Dangerous curves: Breaking balls and overuse are ruining many young arms

True stories:

Richie was 12 and threw an ungodly fastball. When he reared back and threw, the ball seemed to barely be out of his hand before it exploded in the catcher's mitt.

David pitched in the same league and was known throughout for his devastating curveball. He was the only kid his age who could throw it so well. The ball appeared to be soaring straight at the hitter's head, then broke toward his knees, leaving him buckled with the bat still on his shoulder.

Each pitcher was feared equally. But the dread didn't last forever.

Both went on to have fine high school careers, even through David dealt with elbow tendinitis as a senior. Both were heavily scouted by the pros.

But Richie was the only one drafted.

David, at 18, was damaged goods.

The exact source of David's arm trouble wasn't certain, but doctors claimed the curveball probably was the cause. His coaches also admitted part of the blame for not controlling his use of the pitch and letting him throw too much in general.

Youth pitchers ruining their arms from curveballs and throwing too many pitches in general is a common story. It plays out on sandlots across the country. It's a topic in Southern Nevada now that the summer leagues are under way.

The problem stems from a number of issues: Many youth coaches are fathers who aren't trained in teaching proper technique; some coaches stress winning too much by overusing pitchers; some leagues don't have rules to protect these undeveloped arms.

"You would assume people would use common sense in regard to these kids, but they don't always," Clark County School District athletic director Larry McKay said. "If a kid can come close to throwing a strike, they're apt to overuse him."

The school district has rules to prevent coaches from using one arm too often. Local high school pitchers are limited to 11 innings every four days.

Little League guidelines are stricter. If a minor-division player pitches fewer than four innings he must rest one day before pitching again. If he pitches more than four innings, he is obligated to rest three days. A player can pitch no more than six innings a week.

In the major division, the above rules apply with the stipulation only three 12-year-old pitchers can be used any given week. This not only rests their arms, but allows younger players a chance to pitch and develop theirs.

Nearly 16,000 boys and girls play Little League baseball in 19 Southern Nevada leagues.

"In Little League it's not (a problem)," Little League district administrator Bob Fleming said. "A lot of coaches, some who are more conscious, also have their own rules in addition, like instituting a pitch count."

But not all organizations are as careful as Little League.

"There are coaches out there who are looking more for the win rather than saving a kid's arm for later," Fleming said.

The American Amateur Baseball Congress places zero restrictions on its pitchers in four age groups: 10-under, 12-under, 14-under and high school (Connie Mack).

"If they wanted to they could go pitch every inning of every ballgame," AABC state president Burdett Jones said. The AABC consists of about 300 local and 17,000 national participants.

"In Connie Mack there is no stipulation. You could pitch every day."

What's up, doc

Pitching is a complex process. It's a twisting motion that starts at the feet and is transferred upward through the legs, hips and torso before the arm follows through. Enormous rotational forces are placed on the shoulder and elbow.

The reason youth pitchers are in danger from curveballs and excessive use is simple: Their shoulders, elbows and wrists aren't developed enough to handle the strain, and children with arm trouble likely will turn into adults with arm trouble.

"The problem," Dr. Andrew Welch said, "is the stresses on an immature skeleton with poorly developed musculature, when you're having so much velocity in motion. The only things holding that arm together are ligaments and muscles. And kids just don't have it until they reach puberty.

"Most of these young boys can barely grip the ball, even at 12 years old. Their fingers are too short."

The former high school pitcher with a practice on East Sahara Avenue was inspired by one of the fathers of sports medicine, Dr. Fred Allman. Welch completed his orthopedic residency in Atlanta under Allman, who used to be the team physician for the Atlanta Braves and Georgia Tech.

Welch also is advising his 10-year-old son, Jack, who is playing in the Spring Valley Little League.

"When you're whipping your arm around, your elbow leads and your hand and shoulder come through," Welch said. "If those joints are not at sufficient strength, it will create stress and could create significant problems. Most are short-term, but many can be long-term."

Dr. Edward G. McFarland, director of sports medicine and shoulder surgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, was more graphic in his description of what the pitching motion can do to any body, much less a child's.

"Essentially, when you throw a ball, the resulting force is trying to pull your arm off your body," McFarland told the Washington Post. "It's like somebody is trying to dislocate your shoulder."

That is intensified when throwing a curve, which torques the elbow.

"In throwing a curveball you change the way you throw in the position of the release for the elbow, shoulder and wrist," Welch said. "All the joints can be affected, and if the musculature of the shoulder, elbow or forearm is not developed, then the athlete is not able to control the motion in those joints."

When damage is done, it generally occurs in the joints' growth plates, the area at the end of each bone where lengthening occurs.

"With repeated stress," he said, "throwing a curveball too early irritates the surface of the bone and the growth plate can die. It ultimately can end up in the formation of an irregular or early arthritic joint.

"A particularly bad example is the apophyses, the knobby growth plates on each side of the elbow, can be pulled off by the force of the throw. That frequently is a surgery situation."

According to a Washington Post story, recent studies done in Houston and Eugene, Ore., found one out of every five pitchers under 13 experiences "significant elbow pain during the season."

"Pain in the throwing arm of a kid is not normal," McFarland said.

While Welch noted some children reach puberty faster than others, children generally shouldn't start throwing breaking balls until they are 13.

"As the arm develops strength and musculature, then the athlete is able to pitch faster and utilize different techniques such as a curve or slider," he said.

Dangerous curves

But keeping a kid from spinning a curveball is easier said than done. The pitch is just too cool to throw.

That's why Mike Martin, a former Chicago Cubs catcher who now runs the Las Vegas Baseball Academy, can't blame young pitchers for wanting to throw the curve.

"When we were playing in the backyard we always threw the curveball," Martin, who played for the Las Vegas Stars in 1983-84, said. "Did we do it right? Didn't matter. We were having fun."

UNLV pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr., son of the New York Yankees' famed pitching coach, sometimes shakes his head when youth pitchers show up at his summer clinics.

"When I run camps," Stottlemyre said, "every kid wants to show me their curveball, but can't throw a fastball, the biggest pitch in baseball, for a strike."

Many baseball coaches and doctors claim a pitcher at the Little League level needs only two, easy-to-throw pitches to be successful.

"They should teach them only the fastball and the changeup, so there's not going to be a risk of injury to these young kids," former Green Valley High baseball coach Rodger Fairless said.

"Some kids are going to mature faster than others in their body, but there should be some sort of rule the only two pitches a kid can throw up until a certain league is a fastball and a changeup."

When Stottlemyre was growing up, his father forbade him and his brother, Todd, from throwing breaking pitches until they were seniors in high school.

Stottlemyre claimed his father's early care helped with development. "We became pitchers," he said, "not throwers." Both went on to pitch in the majors. Todd is with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"When I do clinics, it's master the fastball, teach them the changeup and play catch nine months out of the year to keep their arms conditioned," Stottlemyre said.

Stottlemyre also noted there are youth leagues in his home state of Washington that prohibit pitchers from throwing breaking balls.

But there are others who insist the curveball isn't inherently harmful. It's incorrect mechanics that pose the most risk.

"I talked to (former major league and Stars pitching coach) Tom House and asked him about curveballs one time," Martin said. "He said 'Mike, I've done biomechanical studies and have found that a curveball puts no more strain on an arm than a fastball.'

"But the downside is that kids don't throw it properly. Those mechanical flaws are now magnified to where they develop tears in their muscles."

Added Stottlemyre: "I don't think Little League coaches have studied pitching enough or are knowledgeable enough to make changes with kids."

Many youth coaches are ill-prepared to teach proper technique, but Martin said that never should be the case.

"This is an information age," he said. "There is so much information whether it's the Internet or videos. If a kid hurts his arm now, it's a travesty because of the information that's out there to strengthen an arm and the maintenance, such as icing and training.

"It's of the utmost importance the individual first receives the information of the skill."

Once a young pitcher learns a curveball, properly or not, it's hard to convince him he shouldn't throw it. In fact, they have a tendency to depend on it so much their other pitches suffer.

"I think as far as pitch selection none of them have a changeup, and that's because of success they had with the breaking ball," Stottlemyre said. "And they never develop a fastball completely because they rely on that pitch too much."

Deep in the count

If a young pitcher can throw the curve for a strike, his coach might also rely on that arm too much.

"I'd like to think nobody would intentionally" abuse a young pitcher's arm, Fairless said. "I believe that in the heat of battle, people want to win and, especially in the lower levels, a kid that can throw a curveball is going to have a good chance of winning. A lot of times that's why that pitch is emphasized."

Some coaches don't track their hurlers with pitch counts, which can ensure a pitcher doesn't get overused.

"Anybody that knows anything about pitching has a pitch counter," Stottlemyre said.

At the major league level, pitchers generally can throw up to 100 times before they reach the danger zone. Stottlemyre said he will "start to get nervous" when UNLV's pitchers approach that limit.

Martin assessed a good pitch count for a Little League-level player at 75.

"You have kids throwing 130, 140 pitches and two days later he's back throwing again," Stottlemyre said. "I've counted kids throwing 180 pitches a game."

Even if a coach imposes a pitch count and lifts his player at the threshold, there are other instances to consider. The mound isn't the only place a baseball player throws from.

"Most of the kids who pitch play other positions like shortstop and catcher," Martin said. "They throw just as much there."

According to Jones, pitch counts are used heavily in Connie Mack. Without rules regulating how often Connie Mack pitchers can throw, pitch counts become necessary.

"That's what it's all about," Jones said. "In our league, the coach counts pitches, they hit a certain limit, the coach see he's tired, the player tells the coach he's tired and they're yanked. Very few kids throw an entire game in our leagues."

But when was the last time a young player ever told a coach he wanted to be taken out of the game because he was tired?

"I could have been at 150 pitches at the pro level, knowing what was right and wrong, and you couldn't pull me out of there," Stottlemyre said. "And kids are like that. They're competitors."

That is why it is imperative the coach be qualified enough to notice when his players are starting to fatigue.

"I better never hear my player tell me" he's tired, Martin said with a chuckle. "If I can't be a good enough coach to tell what's going on out on the mound, then I have no business being out there."

Fleming admitted there is a shortage of quality Little League coaches. Many times a team is run by a father of one of the players, who may or may not be a good coach.

"We do have some training programs, but nobody's perfect," Fleming said. "You don't have enough qualified people sometimes. But we try to do what we can."

archive