Rain and Baseball
Finally, it is spring baseball season, a period of time that we all eagerly wait for. All the training, all the games, all the practice to get us heading in the right direction for our 30 games spring season.
We all have hope for the beginning of baseball as spring hopes eternal views on what is good about the game. We all start with a 0-0 win/loss record and we play the games to get us to the point of making the post-season!!
Until the skies turn grey and rain washes out many games in January and February, wah, wah!!
Years ago, I told this story of getting ready for my 1982 spring season without the luxury of all the practices and games in the fall/winter season like most bigger schools have. In the 1980’s, all players played multiple sports. Basketball season was followed by baseball season. You had to get your catch play and bullpens done on your own and that usually was after basketball was done. There is a rushed sense of needing to throw as much as you can and then start games 2 weeks later.
Throwing everyday after having months off from any baseball activities is a recipe for an arm injury and that is exactly what happened in my ’82 season. I was the reigning league MVP as a sophomore so I needed to hurry about to get up to speed. And, of course, I felt like my worst enemy throwing a punch at my right bicep/tricep area and I proceed to have the worse dead-arm pain I have ever felt. My arm was shot and have never experienced this feeling before. I got nervous, then I got lucky as rain wiped out about 12 straight days of baseball. Yep, 12 STRAIGHT DAYS OF RAIN…
And without throwing, my arm got the rest it needed. I felt like a million bucks after time off, and most importantly I got a hard lesson about doing to much to early in the season. I got really lucky due to the rain.
I always preach to players, and parents, about limiting the amount of pitches in a game especially the start of a season. One poor boy this evening told me that he pitched over 70 pitches in 2,1/3 innings over this past weekend!!! After getting more background, his defense made error after error after error during that time on the mound. The coach didn’t pull him even though his team was getting clobbered. This is bad coaching through and through.
However, this is a common occurrence with most travel teams. During the holidays, the team and players are told to take a break from throwing and hitting. Then they come back to start practicing and in less than 2 weeks, they have a MLK tourney to start the season. As most coaches focus on winning games, pitchers are pitching WAY TOO MUCH without the proper amount of arm care needed to do all those pitches/innings for 1 tournament.
I found a guy online who goes to GameChanger and follows 100’s of youth teams and as God as my witness, he posted a box score somewhere in the South where a 9U pitcher threw a 6 inning, complete game performance where his team won 15-14, and the pitcher who one the game AND gave up 14 runs, ran his game total up to 125 pitches. AND, in all seriousness, this same 9 yo pitcherspitched 3 innings the day before with 74 pitches to close out a game. In a 24 hour period, this poor 9 yo threw almost 200 pitches. Forget the fact he struck out 19 total batters in 2 outings, or that he walked I believer 12 batters. This poor kid had no one there to right a terrible wrong and I pray that kid gets proper training to care for his throwing arm, those kids ALWAYS breakdown in the next year as the mature age of 10.
With our baseball season among us, players are throwing a lot. And, with the impending rain heading towards us this week, it is vitally important to get a player’s throwing down and to stay sharp for an inevitable long season.
Rain can be a hindrance because the weather dictates whether you can throw or not. However, it can also be a great time to develop and work with us in our indoor facility and continue throwing as if you are still outdoors. Training indoors with us includes throwing and training specific workouts to help your son limit the chance of injury. In fact, I can honestly say that at least 95% of the kids we work with at the youth level, do not have arm problems at all.
There are specifics to help alleviate pain and be able to recover from our outings on the mound, but it is a sure fire way to help arm health, recovery and have better control of your pitches just based on 1-2 areas of improvement that I can find in a player within the first 5 minutes working with them.
Don’t let the rain curtail your baseball throwing work. However, if you are having pain then allow the rain to allow you the time needed to feel better. But the focus needs to be on development from the 7-14 yo age group. Forget about winnings tournament rings, because your arm health is more important than a $2 ring that you get for winning a tournament.
Don’t get me wrong, winning is fun for everyone. But so is developing your game to reach the highest levels AND staying healthy. The most important thing about playing sports is to have FUN. Absolutely, no question whatsoever, having fun is more important than anything else around. If you aren’t having fun, then forget everything else, especially in baseball. But if staying healthy and being happy playing the game is what you love, then you are in the right sport!
Make this all about having fun and staying healthy. You will be glad you did.
Until next time…
Jim
P.S. Spots still available for some classes during the week but are filling up so contact me today to get great training as well as having fun doing it!
Jim Wagner's ThrowZone Academy 