Been away from this thread for a bit, but glad to see the recent comments, as they are insightful, and for the most part all accurate.
Is showcase / select / travel ball overdone??...ABSOLUTELY, especially at the younger ages. Is it the fault of the coaches?....ABSOLUTELY NOT, its the parents fault, allowing their egos to be fed, that "their" little Johnny is the next Nolan Ryan. There are only so many scholarships available, and only so many draft picks allotted to teams...adding more "prospects" to the mix, does not add any more opportunities.
There was another thread a while back discussing early signing, where colleges are recruiting earlier. My 2017 has been offered now by two schools, and while I agree there is risk giving a verbal early, the one benefit I mentioned if Jr. does verbal early, is that we can cut back drastically on the summer circuit, and manage his innings. I do agree with TPM, there is something to be said, and sought after regarding "low mileage" arms.
As for the original comment by dctc11, I agree wholeheartedly that pitching coaches try to fit every pitcher into the same box, as it relates to conditioning, mechanics, etc.. I have always tried to use a similar approach, and learn the individual pitcher first, then tailor their program to fit them. I have some pitchers that require a lot of time to get loose, want to throw a lot between starts, and work fast from the mound. I have others that are extreme opposites.
I think every parent should have a weekly, monthly, and yearly plan for how much work their pitcher is going to log on the mound. Additionally, it is the job of the parent to manage that work load, and prevent abuse. While most showcases only allow an inning or two, there are many tournaments, as well as High School coaches who will abuse pitch counts. Plain and simple, if xyz travel team wants little "Johnny" on the team, they need to know ahead of time what the limits are. We will be at two PG events (WWBA in East Cobb), and Jupiter, and you better believe his summer coach knows what Jr.'s limits are... same goes for stupid throwing drills in practices, and HS coaches wanting to throw little "Johnny" for 190 pitches.
