LONG TOSS program

In my opinion, your son is 11. While I certainly cannot and will not tell you how to raise your child, as it is not my place, I will give you advice from my personal experience. I know when I was 11, I was not concerned about throwing long toss in the offseason. I was worried about impersonating Kobe Bryant in the driveway. Playing Mario kart with my friends, and a variety of other 11-year-old things. I'd say your son should enjoy being 11. I wouldn't worry about specialization yet. I'd let him be an 11 year old. You obviously don't want to burn him out on baseball.

One thing is for certain: he does need time off. 3 months of no throwing is great! Regardless of what you do decide, time off is a non-negotiable.

I think I would definitely continue the long toss program into the winter, especially if your weather will allow it. I also think you can throw more than 2-3 times in the off-season/week as well without a problem! You want to make sure your son has a good base of strength going into the season. Most kid arms are severely underdeveloped!

Tad, I have a son who will be 13 in a few months. Can you direct me to a long toss program that may be helpful in building his arm strength as we begin throwing again?

If I had it to do over again, I would make sure my son had GREAT throwing mechanics. Throwing a lot with suboptimal mechanics just makes it harder to change later, not to mention the injury potential.

Also a good time to get him into the habit of stretching before throwing.

Ahh, if I had only known then what I know now!

this is why strong coaching is needed at the youth legue level

I am not an authority, but I do keep my ears open and do research online. Indications are that 6-8 weeks of long toss are needed to get the arm in shape for the start of spring training. The off-season prior to that should be for arm rest.