Some people on the high school board are very much in line with your thinking, that it is the fastball and not the curve that puts more stress on the arm.
My thoughts are that all pitches put stress on the arm, and in the case of most people reading this board it is a very fragile growing arm that is easily messed up. My son didn't really pitch until age 12, at the time I was confused why his 9u and 10u coaches didn't have him pitch, now I'm grateful. MANY of the "top pitchers" at 9u and 10u aren't in the game anymore in 10th grade. The reasons why are far and wide but more than one had severe growth plate issues and so they took up football, soccer, lacrosse...etc. I've seen 14u and 15u kids having to ice after pitching and not be able to even toss the ball for a few days, chugging advil by the bottle. Then I read reports about a 10u kid throwing 135 pitches and I'm just disgusted.
The pitching motion itself does a LOT of damage to an arm, no matter what pitch the kid is throwing. |
Return of the Curveball
Posted - 10/19/2017 : 00:29:16
