What is Joe Maddon's first hand exposure to travel baseball? How many games does he watch? What teams does he follow? Despite his obvious baseball knowledge anything he has to say about travel baseball is anecdotal based on second hand information. I would rather hear from someone in the trenches who is doing the research. I'm not saying Maxdon is right or wrong. I'm saying he's too removed from the situation to speak definitively.

My own theory is that man is starting to reach his limitations.  The arm isn't made for throwing 90+. 

I think it's safe to assume that Joe Maddon has a better handle on upper level, recruitment intensive travel ball than most.  And I don't think there is any question about it... Pitchers are throwing too much, too early, and too hard for too long in an effort to work their way to each "next level".  As the parent of an aspiring college pitcher... who's trying to find another 12mph over the next 18 months any way he can... I just wish Maddon or someone could offer a good solution to the dilemna.

The landscape has certainly changed, and as stated before, the radar gun (I believe) has contributed as much if not more than anything else, although how anyone can prove that is another story.

 

The obvious overuse -- pitching in games too close together without proper rest, playing on multiple teams, and going to showcases without the proper conditioning, and training will certainly increase the likelihood of injury.  Apart from that, I still believe we are seeing injuries.  Whether they are because of the medical technology that is available to diagnose, and therefore we hear more reported injuries than before, or because they are truly higher is anyone's guess.

 

What I do know is fact:  velocity is king, and every pitcher is trying to blow up the radar gun.  Every showcase, scouted tournament, even some HS have the radar readings on the scoreboards.  Heck its not even fun to watch a game on TV without the MPH next to the box score.  I was with Jr. last weekend watching a Big 12 game, and the MPH reading on the scoreboard was not turned on....it didn't take but a few pitches, and Jr. asked, "dad - what do you think he is throwing?" 

It sounds like everyone is pointing fingers at 'someone else'.  So I wouldn't read too much into his comments.

I'll bet Maddon has very little exposure or first hand knowledge of travel baseball. He's not exposed to pitchers until his GM informs him. 

 

But I do believe kids pitch too much. With travel ball they might be the ace of a staff every year from 9u to 17u. When I played everyone played LL which was 9-12. I didn't pitch much until I was twelve. Then I didn't pitch as a 13 in Babe Ruth ball. Then I didn't pitch as a 16 in high school and Legion. I entered college ball with five years of live mileage on my arm. All but the 12yo year was post puberty. Now a kid has five years of mileage on his arm by the time he's finished 13u and hitting puberty.

Pitching is hard on the arm!  The very best end up being wealthy.  Most of those that are among the very best played travel baseball.  Madden obviously doesn't know that most of the very best pitchers on the best travel teams are not among those being over worked.  The best teams have a complete staff and they don't abuse arms.

 

Interesting that the Rays just haven't had many pitchers injured over the years. Matt Moore is the most recent to need surgery.  He was one of the very few Rays pitchers that didn't play Travel Baseball, to my knowledge.  Pretty much all the others that have pitched for the Rays over the last 12 years were very active in Travel Baseball.  So if anything, Maddens own team doesn't do anything to prove his theory.

 

Had Matt Moore been a lesser pitcher and didn't get drafted, he wouldn't be in the Big Leagues and more than likely would never had needed TJ surgery.  

 

I am more concerned with youth pitchers being injured.  Blaming youth baseball for a Major League injury is kind of like pulling reasons out of a hat.  If you don't make it that far, you might never need surgery.  You could find enough young kids to form a line 100 miles long that would gladly risk TJ surgery to play in the Big Leagues.  

 

Someone really needs to look at where Big League players come from these days. I haven't done the research, but I would bet that nearly 90% of American born MLB players under the age of 30 have played Travel or Legion baseball.  Why blame the thing that has become a major source of helping develop the most talented players.

 

Again, every single time a player takes the mound at any age, he is at risk.  If the leadership/coaching doesn't understand this, we will always have lots of arm injuries.  When a pitcher needs TJ surgery, all of baseball is to blame!  At he same time, it could be said, when someone makes it to the top, all of baseball helped him get there.

 

We can talk about the recent Cy Young winners or pitchers named Rookie of the Year. They all played travel baseball.  So would Kershaw or Fernandez be as good or even where they're at, by playing less baseball when they were young.  Guess it's possible, but I have to think all those younger years helped them be who they are today. And yes, they might need TJ surgery some day.  Then someone who really has no idea will claim it was caused by youth baseball.

And those who do know will simply be told that they don't...

 

Currently the NFL and the NHL are entangled in lawsuits related to concussions. The NFL is largely related to CTE which has been discovered in the brains of some deceased players. But now CTE has been discovered in collegiate players and even a couple of high school players who have died. Can anybody accurately say that the NFL is wholly responsible for those former NFL players who have died?

I'm sure many parents here have sons who grew up in the travel ball era playing on USSSA major level travel teams that went deep or all the way in countless tournaments across the country -- year after year.

 

And I wonder if like me, you could see along the way that over-pitching was taking a toll. From about 9U on, pitcher after pitcher on team after team would get that same elbow injury that had to do with the ligament separating slightly from the growth plates.

 

The common denominator was they were very good pitchers for their age. It wasn't uncommon to see young boys with abnormally high velocities for  their age, and it's not uncommon today.

 

And while most pitched just one game a weekend, over the course of the season they threw a lot of pitches -- especially if they were from the South, where the only down time for many was November and December.

 

On top of that, most played other positions, too, so their arms seldom had time to heal.

 

People smarter than me point to this as a potential cause, and I agree. The damage is done then, and the price is paid later.

 

Which is why I'm thankful my son never really wanted to pitch.

The problem is they play travel ball on the weekend and take a pitching lesson each week and then "save" their arm by not throwing the other days.  Kids need to throw more to condition their arm.  I say, throw more but pitch off a mound less.  I have coached for many years and have gotten kids with sore arms come to the team, after a throwing program their arms are pain free and they are the ready to pitch.  Throwing and pitching are not the same thing.  

Can't draw conclusions unless someone does a study.  jp makes good points in his post.

Where do the majority of these players come from, cold weather states or warm weather states, did they play year round or did they play other sports? Did they pitch in college, if so how much?  Did they pitch back to back games and play multiple teams at one time?  When did they begin pitching, did they catch and play short stop as well, etc.

As PG states pitching is hard on the arm, no arguments there, but if more parents took the time to educate themselves I would bet that pitchers would be able to stay in the game longer without a major injury.

I do agree with Maddon, that a lot of stuff happens way before they get to the professional level.

Look around.. the studies are there. But I'm not posting them because nobody here pays any attention to them anyway. Been there done that.

A study of every professional player is what I was referring to.

This is from a story in Sports Illustrated (May 13, 2013) about Vanderbilt's pitching staff:

 

Beede arrived in Nashville more of a finished product. "He and Mikey Minor are the two kids I can remember who came in here with the skill to throw an off-speed pitch consistently," says Corbin, who likes young pitchers from the Northeast and Northwest in part because they have fewer innings on them than those from California, Texas and Florida.

 

I suspect Coach Corbin's intuition may be be right on this one.

 

Beede is also a product of Cressey Performance...

Tim Corbin doesn't just like pitchers from the northeast. He owns recruiting in the northeast. He gets almost every top New England player he wants. He's from New Hampshire. He has eyes out there on all the top talent in the area. If Boston College could keep the New England talent home their ability to compete in the ACC would be a whole different story. But who wants to freeze playing baseball if they don't have to? Plus BC's baseball facilities are below average for a D1 program.

 

I'm surprised Clemson doesn't have more of an inroads to New England talent. Jack Leggett is from Vermont, played at Maine and coached at Vermont. In fact, he once hired Corbin.

Of course, in the 3 most recent recruiting classes listed on Perfect Game (2013-15), Corbin has only 5 out of 22 pitchers (23%) from Northern States.   So even a coach who says he focuses on Northeastern recruiting for pitchers can't find enough pitchers from there (the 5 include Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, which aren't in the NE or NW in my book, so only 2 pitchers in those 3 years are from the NE or NW).  It seems that there is then a correlation even among folks who want pitchers with "fewer innings" on them, to still sign the ones from areas that play more baseball.

 

2015

http://www.perfectgame.org/Rankings/Recruiting/CollegeCommits.aspx?ID=1841&g=2015

 

2014

http://www.perfectgame.org/Rankings/Recruiting/CollegeCommits.aspx?ID=1841&g=2014

 

2013

http://www.perfectgame.org/Rankings/Recruiting/CollegeCommits.aspx?ID=1841&g=2013

 

Another interesting article containing this quote from an AL Exec:

 

“The rise of Perfect Game baseball and other summer travel baseball has dramatically decreased the off time for younger players,” one American League executive said. “Kids are traveling all over the country from 8 years old on, and playing year-round. Colleges are recruiting younger and younger, and kids feel like if they don’t compete in every summer or fall event, they will lose their chance for exposure. That kind of exposure also leads to kids absolutely airing it out at max effort. When the section behind the plate is loaded with recruiters and scouts, kids absolutely take it up a notch and try to throw it through the backstop. The damage that is being done early can’t be undone by managing workloads once pitchers get into pro baseball.”

 

Full Article:  http://grantland.com/the-trian...rgery-historic-rate/

 

I think that is a very good article.  For the most part we see very little of teams younger than 15 or so.  I hope I'm not agenda driven by saying "Summer baseball has been around forever". I used to play every day during the summers over 50 years ago.  What has changed is what is described as Travel Baseball.  

 

Of course, most pitchers that suffer injuries play Travel or Legion Baseball.  Most players that are injured are usually among the most talented. Most all of those that have the most talent are playing baseball in the summer.  I don't need a big research project to find this out. It sure isn't the soft tossers who don't even play in the summer that are filling the operating tables.

 

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I read a quote from an unidentified person.  I see it all the time, "a national league scout said", "an AL League executive said".  "A hotdog vendor said"... Actually I haven't heard that last one.

 

Doc Andrews is looking into opening a clinic/lab at our facility being built in Georgia.  He is doing this to gather even more information.  We actually requested this. We understand he is the most recognized, well respected, surgeon in sports.  However, I truly believe we have a thousand times more data on young pitchers than his staff could possibly secure.  In fact, we have so much data, that it might help his group a lot.

 

Most PG tournaments are week long events in the summer.  We know exactly how many innings everyone pitches, how many pitches they threw, what days they threw, even what pitches they threw, etc.  We also know if the pitcher played a position and when he played a position.  We absolutely know all of this and much more, but what we don't know is what happened before and after that week.  We just know what happened during that event and whether a pitcher had been abused or treated with care.

 

We see the mechanics, we know the velocity, we have a feel for those that are at risk.  But we can't control everything the teams and coaches do.  So should the events stop in the interest of health?  Where do you draw the line?  I have seen what I consider abuse my whole life at every level of baseball.  I have seen some strange things in the interest of winning.  I've seen parents complain like crazy because the coach took their son off the mound because he was getting tired. I've seen kids get hurt and I have seen some go their whole career without any serious injury. I've seen kids that play it extra conservative require TJ surgery.  It's really kind of amazing how I could have seen so much and still know so little. I use to believe in the rubber arm theory, and now I know that there is no such arm.

 

Here is what I do know..There are many more kids these days that can throw a baseball  at high velocity.  In the 20 years of data that we have compiled, there is no question about that.  Is that a result of playing more?  Better instruction and training?  Better eating habits?  Better supplements? Evolution?  It's not the often demonized radar gun!  We were using them 30 years ago. Fastball velocity has always been a talent indicator.

 

Maybe they will make us the reason for all these surgeries.  Maybe we will stop doing events.  If that happens, will it change anything?  Will kids quit playing baseball in the summer.  The only thing that will lower the amount of TJ surgeries is less baseball.  Everyone already knows this!  Doesn't require any scientific study. It's just like less football will lower the amount of concussions. Less driving will lower the amount of traffic fatalities.

 

We all are aware of the increase in TJ surgery.  The better a pitcher is the more at risk he is.  Many have gone through the process, it is not any fun.  Rehab is tough.  That is the risk every talented pitcher faces.  We saw a sophomore throwing mid 90s nearly two years ago.  He had TJ surgery his JR year and didn't play.  We just saw his first outing as a senior.  He was throwing 95-97 mph.  There were over 30 scouts at that game.

 

Risk is involved in most anything that has the potential of a big Reward.  If you really want to play it safe... Don't pitch!

What is the purpose of your post? I don't see any expert, first hand observations by Joe Maddon. I didn't ask what's Gammon's opinion  and AMSI's expertise. I asked what's Maddon's first hand expertise with travel ball to make the comments he made. 

 

As far as I'm concerned Maddon's opinion on travel ball isn't any stronger than Derek Jeter's endorsement of the stupid ball on a rope training device. Attaching one's name to something they don't have expertise does not make them an expert just because they have expertise in the game.

 

I'm willing to bet a majority of the posters on this board have more expertise on travel ball than Joe Maddon. His expertise is professional baseball. I would trust Jerry Ford on comments regarding travel ball before Joe Maddon.

Harold Reynolds made this exact same assessment last night on MLB tonight.

Checking wiki (TJ Surgery Pitchers) here is their list of notable MLB pitchers that have had TJ surgery. 37 names listed.  I understand there are many more, but they listed these 37 for some reason.

 

If the research was done on these 37 names. Here is what you would know.

 

7 of the 34 actually participated in a Perfect Game event of any kind.

 

27 never participated in a PG event of any type.

 

One of the 7 players who participated in a PG event, never pitched an inning at a PG event.

 

I have no way of knowiung how many, if any of the 27 that never went to a PG event played travel ball or went to any showcase type event.

 

Once again, this is a very small study based on the names listed by Wikipedia.  We do know that about half the MLB pitchers have been to a PG event.  Some of them did require TJ surgery.  But there is absolutely no evidence that a higher percentage of those that had TJ surgery went to showcases or played travel baseball.  You might even find that the percentages of those who didn’t do showcases and travel baseball is much higher.  Just as this sampling shows!

 

I’m definetly not claiming travel baseball is a safer way to go.  Like I said before, any pitching puts the arm at risk.  I just wish people would understand that there can be multiple reasons for the increase in TJ surgery.  Not the least that the surgery is easily available to most anyone these days and it has a very high rate of success.  Is the reason there are so many hip replacement surgeries because people are abusing their hips more than they did 40 years ago? It’s called advancement in medical science! In the past, people just walked around with bad hips or pitchers just weren’t as effective.

 

Travel Baseball = Baseball Games, they have been going on forever.

Showcases = Tryouts, they have been going on forever.

 

Baseball games and Tryouts have been around longer than all of us here.

But people want a reason for everything.  So others keep coming up with them.  They don’t talk about abusing the arm, even at the level they are at.  It’s never the parents, or coaches, or instructors fault.  It’s not even the players fault.  So what does that leave.

 

While they're at it why don't Harold and Madden blame the scouts and college recruiters. They all have those dratted radar guns pointed at pitchers.  Hundreds of them show up to see all the talented kids at the big Showcases and Travel Ball Tournaments. Yep, it’s all their fault!  No wait, I forgot, we are the problem, without us all those pitchers would be perfectly healthy. Well except for those 27 out of 34 mentioned below. BTW, Madden's most recent TJ victim, (not mentioned in the list below) never played in a PG event of any type.

 

Here is the list with those that participated in any type of PG event X in BOLD.

X  Brett Anderson 

Rick Ankiel 

Érik Bédard

Joe Beimel 

Kyle Blanks 

A. J. Burnett 

Chris Carpenter 

Joba Chamberlain 

Shin-Soo Choo 

X  Patrick Corbin 

Manny Corpas 

Neal Cotts 

Scott Erickson 

Scott Feldman 

Éric Gagné 

X  Matt Harvey 

X  Daniel Hudson 

Tommy John 

X  Casey Kelly 

John Lackey 

Ryan Madson 

Charlie Morton 

Jamie Moyer 

X  Mike Pelfrey 

José Rijo 

Miguel Sano 

Ben Sheets 

John Smoltz 

Joakim Soria 

X  Stephen Strasburg 

Brent Strom 

Adam Wainwright 

Jake Westbrook 

Brian Wilson 

Kerry Wood 

Jordan Zimmermann 

Joel Zumaya 

My buddy Mike Ferrin interviewed the orthopedist who did my Tommy John Surgery on this very topic. Don't know if there's a better source...

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports....gery-is-on-the-rise/

 

For the record, I don't think it's fair to blame organizations that run showcases for an increase in injuries. It's not their fault some kids are overused.

 

Related article from Tom Verducci.

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c...ers-jameson-taillon/

 

My own 2 cents... I know this article focuses on showcases as a culprit.  I don't necessarily buy that... It's a combination of things.  But there's no question that there's a growing problem and I believe it does come down to overuse.  That's not the showcase circuit's or travel ball's fault, think it's up to players/parents to proactively manage calendars and workloads smarter.  Prepare properly for showcases and tournaments and schedule them effectively. JMO

Overuse of young pitchers fueling MLB's Tommy John surgery problem

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c...illon/#ixzz2yzX4MhsK

 

Here’s a couple of interesting quotes from the article that discuss several of the issues raised by many posters:

 

The Alarming Difference in rates of Latin American pitchers undergoing Tommy John versus U.S. pitchers -

 

“The qualifier of "American" is necessary, because the highly organized, highly competitive and highly profitable world of tournaments and showcases does not exist in Latin America. Consider, for instance, the high incidence of Tommy John surgeries already this season, in which the medical procedure to repair a blown out elbow ligament has become a major storyline of the baseball season. Matt Moore of the Rays is the 20th pitcher this year to undergo Tommy John surgery. But in a sport in which 24.2 percent of players on Opening Day rosters grew up in Latin America, only one of the 20 Tommy John patients came from there (Detroit reliever Bruce Rondon, of Venezuela).

 

How Latin American pitchers are handled differently

 

"Latin American pitchers are allowed to grow into their velocity," said one international scouting director. "It's a common story to sign a guy throwing 84, 85 [mph] who eventually winds up throwing in the 90s. Michael Pineda is one. You're looking for someone with a good, athletic body who can throw the ball around the plate and has a feel for spinning the ball. The velocity comes in time, with training and better nutrition and physical growth. Here? The statistics don't lie. We need to look elsewhere around the world to learn a better way. It's time."

 

James Taillon Story

 

Beginning in July 2008, when he was 16 years old, Taillon threw at six events sponsored by Perfect Game, one of the country's top youth baseball services, in a 13-month period. Those events occurred in the summer, fall and winter. (In the spring, he was busy pitching for his high school team in The Woodlands, Texas.) His top velocities were meticulously recorded: 92, 93, 95, 96, 96 and 97. Every high school pitcher is known by the top velocity he "hits," even if he gets there once, as much as his very name.”

 

Study on Youth Pitchers

 

In one of the biggest studies of youth pitchers, a 10-year prospective study published in 2011, ASMI tracked 481 pitchers between the ages of nine and 14. Researchers found that pitchers who threw 100 innings or more in a calendar year were three and a half times more likely to be injured than those who pitched less. They recommended that no youth pitcher exceed 100 innings in a year and "no pitcher should continue to pitch when fatigued."

Here's another study, which analyzes returns from Tommy John surgery.  

 

MLB pitchers don't regain performance level after Tommy John surgery, study suggests

The data I would like to see most likely doesn't exist. I would be curious to see if there's a correlation between throwing a certain number of innings per year before age fourteen and TJ surgery. The reason I chose fourteen is kids are typically well into puberty by fourteen. I wonder if pitchers are doing damage during the significant growth years that are showing up later as arm problems.

There probably isn't enough data on Caribbean pitchers to come to any conclusion. There's no way to know how many Caribbean kids torched their arms before having the opportunity to sign at sixteen. And Michael Sano (star signed in Poletero) and top Twins prospect 3b just had TJ surgery. He's not a pitcher.

Here is a data point of one 12 yo I keep track of...

2012  38    IP 833 pitches

2013  47.2 IP 769 pitches

2014  41.2 IP 732 pitches

 

No curves, No ice, close to ASMI days rest, good mechanics (should get video each year), long toss, bands, basketball in winter, lessons when he can.

 

If ASMI / PG / MLB whoever could push for a standard in data tracking, pushed it down to parents of young players, they may have something they can work with in ten years of data gathering.

 

BTW, kid gets lessons from a Dominican pitching coach, he has a completely different view than Verducci on why latin American pitchers are stronger.  Nice of V to pick a 6'7" guy as his example, must have forgot he missed two years with shoulder surgery.

 

Yes, I saw that article, too.  What I have never seen is the writer at any of our events.

 

Jameson Taillon actually attended 7 PG events, including the National Showcase, World Showcase and the Aflac Classic. He is a very wealthy young man.  I looked up the statistics from all these events.  Over a three year period in 7 events he threw a total of 10 innings.  Added up all the pitch counts, he threw a total of 121 pitches over a three year span.  His highest pitch count at any one event was 30. He was lights out every appearance, obviously ready to pitch.

 

Now the argument over Latin pitchers being healthy... We have had hundreds of Latin pitchers attend our events, including most of those who have gone on to professional baseball. So if we are the problem for American pitchers, why aren't we a problem for Latin pitchers?  The real difference between the Latin players and those here, is that those here don't throw as much.  And nether Latin or Americans throw as much as Japanese pitchers do.

 

Once again... I don't know how I have seen so much and know so little! On the other hand, I don't know how those that have seen so little and seem to know so much.

 

One last thing, maybe you old timers will remember.  Back in my childhood days we played a game called BURN OUT!!! Two guys would try to throw the ball as hard as they possibly could trying to get the other guy to quit. Kids have been trying to throw a baseball as hard as they physically could since baseball was invented.  It's just for some reason kids are throwing harder than ever now days.  There are probably many good reasons for that.  You show me a kid with a great arm and I guarantee you that kid loves to show that arm off. Why wouldn't he?

 

So is Taillon considered a success or a failure?  He was the highest RHP ever drafted out of high school and signed for a small fortune.  He was arguably the Pirates #1 prospect when he was injured. After his rehab he has a great chance of becoming a great pitcher in the Big Leagues and making an even bigger fortune.  We should all have it so bad. I wonder if the Pirates are crying over their decision to draft him or still very excited about his potential? You see TJ surgery is serious stuff, but a third of those best (MLB) pitchers have had TJ surgery.

 

I believe that same article mentioned Zach Greinke.  Greinke attended many PG events.  The Royals actually signed him while he was playing in a PG event. They thought he didn't need TJ surgery because he only threw 94 in high school. C'mon now, what is that suppose to mean.  There's only a handful of kids in a year that throw above 94.

 

Bundy was also mentioned in the article.  Despite him begging to pitch, we did not allow him to throw a pitch in the All American game.  It's because we were aware of his workload before that event. Does anyone know just how many innings Dylan Bundy threw for his high school team?  The scouting community knows.  I'm still waiting for someone from the scouting community to write an article.  You know the guys that actually see what is going on out there.

 

Then we have the studies... "Researchers found that those that throw more than 100 innings in a year are more likely to be injured than those who throw less". I would have to do no research whatsoever to say the same thing.  In fact, those that throw 10 innings are more likely to get hurt than those that throw one inning.  Of course that study is on nine to 14 year olds. Not really something that involves us that much.

 

Anyway, am I suppose to believe the young pitcher that throws 200 innings in a year was ruined by the two innings he threw at a showcase?  What about those other 200 innings he threw somewhere else that year?

 

I truly believe that a lot of abuse goes on.  I see it at times. It happens at every level. I've seen it happen in the Major Leagues, though not as often as other levels.  There are a lot of highly competitive stupid people out there that don't understand what is abusive.  We read the stories, 159 pitches, 191 pitches, etc. That is not happening at our events. But it is always possible the kid that threw 191 pitches in a game would end up attending one of our events.  When he needs TJ surgery, I suppose they will blame the 25-30 pitches he threw at the Showcase.

 

One last thing to think about... Not all those TJ surgeries are performed on kids that throw 95 mph.  There have been plenty of finesse type pitchers that required TJ surgery.  In fact, there have been some that never ever threw too much. So how do we explain the increase in those TJ surgeries.

 

 

Showcases and tournaments can also bear some of the fault for that. There's not need to have tournaments every month of the year. That encourages overuse and poor planning.

Doc Andrews on ESPN  this evening said why you are seeing so many TJS is because many players choose to do it right away and not wait as long as they used to because rehab doesnt always have positive results.

I see a lot of truth to that. Think about it.... If you're talking a 12-14 month recovery from date of surgery, don't you want to move that date forward as much as possible?

If Verducci had stuck to the very narrow issue of the high rate of TJ surgery among 1st round draft choices who threw at very high velocities as high school underclassmen, he could have written an informative article.

 

Unfortunately, his eagerness to blame someone for the problem allowed him to indulge in some very sloppy reasoning.  PG Staff has already pointed out some of the problems (e.g., how few pitches the top level prospects throw at the big events).  

 

Another example of sloppy reasoning is his emphasis on the year-round availability of PG events.  The obvious answer to Verducci's complaint, if he had thought about it for even 15 seconds, is that elite prospects don't have to show up at every event.  

 

There is a high school senior in my area who throws extremely hard.  This young man had a national reputation before he was in high school and has improved every year.  He has an extremely bright future.  

 

I looked him up on PG's site to see if Jerry's kids have abused him at all their year round events.  It turns out this young man has not been throwing at showcases all through the year.  In fact, he has never thrown at PG events except between the months of June and October.  Wow!  Who'd a thunk it?  He chose only the events that suited him.  

 

Year-round events mean players can map out their own schedules based on what ever factors are relevant to them--other sports seasons, conditioning programs, scheduled rest periods.  

 

It doesn't seem to me that opportunity to showcase is the problem.  Like all opportunities, one must choose wisely.

My point would be that just because there's a showcase or tournament every month, doesn't mean the player needs to be at all of them... Or half of them. I think families just need to think it through logically... Schedule in harmony with HS and summer travel seasons.  So having various events available year round is probably easier to slot in. 

Thank you to those that understand.  We do events year around. We would love to have all the top guys at all of them.  But often the case is they have shut down or their schedule won't allow them to attend certain events.  Other times they are ready to go and they attend.  But never is it our decision.

 

You can check any first round pick or MLB player that is in our database.  You can see when they attended events and how many events they went to.  All of our tournaments are held during a period of time where many other tournaments are held.  We expect players to show up in condition and ready to perform.  However, we don't really know who is ready and who isn't.  Someone else needs to be responsible for that whether it is one of our events or someone else's.

 

sometimes the best prospects are at a disadvantage.  Mainly because they are expected to show up at the big events.   When they don't show up, everyone starts thinking the worst.   But the truth is, they can't possibly attend every event and they don't.  

 

Scott Kazmir always impressed me.  He absolutely loved competing against the best possible competition.  If you told him there was a big game on the other side of the country tomorrow, he would have been there.  Jeremy Hellickson was another one like that.  BTW, they both pitched for Madden and the Rays.  Not sure, but I don't think either of those guys have had any major surgeries. Both have been around for quite awhile.

 

To me the whole topic of what causes TJ surgeries is fairly simple.  The  ligament can only stand so much.  That " too much" is different from one person to another.  The biggest problem is we don't know if it will be a Zach Greinke or Matt Moore that is going down first.  Nobody knows that. After all, Matt Moore never attended a PG event. Zach Greinke on the other hand did attend.  So why did Matt Moore go down at a much earlier time and with far less innings pitched?