Youth Pitching Age

You'll get a lot of opinions on this one.

IMHO: my older son, now a college sophmore LHP, didn't get on a mound at all till he was 12; he was tall, with his ligaments, etc., stretched tight, little flexibility, and wasn't ready till then, physically or emotionally. He began working with a good pitching instructor at age 13. No curves until he was 14, and very limited even then until he got to 10th grade. Our younger son is a gym rat/QB/SS type, disgustingly fluid from an early age, and he started pitching at 10, but never more than 60 pitches, and no curves till he was 14, plus a little. I see no advantge to pitching kids under 11 more than a relatively small amount as I just don't think they're ready physically, and even if their body is ready, their emotions may not be. It seems to me it will vary with the player, but pitching under age 10 to me is silly. I've seen kids not start pitching until they were 15 and ended up doing just fine. I am by no means an expert, just giving our experience.

I think that starting very early is best.

Pitching isn't just tossing baseballs swiftly and accurately to the catcher. Pitchers must learn to deal commandingly with a nearly infinite array of complex situations: pickoffs, balks, bunts, steals, walks, hit batters (and pitchers!), wild pitches, defense, player backup, and, of course, hits.

Confidence is an essential component of pitching success. The earlier a pitcher starts training for that position, the more confident he is likely to be later on from the mound. .

My son begged me to let him start pitching this year and he is 8 yrs old. The only reason I let him pitch is because he has a strong arm and is a good athlete.Before he threw his first pitch i did a lot of research from books and websites that i picked up from HS Baseball Web. I made sure he had good mechanics before we ever threw a ball outside. We played plenty of catch and long toss , made sure we didn't overdue it, and had plenty of rest after throwing. I made sure to prepare him on how to handle himself on the mound when things go bad and not to get upset about them. Now, I count his pitches, and never let him throw past 40-50 in a game. Sometimes I feel like i'm being a psycho sports parent(correcting his mechanics and grips " no son , there is no 3 fingered fasball" ) but he has pitched extremely well ,has composure ,and confidence on the mound.

sportsdad, your no psycho parent, you're right on the money.

I would say start them early just so they know what to do I would start around 7 but no curves till 15 may be 16.The reason to start early is to get control and undertstand the game as a pitcher maybe 50 pitches a game if that nothing to strong or hard just work on control till the kid is 11

quote:

" no son , there is no 3 fingered fasball" )

Most very young kids will grip the ball with their whole hand at first. Tiny hands often throw more accurately that way. I've been told that it's okay to throw/pitch like that,