They may be including the 3-4 games she pitched in the SEC tournament in those postseason numbers
Baseball's Pitching dilemma (Josh Beckett)
- Thread starter Amy in AZ.
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They may be including the 3-4 games she pitched in the SEC tournament in those postseason numbers
There was an article on how the pitch "count" has gone up by a pretty good margin in BB as of late, from TB to college to MLB. I didn't bookmark it, didn't think I'd need it for a SB site, wish I had now. It had some really good data.
My brother pitched college in the early 80's, me in the early 90's, he was a starter and I a mid-relief. Looking back now, he threw a BUNCH of pitches over his career compared to me. He blew his elbow out his Junior year in college, coincidence? Both his sons, D2 and major D1 are closers, rarely have the arm fatigue he and I experienced.
I do wish SB would go to a "bullpen" like BB. I can tell you I've seen some really great pitchers in SB in the early ages who were bad a$$, over used, and developed arm issues that were not mechanical in nature..........just worn out by their college time.
My brother pitched college in the early 80's, me in the early 90's, he was a starter and I a mid-relief. Looking back now, he threw a BUNCH of pitches over his career compared to me. He blew his elbow out his Junior year in college, coincidence? Both his sons, D2 and major D1 are closers, rarely have the arm fatigue he and I experienced.
I do wish SB would go to a "bullpen" like BB. I can tell you I've seen some really great pitchers in SB in the early ages who were bad a$$, over used, and developed arm issues that were not mechanical in nature..........just worn out by their college time.
If they had a pitch count or game limit of some nature that would bring the whole team concept back instead of a dominant pitcher with good support being the life blood of a team. You would have to have a couple pitchers and better defense to make up different capabilities.
- Apr 16, 2013
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My DD is a baseball player, and I can flat out say, the best teams have 7+ solid pitchers. In 10u, you're allowed 7 innings over the course of the weekend. If anyone actually cared about protecting the kids arms, they would do something similar. Granted, softball pitching is safer on the arm than baseball pitching. However, it would be in the kids' best interests to develop such a rule. That way, a team would have to develop their pitchers, instead of just having 2 great pitchers. 2 great pitchers can absolutely make a team in SB, and the byproduct means so many girls don't get the chance to develop as pitchers. I really think that stinks. I'd love to see SB develop inning rules for pitchers like BB does. Also, SB tends to play even more games than BB does. A typical tournament for BB is 4-5 games. I know every time my DD has played SB it's been 7 games. I feel sorry for those girls being ridden to wins at the cost of their arms.
I got curious and tried this yesterday.
I got our SS who has a gun arm but has never pitched ever throw 25 'baseball' pitches to our catcher. 22 of them were pretty reasonable pitches - most were either strikes or very close to the strikezone. If we were playing baseball and I needed someone just to throw some pitches I could totally have called her in.
I then had her pitch 25 softball pitches - none of them were reasonable. No way could she pitch in a game. Not a chance.
The softball motion is a totally learned motion and there is a limited pool of girls who have learned to do it - even less who have got to the point of being effective. Meanwhile I believe in the Wasserman throwing book he describes baseball pitching as basically throwing with no time constraints and great mechanics.
And there is one of the major issues of why there isn't enough softball pitchers.
I got our SS who has a gun arm but has never pitched ever throw 25 'baseball' pitches to our catcher. 22 of them were pretty reasonable pitches - most were either strikes or very close to the strikezone. If we were playing baseball and I needed someone just to throw some pitches I could totally have called her in.
I then had her pitch 25 softball pitches - none of them were reasonable. No way could she pitch in a game. Not a chance.
The softball motion is a totally learned motion and there is a limited pool of girls who have learned to do it - even less who have got to the point of being effective. Meanwhile I believe in the Wasserman throwing book he describes baseball pitching as basically throwing with no time constraints and great mechanics.
And there is one of the major issues of why there isn't enough softball pitchers.
- Jun 7, 2013
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Good points! But we still haven't solved our problem. How to protect girls from hurting their arms from overthrowing.
The truth here...key word is professional.
First of all, the only reason its being looked into for baseball and the kids heavily now is because of the rash of arm injuries to MAJOR LEAGUE pitchers and how much it is costing baseball teams to pay contracts to guys who are on the DL and the attendance that gets hurt when a top starter goes down. Then fans dont come and pay to see that starter pitch.
Because softball players really have nowhere to go after college and injuries to a FP pitcher is much less likely, my opinion is you will never see the outcry for this to be looked into as much.
Its not the nice answer, but its the bottom dollar line answer.
Hmmm, But we have been told for decades that it is a natural motion.
It is so very tempting, the way SB "pitching" is designed, to ride the mule. Ride her to get deep in a weekend bracket, ride her to win that local tourney, ride her to win HS playoffs, ride her to win national TB events, ride her to win a CWS. One of the VERY best pitchers in TN ( better than the Renfroes as I've seen them go head to head while she was 2 years younger ) is playing D1 now..............but not as a pitcher.
This girl was tall, lean and mean. One of the best rise balls I've ever seen. She was two years older than my DD, we picked up with them probably 40 times over the years. Her TB coach rode that girl WAY TOO MUCH. I once asked him "why" he pitched her so much, his reply, "she's got a rubberband arm, it can snap all day". Even thought they won a bunch of tourneys, across many states................she and she alone payed the price later. The "cost" now, no longer being that stud on the stage/circle, the cost later in life physically................unknown.
One day there will be a pioneer in college SB, who builds a bullpen with a starter, specialty pitchers, handed pitchers, a relief, and closer. Disrupting the batters. I hope I'm around to see that.
