PROMOTING ARM SAFETY IN YOUNG BASEBALL PLAYERS

 

Safety recommendations for adolescent baseball pitchers

 

• Avoid pitching with arm fatigue
• Avoid pitching with arm pain
• Avoid pitching too much.  Further research is needed on this topic but reasonable limits are as follows:
  • Avoid pitching more than 80 pitches per game
  • Avoid pitching competitively more than 8 months per year
  • Avoid pitching more than 2500 pitches in competition per year
• Monitor pitchers with the following characteristics closely for injury:
  • Pitchers who regularly use anti-inflammatory drugs or ice to “prevent” an injury
  • Regularly starting pitchers
  • Pitchers who throw with the velocity >85 mph
  • Taller and heavier pitchers
  • Pitchers who warm up excessively
  • Pitchers who participate in showcases

 

The following pitch counts are recommended:

         Age                   Max Pitches Per Game    Max Games Per Week

          8-10                               52 +/- 15                            2 +/- 0.6

          11-12                              68 +/- 18                            2 +/- 0.5

          13-14                              76 +/- 16                            2 +/- 0.4

          15-16                              91 +/- 16                            2 +/- 0.4

          17-18 Over                         106 +/- 16                           2 +/- 0.6

 

The number of days you rest between outings depends on your age and how many pitches you threw:

Age      1 Day of Rest      2 Days of Rest            3 Days of Rest            4 Days of Rest

8-10               20                          35                                45                                50

11-12             25                          35                                55                                60

13-14             30                          35                                55                                70

15-16             30                          40                                60                                80

17-18 Over    30                          40                                60                                90

 

 

PROMOTING ARM SAFETY IN YOUNG BASEBALL PLAYERS

 

 

Age recommendation for learning various pitches:

                                                               Pitch                           Age to Begin

                                                               Fastball                        8 +/- 2 years

                                                               Changeup                    10 +/- 3

                                                               Curveball                     14 +/- 2

                                                               Screwball                    17 +/- 2

                                                               Slider                           16 +/- 2

                                                               Forkball                       16 +/- 2

                                                               Knuckle                       15 +/- 3

 

If you have any further questions please contact:

(507) 266-7800

Dan Chistoffer

Christoffer.daniel@mayo.edu

or

Jake Hesse

hess.jacob@mayo.edu