quote:
Originally posted by Gingerbread Man:
Common sense is the best advice.
I think that is what most here are stating yet you still find argument (weak one) to support youth players throwing curve balls is a not harmful.
That just goes to show how limited your scope of experience is, that you get most of your info from "reading" and not from acutual experience in this particular instance. Obviously, your son threw lots of CB's when younger, at 15, it's hard to tell the effects that it might have in a few years, or six months from now. Hopefully you have limited his work, thus eliminating one factor that could result in unjury, overuse.
Let's put this in perspective. We are not talking about Stephen Strasburg here (who by the way threw lots and lots of curveballs in college) but 9-14 year old children. You seem to miss that point, and you also seem to miss the point that these are children, and you don't train children like they are men.
Tell me how to train a 9-14 year old to be better conditioned so that he can throw a breaking ball?
What does top prospects in the country have to do with throwing breaking balls well? Do you think that when players attend showcases at that point they have A+ stuff? Do you even think it necessary to have a bb at that point? Showcases are based upon future projection. And there are plenty of players that get drafted or get into top baseball program that have average secondary stuff. To use son as an example he really didn't have a decent breaking pitch he relied on (more of a slurvy show me pitch as a senior in HS) until college, he was recruited on the use of his 2 FB and change up. And it took years to learn to throw the slider properly.
The 2009 first round pick in the STL organization out of HS, is just now learning to throw a curve ball with confidance. He wasn't drafted as a first pick for his secondary pitches but rather his future projection on the use of those pitches and a devastating fastball. So you need to do some homework regarding the draft.
It's all how you look at it, and waking up each day and looking yourself in the mirror has a lot to do with it.
DK's agent is a former ML player who had TJS. In discussions (about this particular subject) he has told me that at his son uses the FB and the change up, pretty successful national youth team too. Why do you suppose that? And if you think he doesn't know his stuff, you are so wrong. Same as coach May, you got to work on developing your FB (2 seam, 4 seam, change up before you get to use the breaking stuff). I will take his opinion anyday over some wanna be dad instuctor.
I have to go with Coach May's and others opinion on the fact that the argument stands that it isn't on who is right and who is wrong, but what makes common sense. It doesn't make sense seeing these 12 and 13 year old kids use the cb over and over and over, I don't watch the LLWS anymore for that reason.
I have said this before and will say it again, one can make the decision to teach their own these breaking pitches and use them frequently at a young age, but if you are a coach you better stay far away from my kid.
Unfortunetly, the problem is that most parents don't know any better, they put their faith and trust in people who do not know better.
JMO.