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Cold
Weather Pitchers vs Warm Weather Pitchers
I absolutely love it
when I receive questions from our faithful readers.
It seems our good friend Bob from Massachusetts is
on a roll lately….thanks Bob.
Bob brought up a
great point. I hope he doesn’t mind, but I’ll share
his question with you and we can explore some
possibilities
Bill,
“Have you seen or been exposed to any research on
"cold" vs "warm" weather pitchers? This weeks
Sports Illustrated highlights the young kid from
Conn who will be the top HS player (most likely)
chosen in June. I saw him pitch last summer and he
is electric. What is interesting, is how little he
has thrown in total due to other sports and
inclement conditions in the northeast. I compared
that to three Florida kids who play in the city my
brother coaches in. All have thrown a lot of
innings and two are facing surgery and one clearly
is declining. All three were 16 year old studs and
now....
My general sense is that parents have to be the
governor on innings thrown as these kids play for
multiple teams. Any thoughts?
What a great
question.
I have not seen any
in-depth studies on warm weather baseball pitchers
vs cold weather baseball pitchers. But let’s look at
this logically.
I think Bob hit the
nail on the head with the amount of throwing. Kids
in the sunbelt areas of the country tend to play
more and accumulate more mileage on their shoulders
and elbows. They are certainly in good game shape,
but I don’t think the majority of the players work
very hard at getting their bodies in better shape to
handle the many innings. Yes, they seem to be
subject to over-use. On the same token, if the
players from the north don’t prepare their bodies
appropriately, they too are susceptible to injury.
Bottom line, the kids
need limits, they need to train in the off season,
regardless of age, and yes, the parent can be a
governor on the innings pitched. But….and I don’t
like using the word but, the player needs to be
ultimately responsible for their actions. The parent
should guide, not command. Educate, not dictate.
They should be a support function.
Interesting thoughts
Bob. Thanks again for your inquisitive mind!
Now,
on to the trivia…
If you are looking
for the answer to last week’s trivia questions, one
of you got it right. The answer is the Ryan
Express….the one and only Nolan Ryan.
This week’s trivia
question is…
Who
was the first pitcher to win the Cy Young award in
both leagues?
A pretty tough one.
Until next week…
Keep training like a
champion today!
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