Quote Originally Posted by Commercecomet24 View Post
UCL tears are cumulative injuries. These arms were compromised before they ever got on campus. I've coached travel ball for 2 decades and outside of a few of us these coaches are killing young arms. It's tragic. I've always used pitch count to limit my pitchers, not innings pitched. This problem is not limited to us, it's becoming epidemic.
Pitch count isn't the end all be all either. Kids are overworked at too young of an age. You have kids on pitch counts from the time kid pitch starts and now with travel ball being practically year round and even in the off months kids are taking lessons etc they are not getting enough rest. Every single time you pitch you are tearing your arm down not necessarily your URL but your muscles even with 5 days rest which most aren't getting you cant continue to pitch at that pace year after year after year. Many of these kids are playing highschool ball and pitching a lot to going to travel ball and pitching a lot to fall ball. There just is not enough time for the arm to recuperate. The more wear and tear you put on the muscles the more tired they get and once muscles get tired you then start putting stress on the shoulder ligaments and elbow to carry the majority of the weight and that is when things start getting torn.

I agree most of these kids issues stem from prior use before getting to State. But, long travel ball seasons pitching multiple times in a tournament whether on pitch count or not is one of the primary causes. If you have a player that pitches for his high school and is also playing travel ball he needs to be cut way down on the amount he pitches in the summer and just focus on whatever secondary position he plays. You also have a lot of guys that play say shortstop 3 games in a row and then come in and throw the 4th game of a tournament whether on pitch count or not that is just not healthy.

There is a reason that TJ numbers are rising with Travel ball getting more and more popular. I am not against travel ball as long as the kids are taken care of and not abused. I played it growing up I also tore my UCL when I was 24. Looking back I was way overused and a kid is never going to tell a coach he doesn't feel good enough to throw when a playoff game or tourney is on the line. That is why it is up to the coaches to be disciplined in knowing when to say no.