Updated May 11, 2013.

Baseball is a great sport to get kids interested in, even at a very early age.

Once baseball moves from T-ball and coach-pitch to the kid-pitch level, there is something to be careful. Pitching too much at too early an age can result in serious arm and elbow injuries to children. Trying to certain pitching grips, such as a curve ball or a slider, at too early an age can also lead to injuries.

That is not to say that you should encourage your child to be the pitcher, but you do need to be sure that you don't let him, or the coaches, overdo it.

Pitching Injuries

Experts are reporting more arm injuries in younger school-age children and teens these days. The elbow is an especially common area for pain and injuries in young pitchers. Teens are even requiring Tommy John surgery, which reconstructs the ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow. This ligament is commonly injured by pitchers.

Kids and Pitching

How much pitching is too much? It is a little complicated, since it to a certain extent it depends on how much he throws in practice and when warming up, but you can start with the latest Little League pitch count rules and limits:

• 17 to 18 year olds can pitch up to 105 pitches a day
• 13 to 16 year olds can pitch up to 95 pitches a day
• 11 to 12 year olds can pitch up to 85 pitches a day
• kids under 10 years can pitch up to 75 pitches a day

Players under age 16 must then rest for:

• three days if they pitched 61 or more pitches
• two days if they pitched 41 to 60 pitches
• one day if they pitched 21 to 40 pitches
• zero days if they pitched 1 to 20 pitches

The only problem with the Little League pitch count rules is that many kids play in teams that don't actually play for the official Little League. These teams don't have to follow Little League rules, and their leagues, such as USSSA (United States Sports Specialty Association) and PONY (Protect Our Nation's Youths), etc., often go by innings played or outs instead of actual pitches thrown. The problem with this approach is that the amount of pitches a child throws in an inning can vary quite a bit. In a great inning, a pitcher may just throw three to nine pitches, but it can increase to 20 or 30 or more if the pitcher throws a lot of balls and a lot of kids get on base before the team gets their outs.

Pitching Grips

In addition to throwing too many pitches, throwing certain types of pitches at too early an age can lead to injuries. These pitches include curve balls and sliders, which most experts state that kids shouldn't start to throw until their child is well into puberty (old enough to shave).
Younger kids should stick to throwing a fastball and change up pitch instead.

Pitching Machines

Pitching machines are another potential source of injuries to kids who play baseball. As they have become more portable and less expensive, the use of pitching machines have become much more common these days, even at home.
With speeds of 40 to 50 mph or more, it is easy to see how a child could get hurt if he got hit at close range from one of these pitching machines throwing a hard baseball. Always be sure to supervise your child when they are using a pitching machine. Or to be safe, start out with a pitching machine that only throws golf-sized wiffle balls instead of larger hardballs.

What You Need To Know

• If your child's coach isn't keeping track of his pitch count and limiting his pitching, then do it yourself and talk with his coach about how much he is pitching.
  
  
• Remember to keep track of how much he is pitching at home, in practice, during lessons, and with each team if he plays on multiple teams.
  
  
• No matter how many pitches your child has thrown, don't let your child pitch if his arm gets tired or if he starts to complain of arm pain. Even 40 pitches a day is too much if your child's arm hurts.
  
  

<sub>Sources:

Little League Regulation and Rule Changes for 2007.

Rehabilitation of the thrower's elbow. Wilk KE - Clin Sports Med - 01-OCT-2004; 23(4): 765-801, xii.

Biomechanics and development of the elbow in the young throwing athlete. Hutchinson MR - Clin Sports Med - 01-OCT-2004; 23(4): 531-44, viii.

Childhood and adolescent sports-related overuse injuries. Cassas KJ - Am Fam Physician - 15-MAR-2006; 73(6): 1014-22.

Shoulder disorders in the skeletally immature throwing athlete. Wasserlauf BL - Orthop Clin North Am - 01-JUL-2003; 34(3): 427-37

Lyman S, Fleisig GS, Waterbor JW, et al. Longitudinal study of elbow and shoulder pain in youth baseball pitchers. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2001;33:1803-10.</sub>