re: LSU pitchers

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You must be a travel ball parent/coach

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You could bet the house on that.

sorry but you really do not know what you are talking about. travel ball has not been singled out as the sole reason for pitchers arms being shot by the time they reach college. you obviously have not pitched at a high level and probably should educate yourself on what kids do to their arms these days.

a short primer.

1) pitching is EXTREMELY tough on a persons shoulder, elbow and all of the other ligaments, tendons, etc that make up the human arm. ask any othapedic (sp) surgeon. I have. I also have a son that pitched through the college level.

2) for awhile now kids have been playing baseball virtually YEAR ROUND. travel ball is merely part of that. they also play fall ball, school ball and work out extensively with pitching coaches the rest of the year. they pitch much, much, much more than previous generations.

3) their pitch selections are TERRIBLE on their arms. ALL of their coaches growing up begin them throwing curves and sliders at too young of an age and they call them way too much in games. this is because most of the young batters can't hit junk.

4) in today's world kids are "forced" to select their sport early, often by age 12, and that's what they do year round. these kids are often the best players on their team and they also play shortstop and do not get proper rest between starts also.

it seems every parent thinks their kid is major league material and want to give their child all of the advantages they can.

it is absolutely no surprise to me that kids are now having TJ surgery in high school much less college. many arm problems don't manifest themselves until their college career.

until PARENTS take control of the situation it will continue. as a parent of a kid that's been there I recommend ALL PARENTS that have a son that has a strong arm and wants to be a pitcher to consult with an orthopedic surgeon and put protection of their arm as a TOP PRIORITY. that means not throwing junk until the are 13 or 14 years of age and allowing baseball to consume only part of the year and giving his arm a break. if he's worth a shite on the mound it will come out in high school.

I'm not the one making the statement.

I've been banned. They just lifted it. Manerieiriei goon squad with the hit. 9 lives over here doe

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They just lifted it.

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It's "travel ball" because "travel ball" is year-round.

If "travel ball" was 4-5 months a year, you would not have these issues.

Tons of pitchers experience arm soreness in middle school, high school, college. You don't hear about the ones that get it in middle or high school because they never make it to a college team.

I know a 10 year old that got shut down for 6 months due to pitching arm soreness. I know other middle and high school players that have missed time.

Also, you have travel ball and school coaches who ignore things, and tell kids stuff like "nah, it's your pussy that hurts, not your arm" and throw the kids back out there, and the kids aren't old enough to tell the coach no.

By the time these kids get to college, they have the balls to tell the coaches they aren't going to throw, if the coaches actually tried to force them to do so.

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It’s funny how they want to blame “Travel Ball” for the arm problems but they don’t have “arm soreness” until they get to college.

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:kobewhat:

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It's not poor planning.

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It's absolutely poor planning. It's also poor recruiting and poor development.

There is something wrong when the season's success rides on freshman arms. And it's been that way for several seasons now.

There is a chance that next year could be different. But we have a coach that apparently likes roster turnover, so who really knows.

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Dr. James Andrews is perhaps the most well-known surgeon performing Tommy John surgeries today. He has grown concerned over the growing number of kids visiting his clinic in Alabama in pain. "You came here because of the baseball. Trust what our staff does." Andrews and fellow doctor Glenn Fleisig conducted a study that found children and teens who pitched regularly while fatigued were 36 times more likely to require major arm surgery. The other major risk factors all involved what they considered to be overuse -- this includes pitching competitively at least eight months out of the year (5 times more likely to need surgery), regularly throwing more than 80 pitches in a game (4 times more likely), and pitching more than 100 innings in a year (3 times more likely).

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I believe this guy knows what he talking about.