I don’t have boys for children and I’m years removed from competitive baseball but once baseball is in your blood, it stays there.  For that reason, I’m encouraged to see a new rule that was adopted by the Little League this year.  With the curbing of all things we did in our youth seemingly growing each day (all in the name of "protecting our youth") – Dodgeball, Smear the Queer, Detention (now called “Opportunity Time” in my sister-in-law’s school district), crunchy McDonald’s apple pies – it’s refreshing to see pitch counts implemented in the Little Leagues now.

Prior to this implementation, there weren’t any rules as to how many pitches a kid could throw.  After finally seeing the light once kids started having adult procedures such as Tommy John surgery done on them, Little League finally did the right thing.  The rules are as follows:

Ages 10 and under – 75 pitches maximum per game

Ages 11-12 – 85 pitches

Ages 13-16 – 95 pitches

Ages 17-18 – 105 pitches

There are also rest requirements for days after a pitcher throws, based on age and number of pitches previously thrown.  This rule is just as important as the pitch count rule in order for an arm to rejuvenate itself.

Having pitched in grade school and high school, I am thankful I had coaches who knew not to overtax our young arms.  Having also worked at a baseball camp every summer of my high school and college years, I can attest that no kid should throw a curve ball until age 13.  If I were a coach, I wouldn’t want to see my players throwing any kind of curveball or changeup until age 14 or 15.  There are ways to hold a baseball and throw it like a fastball and have it do changeup-style movements without tearing up a young arm.

Throwing a baseball overhand is one of the most unnatural motions you can do to your arm, unlike pitching in softball where it’s not uncommon to see 60-year olds throwing with ease.  After each game I pitched in high school, I’d have to ice my arm down as it throbbed like crazy and it would usually be sore for a day after (this is considered “normal” and you usually don’t throw hard after pitching for at least 1 or 2 days after).  You then add throwing a curveball on top of that, where you are making additional contortions to your arm and wrist, and you’re adding stress to growth plates in the elbow that haven’t fully developed yet.  I saw a lot of pitching-related injuries growing up, including seeing a kid’s arm snap in 3 places while trying to throw a breaking ball at baseball camp.  That was probably the best advertisement for the other kids in camp to drill into their heads the importance of not throwing pitches like that until their arm is ready to handle it.

With baseball’s latest Japanese sensation, Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka, making headlines with his successful entry into American baseball after being a star in Japan, I’m still convinced his arm is otherworldly.  As a teen, he threw 250 pitches in 17 innings in a playoff game, the next night he came in as a relief pitcher, and then in the following championship game he threw a no-hitter.  Sure, that might add to his legend but to me his coach is a child abuser.  I hope the guy has a long and successful major league career but he’s one of the lucky ones in terms of not having permanent arm damage (yet).