HS-aged baseball players and off-season?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child is a pitcher, be sure to rest his arm. Just strength training and possibly hitting until February.

There are competing thoughts on this. My kid trains with a guy that trains several D1 and MLB pitchers and the belief is that you never go 100% cold-turkey.

Start training in November with light bullpens (~70% max) at least once per week. Start ramping up to 100% in January.

If you read the information provided by Driveline and other folks, something like 90% of all pitcher arm injuries (at all levels) happen during the first month of full training. Doesn't happen as much at the MLB level (though the emphasis on crazy velocity is of course causing tons of injuries), but prior to folks like Driveline coming onto the scene, you would see tons of Spring Training arm injuries.

Around hear, working with R&D or The Bullpen (both in Sterling) are good ideas during the offseason.

But he’s not a D1/MLB pitcher. He’s much less developed and risks more. Rest your kid’s arm. Too many high schoolers going into surgery by Senior year.

It’s like some of these folks really don’t understand the difference between growing boys and adult men.

We do. Much of the work being done to strengthen the arm and work it back to 100% after the offseason is specifically aimed at preventing injury in young athletes. Strict pitch counts, monitoring effort, proper form, steady progress, rest periods, and monitored ramp ups for the season are all great components of a healthy arm!

[Anonymous]

Also, position players should take the opportunity to work on speed if they are hoping to play in college. Three months of training can cut half a second from the 60 time pretty easily!

[Anonymous]

My facility has a driveline/mlb guy that comes back in the off season. He trains all ages and throwing programs aren’t a one size fits all model.
I see an equal amount of arm injuries for pitchers that throw too little. They don’t ramp up progressively and wham their arm can’t handle the stress load put on early in the season.

A lot of advanced pitchers start light throwing in November to prepare for Spring.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, baseball needs to get rid of the Fall travel season.

I kind of get it only for 16u and 17u players looking to get recruited at the Florida tournaments or college prospect camps, but it is actually detrimental to everyone else.

The schedule should be to shut down throwing in August/September, and then start the ramp ever so slowly in mid-September/October so you have plenty of time to get back to 100% by mid-February.

The current general philosophy of playing through the end of October and then shutting down until January (especially for pitchers), just doesn't make a ton of sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child is a pitcher, be sure to rest his arm. Just strength training and possibly hitting until February.

There's also a new school of though about how to rest arms and it makes sense. It's "throw more; pitch less"

People think resting the arm means absolutely no throwing. And that's counter-productive. Pitchers can take a bit of time off, but then during the winter, need to continue to throw, but at only 50%. Focusing on arm slot and mechanics. Absolutely no pitching. No breaking balls. Nothing off the mound.

But continue to throw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child is a pitcher, be sure to rest his arm. Just strength training and possibly hitting until February.

There are competing thoughts on this. My kid trains with a guy that trains several D1 and MLB pitchers and the belief is that you never go 100% cold-turkey.

Start training in November with light bullpens (~70% max) at least once per week. Start ramping up to 100% in January.

If you read the information provided by Driveline and other folks, something like 90% of all pitcher arm injuries (at all levels) happen during the first month of full training. Doesn't happen as much at the MLB level (though the emphasis on crazy velocity is of course causing tons of injuries), but prior to folks like Driveline coming onto the scene, you would see tons of Spring Training arm injuries.

Around hear, working with R&D or The Bullpen (both in Sterling) are good ideas during the offseason.

But he’s not a D1/MLB pitcher. He’s much less developed and risks more. Rest your kid’s arm. Too many high schoolers going into surgery by Senior year.

Those kids get hurt bc they pitch during the winter.

But you have to continue to throw

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are your HS-aged baseball players doing this off-season in terms of baseball activities? Conditioning/strength training/speed work? Pitching or hitting lessons?

Just interested in the high school set's plans as those arms will need to be ready by February for school try outs.

Weight training and batting practice. No real pitching that I see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, baseball needs to get rid of the Fall travel season.

I kind of get it only for 16u and 17u players looking to get recruited at the Florida tournaments or college prospect camps, but it is actually detrimental to everyone else.

The schedule should be to shut down throwing in August/September, and then start the ramp ever so slowly in mid-September/October so you have plenty of time to get back to 100% by mid-February.

The current general philosophy of playing through the end of October and then shutting down until January (especially for pitchers), just doesn't make a ton of sense.

+1,000,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child is a pitcher, be sure to rest his arm. Just strength training and possibly hitting until February.

There are competing thoughts on this. My kid trains with a guy that trains several D1 and MLB pitchers and the belief is that you never go 100% cold-turkey.

Start training in November with light bullpens (~70% max) at least once per week. Start ramping up to 100% in January.

If you read the information provided by Driveline and other folks, something like 90% of all pitcher arm injuries (at all levels) happen during the first month of full training. Doesn't happen as much at the MLB level (though the emphasis on crazy velocity is of course causing tons of injuries), but prior to folks like Driveline coming onto the scene, you would see tons of Spring Training arm injuries.

Around hear, working with R&D or The Bullpen (both in Sterling) are good ideas during the offseason.

But he’s not a D1/MLB pitcher. He’s much less developed and risks more. Rest your kid’s arm. Too many high schoolers going into surgery by Senior year.

Those kids get hurt bc they pitch during the winter.

But you have to continue to throw

No you don’t. A kid can take a few months off from throwing. He’ll be fine, and it’s actually good for him.

[Anonymous]

He's a freshman and doing the conditioning workouts with the high school team - usually twice a week depending on weight room access. And his travel team does one conditioning and one hitting/throwing practice a week from January til the February high school tryouts.