- football team stinks and colleges were looking at him for pitching. Too soon to tell what's going to happen there. Hope he's back 100% next spring.

I'm not a big fan of playing fall ball esp. If son has played  a lot on Summer travel teams. Have no problem w taking few weeks/month off then "practicing" few days a wk w HS team.

Let me tell you about throwing. How much you throw how little you throw. As a kid we played all the time we were always throwing. all we hear about is pitch counts today. Maybe just maybe with those pitch counts should be an emphasis on throwing the ball properly?

Originally Posted by Will:

…all we hear about is pitch counts today. Maybe just maybe with those pitch counts should be an emphasis on throwing the ball properly?

 

Well Will, if all you hear about is pitch counts, either you’re not listening or you’re not understanding what you’re listening to. And if you not hearing anyone emphasizing proper fundamentals and mechanics, you’re simply not paying attention at all.

 

Pitching limitations in the form of pitch counts have a place in the game, if for no other reason than there are a lot of ignorant players, coaches, and parents who’d make terrible mistakes at the peril of someone’s health if left to their own devices. There are limitations in other forms as well. Limitations based on innings pitched, based on amount of rest are definitely in the mix.

 

But I suspect you, like everyone else, are frustrated because there aren’t any limitations that are universally correct for everyone in every situation. In that light, it isn’t the pitch counts that bother you, its that there are other thing you feel should be factored in, and FWIW, I agree. So what’s the answer? What do you propose that not only by itself will keep as many as possible from injury, by can be easily put in place, easily understood, and easily monitored?

 

I’m all for getting rid of pitch counts entirely, but when the happens there has to be something better in place.