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I'm looking for advice on off-season rest and training for a pitcher.  My son will complete his fall season in early October.  He will continue to work out but will take some time off from throwing.  If he wants to be 100% ready to play on March 15th, how much time off should he take and when should he start picking it back up to get ready for the season? I have read different philosophies on the off season.  He would benefit from a velocity program/weighted ball program and /or long toss.  when should that work take place?  

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From what I gather, your son is a 2020 who missed sophomore season due to injury and then played last spring, summer and now, fall.  I assume the Mar 15 date is the start of HS games?  I'm sure some rest is in order but I think you have to work it back from when he will actually need to have his arm ramped back up.  There is too much we don't know.  When will his HS program start throwing?  Is he a P only or will he participate in all the practices and drills for position players?  When will P's begin bullpen work?  Does he have or will he have an arrangement with HS coach to ramp up later than others due to needed rest coming off of playing so much post-injury?  He obviously can't go from rest to jumping on the mound in a game on Mar 15th.  Nor can he jump into team practices or pens where there will be significant throwing expected.  At least, he needs to find out when team activities begin and ramp up his arm in time to participate in those with a strong healthy arm that is ready to take on a throwing load.  Of course, sequential steps need to be taken between starting back into throwing and throwing the first fastball only off of a mound... and then more steps before adding secondary pitches.  

As far as velo programs, I don't know of any that don't include some element of high intensity throwing so that can't be done during throwing shut down.  I think a proper weighted ball program and certainly long toss are a good part of any ramping up and maintaining of arm strength and health.

GloFisher posted:

games start in early April.  bullpens start in the beginning of March.  he is a position player as well.  what i did not share was that he had a relatively light workload in the spring.. 30 innings.  Summer 20 innings.  fall will be 5-6 innings.  

I'll throw out a number I am not completely sure is accurate.  I would give him at least 5-6 weeks to ramp up from no-throwing rest to first bullpen date.  Maybe a bit more if those bullpens will be at all extensive.  This is assuming there are not other positional throwing obligations prior and this is at a minimum.  Since he has so much time between now and then, I would definitely lean toward starting earlier.  I believe you can cause just as many problems by cheating the ramp-up time as by not giving sufficient rest.  

So, 3and2's timeline works just right.

Last edited by cabbagedad

Is he committed to play in college anywhere? Is that his goal?

Generally speaking, you want to work backwards roughly 3 months from the first game if you are taking time off. Meaning, if first game is April 1st, you want to begin throwing January 1st at a minimum to build up chronic workload.   If velocity is needed to get to college, may not be able to take time off. Especially if workload was low.  1st month it's build up.  2nd month can begin more high intensity throwing.  3rd month is transitioning to the mound.  I can help if you're looking for a program specific to his needs.  

This is what was recommended to me: https://www.stack.com/a/pre-se...lthy-and-durable-arm

My son took a small break from throwing after summer ball, basically most of August. We tried to ramp up but the weather didn’t cooperate and he could only get in a couple days of throwing per week. Same for most of his teammates. This past weekend 5 kids had sore shoulders. 

Hes got one more tournament in a couple weeks then shutting down for 6 weeks. The FL season starts in early February, so he should have time to ramp up properly

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