TarponChaser said:docb said:
It is a product of playing baseball year round and way too many games. I know a lot will disagree because they think their kids have to do this to play in college, etc. But when we were young (40 years ago) almost no one had ever heard of little league elbow. We did it to ourselves.
That's part of it. But I hew to the Tom House maxim about how kids today pitch too much but don't throw enough. And he always says it's not just throwing a baseball but for kids to go throw a football, throw rocks, throw full-court basketball passes overhand, throw wiffle balls, and so on. The focus solely on baseball pitching prevents the kids from building up all the stabilizing muscles that protect the elbow and shoulder. Plus, with all the instruction kids get today they learn how to max out their velo at a young age way before their bodies are ready to handle the stress.
There's also a general lack of athleticism among a lot of baseball players compared to the past. Too many focus solely on the skill part (ie- hitting, pitching, and fielding lessons) and not the athletic base required to excel.
I don't know how else to describe it, but I think there's an element of what I'd call "unintentional racism." Way too many white and Latino folks see black kids in football and basketball and think they'll struggle to compete in those sports when their kids are in HS or beyond so they focus on a sport where skills are at a premium and they think a lower level of athleticism is less of an impediment to success and getting to the next level. So they've gravitated to baseball and see their kid's success at the youth level where being really skilled can overcome a lack of athleticism (the reverse can be true too) but then those kids who play year-round and do nothing but baseball are the ones who end up with arm problems.
