Coach Breeding

STOP PITCHING KIDS ON BACK-TO-BACK DAYS. Coaches think they're saving their best pitchers by throwing them just 1–2 innings Saturday, then bringing them back Sunday. Our data shows why that's a problem. After just 1–29 pitches, youth players ages 8–14 showed: 28.4% lost more than 10% of their acceleration strength. 8.2% lost more than 20%. Here's why that matters. Research from ASMI found that pitchers who regularly threw with arm fatigue had 36× the odds of being in the group that required shoulder or elbow surgery. Yet pitch-count rules can still allow these players to pitch the next day. PITCH-COUNT ELIGIBLE DOES NOT MEAN RECOVERED. There's a better way. Let your pitchers work deeper into Saturday's pool games within appropriate pitch limits. Then bring fresh pitchers on Sunday for your championship run. Need more arms? Add pitchers to your roster or bring pitcher-only players. Stop trying to save arms by spreading short outings across two days. Protect their arms. Change the strategy. @USABaseball @ASMI