There’s a massive problem causing arm injuries at youth travel ball tournaments, and we can change it today.
Stop pitching kids on back-to-back days.
Every weekend, teams play two pool games Saturday and potentially 3–4 more Sunday.
Coaches try to “save” their best arms by throwing them just 1–2 innings Saturday, then bring them back Sunday.
But those Saturday innings still create fatigue.
And the research is alarming:
Youth pitchers who threw on consecutive days had 2.5x the odds of arm pain.
Another study found that pitchers who regularly pitched with arm fatigue were 36x more likely to be in the group that required shoulder or elbow surgery.
Pitch-count eligible does not mean recovered.
Coaches need to step up and protect your players. This change can happen now, we don’t need to wait for a change in pitch count regulations.
Here is the change: Treat the pool play games like you would any other game, letting the pitchers give you quality innings.
Then on Sunday - use the fresh arms that didn’t pitch on Saturday as well as having a couple extra (pitcher only) to help you make a championship run on Sunday.
Test arm strength to confirm recovery. If strength hasn’t returned to baseline, neither has the arm.
We can debate pitch-count rules and tournament regulations. But there’s one change we can make this weekend:
Stop pitching kids on back-to-back days.