baseball injuries - what to expect

Hats off to coaches who develop and protect their pitchers by paying attention, planning well, enhancing there player's strength and mobility, monitoring improvement, developing and using their bullpen. No excuses for overuse. Not weather. Not 3 games per week. No game more important than a young man's future.

Below is a link to Eric Cressey's blog on why preseason kicks off the portion of the baseball season that has the most injuries.
Baseball Injuries: What to Expect in the Next Few Months

1. Not staying warm
2. Ramping up too quickly
3. Improper (or lack of) preparation

Just a side note. I spoke with a successful college pitching coach in Texas yesterday. Couple of nuggets.

1. He starts long toss in a way that forces his player to release out front, making sure it becomes a habit and protects the arm's soft tissue during acceleration.
2. After 2 weeks of long toss he integrates changeups into the first portion of long toss, so his pitchers develop that pitch (30 per day->120 per week-> 480 per month...means a better changeup. )
3. His pitchers don't throw bullpens of more than 40 pitches at this time of year. (yes...he said 40).
4. As far as making big velo gains (which his pitchers have)...at this time, the workouts become more specific, still good workouts, but the overload/underload ball reps become smaller, because as he put it... "the hay is in the barn".

 

Interesting on overload/underload...
We have incorporated light/heavy balls last two pre-seasons.
I feel like we have had some success increasing velocity, and we have not had throwing injuries - thank the Lord.
However, the Duke University PT Dr. who spoke at the NCBCA clinic a couple of weeks ago said he would," never recommend it."

Hum?

 

Opinions vary on overload

Opinions vary on overload baseballs (ie. weighted baseballs).

I'm highly influenced by the "texas baseball ranch" on my thoughts. Just a disclaimer, so you might have heard these thoughts before.

I don't instruct on a facility or coach a team, or actively pursue players to instruct right now, but i have. (another disclaimer).

First of all, all balls weight something. Football, baseball, etc. anything you throw has weight. So, it's not like weighted balls are foreign. Or totally new. Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemmens used a footballs in arm care. It's all in how you use them.

Second, we don't play catch with them. (it's like catching a bowling ball). And never off a slope(ie, mound) We used a tarp, pitching pad or backstop. If you have target pad, even better. Aim small miss small.


Third, we used the heavier balls (with arm action only) or deceleration drills, but stay away from the heavier balls (32oz, 21oz) when they are using lower body. In other words, we might do arm action with a 32 oz, 21, 14, 7. But as we use shoulders, we drop the 32. As we used legs we don't use the 21. Depends on the age as well.

Fourth, we used the heavier balls for reverse throws. I have to admit, i didn't do enough of this. Lots of college teams swear by this. I think throwing one reverse for every forward is a good idea for balance.

Fifth, if in doubt, start with a baseball. Vanderbilt's pitching coach simply starts with baseball, and goes baseball, overload, underload. And so, the safest would be 5oz baseball, 7 oz (overload), 4oz (underload). Tricking the body. Like putting a doughnut on the bat, and then swinging a lighter bat. Keep in mind, one injury is too many.

Here are some examples:

• A college player that i worked with that felt they were a key component to his success. He used them in off-season building period with several drills. And he used them pre-game and between innings, during a very successful JUCO and SCBL season to warm-up and stay on "simmer". 1.43 ERA in JUCO. 4 wins in SCBL. 52 pitches 7 innings shutout vs Redbirds. Not too bad.
• A team of younger players 12u (highly supervised) travel team we used them to encourage fluid arm action. We used tubes, and medball rotations and throws, and other tools for functional strength. All improved over a season. Our second baseman got to play some shortstop, and our pitching improved as a team.

Not pushing them on anyone, but it gives you an idea. Curious how you used them CatCoach?